PTSD

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mwallace1325
mwallace1325 Member Posts: 806
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Does anyone know if what we go through emotionally is actually considered a form of PTSD? I certainly mean no disrespect to our military, police, firefighters, or victims of violent crimes, but I'm just curious.

marge

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  • sweetvickid
    sweetvickid Member Posts: 459 Member
    #2
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    It qualifies
    And it what my shrink says I have
  • survives
    survives Member Posts: 254 Member
    #3
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    sweetvickid said:

    It qualifies
    And it what my shrink says I have

    My pcp says
    that after all we've been through...no matter WHAT the treatment, that we do suffer from this. The emotional roller coaster is one that really takes it's toll.
  • carkris
    carkris Member Posts: 4,553 Member
    #4
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    survives said:

    My pcp says
    that after all we've been through...no matter WHAT the treatment, that we do suffer from this. The emotional roller coaster is one that really takes it's toll.

    yes it does

    yes it does
  • sea60
    sea60 Member Posts: 2,613
    #5
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    I would say so
    Going through cancer is very traumatic. I do liken it to being in a war zone with your own body.

    In my opinion, it absolutely does affect you, physically and emotionally.
  • reeseslover1234
    reeseslover1234 Member Posts: 87
    #6
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    PTSD?
    Hey Marge,

    I feel very strongly that it is a form of PTSD. I handled my initial dx, mastectomy, and chemo with a strong will to get through all of it. 6 months after my chemo was finished, I smelled a lotion that I hadn't used since the middle of chemo and I broke down. That smell took me back to the exact feelings that I physically had during chemo. The pain, the nausea, and the exhaustion were all back for just a few seconds, but that started a depression that I still take medication for. The Zoloft is helping, but I still get "tired" very quickly. I could easily spend time in the recliner on these days. I think when we are faced with cancer, it causes us to question our mortality and sometimes that's a lot to handle, so don't feel guilty about having these emotions. Get them out and deal with them. Hope this helps.

    Reese
  • Emilyfimily
    Emilyfimily Member Posts: 141
    #7
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    I think so!!
    I actually was diagnosed with PTSD about 2 months before I was diagnosed with cancer, but that was from other unrelated bad stuff that happened to me. But, now sometimes I have the weird "flashback/body-recall stuff" about chemo and cancer just like I do with the other stuff. And sometimes I have the same type of nightmares and post-nightmare-feelings etc from chemo/cancer/hospitals just like I do with the other stuff that initially caused my PTSD. So, yeah, I think the cancer and treatment experiences can cause some PTSD. It's scary and traumatic, and almost more-so than other things because we have to keep going through it - in the sense that we keep going for check-ups and have to keep being scared it'll come back.
  • mwallace1325
    mwallace1325 Member Posts: 806
    #8
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    Emilyfimily said:

    I think so!!
    I actually was diagnosed with PTSD about 2 months before I was diagnosed with cancer, but that was from other unrelated bad stuff that happened to me. But, now sometimes I have the weird "flashback/body-recall stuff" about chemo and cancer just like I do with the other stuff. And sometimes I have the same type of nightmares and post-nightmare-feelings etc from chemo/cancer/hospitals just like I do with the other stuff that initially caused my PTSD. So, yeah, I think the cancer and treatment experiences can cause some PTSD. It's scary and traumatic, and almost more-so than other things because we have to keep going through it - in the sense that we keep going for check-ups and have to keep being scared it'll come back.

    Thank you all
    Thank you all for your responses. Like I may have said my onc made me feel like I was crazy for asking him that last time I was there, you I really appreciate your insights into this. I'm so tired of crying at the drop of a hat, and being angry for seemingly no reason. On the other hand I'm sick of medication, but maybe adding an anti-anxiety or anti-depressant would help.

    I knew I could count on all of you. You always come through.

    marge
  • VickiSam
    VickiSam Member Posts: 9,079 Member
    #9
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    mwallace1325 said:

    Thank you all
    Thank you all for your responses. Like I may have said my onc made me feel like I was crazy for asking him that last time I was there, you I really appreciate your insights into this. I'm so tired of crying at the drop of a hat, and being angry for seemingly no reason. On the other hand I'm sick of medication, but maybe adding an anti-anxiety or anti-depressant would help.

    I knew I could count on all of you. You always come through.

    marge

    I really didn't want to say it out loud ...
    But we are NOT crazy .. We all come in different shapes, sizes and back grounds. Breast Cancer before and after efforts - can last a very short or long time .. depending on the person .. so we are NOT crazy. I just wish the doctors of our wonderful United States of America - recognized this as well.



    Vicki Sam
  • MAJW
    MAJW Member Posts: 2,510 Member
    #10
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    PTSD
    It's not disrepectful at all......

