Is there anyone like me

Katmy said:

Sorry that no one has
Sorry that no one has replied as yet to you. My clinic/ hospital has a cancer support therapist who works with patients at the clinic. She has been enormous help to me in my lowest times. Do you have someone you can talk to beyond family or friends? I find my therapist useful because she helps me work through my feelings in a productive way. My friends and family listen and are wonderful, but I needed something more.

Talking about your emotions on this site will also help. Best of luck to you and I hope you can resolve your dominating negative emotions when they flare up.

laughs_a_lot said:

like me?
Yes but I have not been through the journey as far as you. One thing to look into is the fact that chemo may have changed the propensity for your anti depressant to be as effective as it previously was. I asked my medical oncologist last week if the chemo might effect the neurotransmitters in my brain and re-set them so that I would not have ADD and depression. He stated no. Darn it! (I was making a joke by the way). I really would have liked being releived of these two difficulties. I beleive my MO at least in part. I think the chemo may be able to make changes in the brain but perhaps not enough to make us better. Maybe it can effect how your antidepressant works with your new body chemistry. Your body has definately gone through changes if you went through chemo.

Since I work in mental health, I am particularly sensitive to such issues. Those with depression have enough of difficulty to deal with, without throwing breast cancer into the mix. If your primary care physician is the one perscribing the anti depressant he may want to refer you to a psychiatrist. Do not take this as an insult as the psychiatrist is more specialized in mental health issues and would have more knowlege about the effects of chemo on your body. If I run into this issue myself I may ask my primary care physician to refer me to a psychiatrist to get me on the right track or at least have him consult with one.

I am personally perscribing to you a daily intervention of one hour of comedy tv. I am a beleiver in the power of humor to heal a good many things. It is free and there are no adverse side effects from engaging in an hour of comedy. The worst that it can do to you is that you feel that you have wasted an hour of your life. People waste an hour of thier lives all the time. Also see if you can join an after cancer recovery group so that you do not feel alone with this. Journalling may also help. Keep in touch.

dbhadra said:

therapist
I just started seeing a therapist this week to deal with my feelings about breast cancer and what all is going on with my life. She described it as going through a tornado, and that's exactly how I feel. It's ripped through my life and I am standing and looking around at all the devastation.

We cannot expect ourselves to recover emotionally, immediately. I have read that it takes at least as long to recover as we were in treatment : for example, in my case I am in treatment from Dec 3 until September - so let;s say 10 months - I should not tell myself that I "should" feel normal until another 10 months after September - that following July! So be gentle with yourself and understand that what you are feeling is normal - though it does not make it less painful it does help, at least for me.

Laura