Addiction after cancer treatment?

Nowwhattodo
Nowwhattodo Member Posts: 2
in Breast Cancer #1
Is there help for the women who was an alcoholic before cancer, still can't kick the habit?

Comments

  • camul
    camul Member Posts: 2,537
    #2
    I am sure there is help
    I would talk to your oncologist. Most have someone in the office who works in advocacy where they have more information on the services available in the area. If insurance is an issue, they may have connections for programs that work on a scale or may be able to get insurance to cover treatment due to the affects of alcohol and cancer.

    I wish you the best. I have a brother kind of in the same boat, except he doesn't want to quit now or do tx, but a few weeks ago he did. He was able to find a program though the University Medical center, but then decided against it. I realize how hard it is, and I just think that the best way to find out what is available in the area may be your oncologist and hopefully he/she would do everything they could to help you with this. I would also call your local chapter of the American Cancer Society. It is amazing how many programs there are for us that we don't hear about unless we specifically ask.

    Prayers and the best to you.
    Carol
  • MAJW
    MAJW Member Posts: 2,510 Member
    #3
    camul said:

    I am sure there is help
    I would talk to your oncologist. Most have someone in the office who works in advocacy where they have more information on the services available in the area. If insurance is an issue, they may have connections for programs that work on a scale or may be able to get insurance to cover treatment due to the affects of alcohol and cancer.

    I wish you the best. I have a brother kind of in the same boat, except he doesn't want to quit now or do tx, but a few weeks ago he did. He was able to find a program though the University Medical center, but then decided against it. I realize how hard it is, and I just think that the best way to find out what is available in the area may be your oncologist and hopefully he/she would do everything they could to help you with this. I would also call your local chapter of the American Cancer Society. It is amazing how many programs there are for us that we don't hear about unless we specifically ask.

    Prayers and the best to you.
    Carol

    AA...
    Check your local chapter...there are daily meetings...also as Carol said, speak to your oncologist..... you need to be VERY HONEST with him or her...very important...

    Wish you the very best...
  • serenity92
    serenity92 Member Posts: 84
    #4
    Hey there, my name is Jayne
    Hey there, my name is Jayne and if you look at my screen name it is Serenity92...thats when I got clean and sober. Getting sober with cancer is the same as without it. You have already taken the first step by recognizing you have a problem and reaching out for help. The other replies had some good advice. I found myself a community of sober people like the one mentioned in a previous reply who were there for me so that I did not have to take that next drink when I wanted it. I live by some very simple rules...One day at a time...keep it simple...Dont let your head hit the pillow at night without thinking about three things you are grateful for and do the same thing before your feet hit the floor in the morning. Sometimes the things I have been grateful for were as simple as a good parking place at the grocery store and sometimes they were bigger like my leukemia labs are measuring good and so I dont have to have a bone marrow biopsy done for awhile. Dont stop with this post...reach out. People are seldom successful when they try to battle addiction alone. While we may be able to stop using we still need to deal with the issues that make us want to use. Best Wishes..
  • Nowwhattodo
    Nowwhattodo Member Posts: 2
    #5
    serenity92 said:

    Hey there, my name is Jayne
    Hey there, my name is Jayne and if you look at my screen name it is Serenity92...thats when I got clean and sober. Getting sober with cancer is the same as without it. You have already taken the first step by recognizing you have a problem and reaching out for help. The other replies had some good advice. I found myself a community of sober people like the one mentioned in a previous reply who were there for me so that I did not have to take that next drink when I wanted it. I live by some very simple rules...One day at a time...keep it simple...Dont let your head hit the pillow at night without thinking about three things you are grateful for and do the same thing before your feet hit the floor in the morning. Sometimes the things I have been grateful for were as simple as a good parking place at the grocery store and sometimes they were bigger like my leukemia labs are measuring good and so I dont have to have a bone marrow biopsy done for awhile. Dont stop with this post...reach out. People are seldom successful when they try to battle addiction alone. While we may be able to stop using we still need to deal with the issues that make us want to use. Best Wishes..

    Thank you, I feel insane
    Thank you, I feel insane after the treatment I endured you would think I would want to embrace life! Instead I am hurting myself! Thanks again I will find the right way to get help!
  • serenity92
    serenity92 Member Posts: 84
    #6
    Nowwhattodo said:

    Thank you, I feel insane
    Thank you, I feel insane after the treatment I endured you would think I would want to embrace life! Instead I am hurting myself! Thanks again I will find the right way to get help!

