Cancer Survivors Network

Hi Joe: I have always used Xanax, and you are correct it works slow, but it helps me. I dindn't know there was another one (Ativan) for Cancer patients/survivors. I don't know if they have anything for depression. I hear that many survivors do get depression even if and when they are told that they are clean of Cancer. I do get depressed almost every day.

Thanks Joe

DonCarlos

DonCarlos, if you gathered from my message that Ativan is a 'cancer drug' then I did not make myself clear, and for that I apologize. My suggestion, instead, was that perhaps mom had been taking Xanax for some time even prior to her cancer diagnosis, and that Ativan was offered by her doc either because he was unaware or as an additive specifically related to cancer-related treatment or diagnosis.

Although my own introduction to Ativan came while in the hospital recovering from a cancer-related surgery, I know that my dad was given the same drug while recovering not so long ago from a surgery to repair his rotator cuff (non-cancer-related). Incidentally, when he seemed to be going off the deep end mentally at one point, I spoke to one of his nurses over the phone and insisted that the reason was a psychotic reaction to IV Ativan, as I had previously experienced the same personally. It took some time to convince her (the nurse) of this, but in short order they removed this medication from his regimen and he got well fast.

It seems that the IV version, for some reason, has much folklore about it concerning this very reaction, although I am not sure there is any documentation for such.

Both, DonCarlos, are anti-depressants, but with a few differences. There are others as well, of course, and your doctor should be working with you to find the best one for YOU (along with proper dosage and frequency). There is no elixir for depression, my friend, just as there is no elixir for cancer, but you have some choices available among medications and ALONG with medications (including therapy, among others) just as you do when confronting cancer.

Among the sad things brought to us by cancer, as you know, DonCarlos, is, for some of us, the depression that follows. I have likened it to a mid-life crisis, one that comes along regardless of our age: the examination of life and its worth, its failings and so forth, the realization of mortality (a simplification of what is going on, to be sure). That is not scientific, DonCarlos, but only the pondering of yours truly over time, so definitely take it with a grain of salt.

It does not seem right that you should survive cancer and still be depressed, DonCarlos (although I am intimately familiar with that particular outcome). I would suggest you look into changing meds, or seeking some therapy, or maybe looking at getting active in some area where you can revitalize your sense of self-worth and meaning. Volunteering comes to mind :).

Take care,

Joe

Joe; Thanks so very much. You are always there to help. I am getting back into business, but the wait is a little pressing. I lost most of my clients and now I must go back and re-build.

Thanks my friend

DonCarlos