Help with cancer-related anxiety

@michelle888 I’m sorry you’re going through this. I have found comfort in knowing I’m not alone in experiencing similar anxiety to you. There is a great online support group I often attend. It’s for those with non-metastatic breast cancer, so not sure about your diagnosis. It’s a warm, caring community led by helpful facilitators. More about it in the link below. Whatever you do, I hope you find ways to help relieve your stress. Hugs.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/event/non-metastatic-breast-cancer-support-group-meeting-breast-cancer-support-network-2af65672/

Thank you so much. I will check it out. I've been having a difficult time finding good support groups.

@michelle888
True Restorative yoga where positions are held for a several minutes is great; a friend calls it “assisted napping.”

Also check out books by Buddhist nun Pema Chodron. I’m not Buddhist, but still appreciated her work and was helpful during difficult periods. Sparse and very easy read.

@michelle888
I too have joined the breast cancer support nextwork that beekay has suggested. It is very helpful. Also your health insurance may cover mental health counseling as part of your cancer care.

Hi

Very sorry you are experiencing PTSD and anxiety. I understand how you feel as I have had anxiety following breast cancer, as well. I can imagine it is very stressful.

I feel the FREE RED DOOR Reikki, and other on line and in person meditation and support groups are helpful.

Have you thought of asking your hospital MD surgeon or oncologist to refer you to Insurance covered hospital MSW, Psychologist or MD counseling covered by your insurance for the anxiety and PTSD? They are specifically trained in cancer related anxiety and PTSD.

YOU TUBE offers FREE - Belle Ruth Naperstek MSW Stress and added Guided Meditations which were personally helpful.

Thank you for your openness and courage. It is so helpful to find others who have experienced similar fears challenges .

I hope you will find a counselor/ therapist feel better soon.

Best,
S.

I agree with all those suggestions, but accepting that you belong to a new SISTERHOOD of BC is some you have to begin to welcome into your life. You may not know because this is your new normal, but BC is all around you. Share your journey with others, don't hesitate to say BC to anyone and everyone because it truly is everywhere.
I'm down the Shore, walked into a touristy shop looking for something similar that my parents gave me 78 years ago. Y the time I left, the male mgr and a female customer shared their BC stories, as well as the woman renting next to me. Welcome to the SISTERHOOD!

Good suggestions and I would add to explore Chi Gong (qigong) practice which has the potential to integrate the mind and body that promotes all manner of healing: physical, mental and spiritual.

@smith777

Hi
I empathize with your anxiety and PTSD. I can imagine the stress is very difficult.
Simply adding: RED DOOR offers online FREE - YOGA classes and aded on line classes that may be helpful.
The hospital based MSW, Ph.D., and MDs are highly trained in cancer related anxiety and PTSD treatment and should be covered by Insurance. I feel they may be helpful.
I hope this is helpful.

Best
S.

@smith777 Thank you!

#1- Ask God to guide you.
#2- Put your thoughts out there to a social media group where you have friends (make sure your filters are set for friends only). That helped me -almost a year ago, when I was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma AND the day after I got out of the hospital from a radical nephrectomy, was told my mammogram was abnormal (the clinic called while I was hospitalized but I was too sick to talk). Invasive Ductal Carcinoma x2; a tumor in each breast, stages I & II, respectively. Separate cancers.

My anxiety went thru the roof! I thought I was being punished.
Doc gave me pills but I tried once or twice and they didn't help.
I had gone through intensive chemo and pelvic radiation for Stage II Anal (-squamous cell carcinoma) in 2011. Yes, I have LT SE from that.
I had just bought a house (last year. The cancerous tumor-kidney, was discovered the day after I "closed" on the house.
Anyway, after a couple of months I just put it out there, on FB, as I know I have a LOT of friends, far and wide, who believe in prayer. For those who don't believe in God, they sent "positive vibes", which I happily accepted.
I did talk to a counselor, briefly, but the FB helped the most --and I don't post about my condition constantly....
#3- Take slow, deep breaths and say, "Fuck it! This is NOT going to ruin my day!"
(p.s. - I had a double mastectomy, w/o reconstruction, exactly three months after my Nephrectomy. I had complications with one drain constantly clotting, my surgeon retired 3 weeks after my surgery!!..unbeknownst to me, prior to surgery- and months of very painful bruising , adhesions "tightness"; same side the drain clotted. Oddly, the Stage I side. The left breast had a larger tumor plus a "suspicious" area, and I had had a large lumpectomy there in 2004, for microcalcifications; which hurt like he'll. No problems with THAT side...Anyway. the tightness is better now, after PT and nine months post surgery).
Hugs!