    Keep us posted...hugs, Jayne

    Keep us posted...hugs, Jayne
  • Lorianna
    Lorianna Member Posts: 7
    #7
    There is a solution
    I just completed almost a year of breast cancer treatment in December: chemo-surgery-radiation. I have been sober with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous for more than 20 years, and do not know how I would have survived this past year without the help and support of my A.A. friends. Please do yourself a huge, huge favor--just pick up the phone and call A.A. in your area, or get online, find out where the meetings are, and then just show up at any meeting. You will be given an opportunity to talk, but need not say anything if you don't want to. I would recommend, though, that you briefly describe your situation at a meeting and you will be surprised at at the warm welcome you receive. You will also be surprised to discover that A.A. is full of wonderful, positive and helpful people from all walks of life who are also a lot of fun! When I first went in, I thought I would never have a good time again, and that turned out to be just the opposite. You have no idea what the rewards of sober living are until you have experienced it. You have many, many friends in A.A. already--they are saving you a seat right now, and are looking forward to meeting you. There is nothing to fear, nothing to lose, just do it! I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Please let us know how you are doing.
  • DebbyM
    DebbyM Member Posts: 3,289 Member
    #8
    Nowwhattodo said:

    Thank you, I feel insane
    Thank you, I feel insane after the treatment I endured you would think I would want to embrace life! Instead I am hurting myself! Thanks again I will find the right way to get help!

    Just want you to know that
    Just want you to know that we are all here for you. Please post and let us know how you are doing.


    Hugs, Debby
  • AMomNETN
    AMomNETN Member Posts: 242
    #9
    AA
    I'm about to enter my 8th year of soberity in May. That date to me is more important than my surgery date. I strongely recommend finding AA meetings. There should be a number in your phone book that can tell you where a meeting is. I called that number, they told me where a meeting was. I went and then got a schedule for other meetings in my town. I found a women's group that has seen me through everything for the past 7 yrs. Just go and listen, you don't have to say anything if you don't want too. I went to meetings for 4-6 months before I ever spoke or admitted I was an alcoholic. In a way AA is like this site, they know where you've been and where you can go if you want to do the work. I'm not sure I could have made it through treatment with cancer if I'd been drinking. I was shocked that I didn't drink when I found out I had cancer but I didn't. :-) I hope this helps but like our cancer journey, becoming clean and sober reqires hard work and people who understand what you are going through. Believe it or not we actually laugh at these meetings. Feel free to PM me. I wish you the best in the next phase of your journey.
  • Pam5
    Pam5 Member Posts: 232
    #10
    AMomNETN said:

    AA
    I'm about to enter my 8th year of soberity in May. That date to me is more important than my surgery date. I strongely recommend finding AA meetings. There should be a number in your phone book that can tell you where a meeting is. I called that number, they told me where a meeting was. I went and then got a schedule for other meetings in my town. I found a women's group that has seen me through everything for the past 7 yrs. Just go and listen, you don't have to say anything if you don't want too. I went to meetings for 4-6 months before I ever spoke or admitted I was an alcoholic. In a way AA is like this site, they know where you've been and where you can go if you want to do the work. I'm not sure I could have made it through treatment with cancer if I'd been drinking. I was shocked that I didn't drink when I found out I had cancer but I didn't. :-) I hope this helps but like our cancer journey, becoming clean and sober reqires hard work and people who understand what you are going through. Believe it or not we actually laugh at these meetings. Feel free to PM me. I wish you the best in the next phase of your journey.

    Sobriety
    I just celebrated 25 years of continuous sobriety December 11th - coincidentally Bill Wilson's AA birthday. I was not sober the first time I had breast cancer 27 years ago. I was sober the second time 17 years ago and I cannot say enough about what a different and more positive experience it was. Alcohol is a depressant and I didn't need to be more depressed or anxious than I was. Also I knew that alcohol and drugs lower the immune system and I sure didn't need that. I also have to say that each day I know, beyond any doubt whatsoever, that I want my sobriety more than anything in my life because, if I didn't have it, I would lose everything I so dearly cherish in my life - family, friends, work I love, and most of all my connection with my Higher Power. After my mastectomy 17 years ago, I didn't want to take pain meds. My doc told me that if I didn't I wouldn't heal. I did take some home with me but the first time I took one and felt stoned, I threw the rest away, and switched to Ibuprofen. That worked just fine. If you haven't been to AA, try it. If you don't believe in a Higher Power, use all the energy in the "rooms" as your high power. Overall my pink sister, you have to want your life and your sobriety more than anything else. You deserve both.

    Love,
    Pam

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