    I was told by my three physicians; surgeon, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist that it is exactly that, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder..... I was actually stunned when they said this, but it makes perfect sense! What we have gone through is traumatic! We "relive" our experience and trauma daily for a good, long time...... I had a major meltdown one week before my radiation treatments were over....not after chemo, though, just glad to have gotten through that...but the closer I came to my radiaton being over the more frightened I became....I had been fighting for my life for a solid 9 months every day......Now what do I do? I was sobbing, which is not like me, in my radiation oncologist's office.......I asked "now what?" That's when he explained the PTSD to me......said what I was feeling was perfectly normal, that he'd be worried if I felt differently......That I was in a position where I WAS fighting for my life, just like soldiers, etc....That "flash backs" of what I'd been through would come and go......mostly come for a good while.....I am now 9 months out of all treatment and I must say, I have a much more "normal" life now.......I try not to dwell on what happened and what I went through last year and not to dwell on the "what if it comes back" thoughts. Each of us are different in the way we have experienced our own personal trauma.......I know, personally, it takes time.....I was so impatient at first but I slowly began taking back my life...........It's so much easier now....but when I look back over the last year, there are days when I simply cannot believe that I went through all of this..surgery, chemo, radiation.....I just pat myself on the back, toot my own horn and tell myself "JOB WELL DONE!"

    Peace be with you and to us all,
    Nancy
  • lillith
    lillith Member Posts: 29
    #11
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    post trauma stress
    It seems that anyone who goes thru life threatening illness, surgery, treatment that feels more severe than the disease, brain dysfunction, life-changing fatigue, trauma-induced life alterations and permanent uncertainty afterwards is probably going to have PTSD.

    I think it has to do with how the brain handles such horrible information. to the brain, it's not very different from being in a war.
  • mariam_11_09
    mariam_11_09 Member Posts: 691
    #12
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    I read that up to 32% of

    I read that up to 32% of cancer patients develop a form of PTSD. I can see that. For me, while I was on AC, it felt like torture. No joke! And often thought of people who had endured toture.
  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    #13
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    anything that effects your life-I agree can be PTSD
    Death, Illness, witnessing something...
  • lizzie17
    lizzie17 Member Posts: 548
    #14
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    yes
    I feel like that is true and it explains how I feel sometimes.
    It has been a life-changing, horrific experience for me.
  • VickiSam
    VickiSam Member Posts: 9,079 Member
    #15
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    lizzie17 said:

    yes
    I feel like that is true and it explains how I feel sometimes.
    It has been a life-changing, horrific experience for me.

    bumping up ...
    Vicki Sam
  • Lighthouse_7
    Lighthouse_7 Member Posts: 1,566 Member
    #16
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    VickiSam said:

    bumping up ...
    Vicki Sam

    Yes I think it does too.

    Yes I think it does too.
  • CypressCynthia
    CypressCynthia Member Posts: 4,014 Member
    #17
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    It has been looked at that
    It has been looked at that way and it appears that, in particular, women with anxiety and mood disorders are at risk for PTSD.

    See:
    ANXIETY, MOOD DISORDERS PUT CANCER PATIENTS AT RISK FOR PTSD

    Personally, I think we all have PTSD to some degree and that is the reason why it is so hard (mentally) for us to take tests and wait on their results--it brings it all back.
  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    #18
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    PTSD is very real!
    Any of us are 'open' to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)! A Traumatic Stress is a TRAUMATIC Stress! Unfortunately, there is so little known at this time about the overall potential of it and rather or not there are different 'levels' (for lack of a better word), is not known at this time. There is a lot of reseasrch going on - THANKFULLY.

    http://www.ptsdsupport.net/biology&PTSD.html has information on the Biology of PTSD.

    The Retreat I went to this past weekend dealt with a lot of PTSD issues but I'm not about to reveal anything on the internet.

    If you're having issues (or think you might be) PLEASE contact someone EXPERIENCED with PTSD - there is help and the longer that no help is gotten the worse it becomes.

    Prayers!

    Susan
  • mellk
    mellk Member Posts: 10
    #19
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    reeseslover1234 said:

    PTSD?
    Hey Marge,

    I feel very strongly that it is a form of PTSD. I handled my initial dx, mastectomy, and chemo with a strong will to get through all of it. 6 months after my chemo was finished, I smelled a lotion that I hadn't used since the middle of chemo and I broke down. That smell took me back to the exact feelings that I physically had during chemo. The pain, the nausea, and the exhaustion were all back for just a few seconds, but that started a depression that I still take medication for. The Zoloft is helping, but I still get "tired" very quickly. I could easily spend time in the recliner on these days. I think when we are faced with cancer, it causes us to question our mortality and sometimes that's a lot to handle, so don't feel guilty about having these emotions. Get them out and deal with them. Hope this helps.

    Reese

    glad I am not the only one
    "That smell took me back to the exact feelings that I physically had during chemo. The pain, the nausea, and the exhaustion were all back for just a few seconds"

    I get that when I see the blanket they gave me on my first chemo. I feel the pinch in my port, I feel sick to my stomach etc...

    Now that I am done with my surgery and I am going back for post op chemo next week and I am having nightmares, I feel throbbing in my chest around my port ...

    I guess I feel a little better now that I know I'm not the only one.

    Mel
  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    #20
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    mellk said:

    glad I am not the only one
    "That smell took me back to the exact feelings that I physically had during chemo. The pain, the nausea, and the exhaustion were all back for just a few seconds"

    I get that when I see the blanket they gave me on my first chemo. I feel the pinch in my port, I feel sick to my stomach etc...

    Now that I am done with my surgery and I am going back for post op chemo next week and I am having nightmares, I feel throbbing in my chest around my port ...

    I guess I feel a little better now that I know I'm not the only one.

    Mel

    Please - seek help! It is
    Please - seek help! It is very real and will not 'go away' alone. The sooner the help is found the sooner you can start fighting it and return to 'normalacy' (whatever that is LOL).

    Susan

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