Tag Archive for: cancer

Cancer Trauma: How To Know If You’re At Risk and Key Strategies for Recovery

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The impact of cancer extends beyond the merely physical. While treatment targets cancer specifically in the body, the experience doesn’t leave the mind, spirit or emotions untouched.  The toll it takes has been likened to a natural disaster or trauma. In fact, recent studies have put forward the theory that surviving cancer fits the framework of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). [1] The term PTSD is commonly used to describe a range of symptoms an individual may develop in response to experiencing a traumatic event, in which bodily harm was experienced or threatened.

Most people associate PTSD with war veterans and victims of violent crime, but any life experience in which our safety and mortality are threatened can trigger PTSD. The physical and mental shock of having a life-threatening disease is a traumatic event for many cancer patients.[2] The experience of trying to get back to normal after cancer treatment ends mirrors that of returning combat soldiers. The immediate crisis is over but our sense of security is shattered, leaving us feeling unsettled and vulnerable.

And what of those for whom treatment doesn’t end?  Metastatic breast cancer patient, Abigail Johnston points out that “for men and women enduring the trauma of cancer treatment, the trauma is never over… reminders exist everywhere, ready to pop out when least expected to wreak havoc.” [3]

Could You Have Cancer-Related PTSD?

The symptoms of PTSD are similar to those of other states such as depression and anxiety, but one of the main signs that distinguishes PTSD is re-experiencing the traumatic event, often in the form of recurrent dreams or intrusive thoughts.  These may consist of persistent memories of taste, smell, touch, and sound (for example you may still be able to “taste” the metallic taste of chemotherapy when you think about the event).

A number of risk factors may make you more vulnerable to PTSD.   Your life experiences, including the amount and severity of trauma you’ve gone through since early childhood; having a high level of stress or other mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression; lacking a good support system of family and friends; and the way you deal with stress are all contributing factors.  On the other hand, certain factors, such as increased social support, accurate information and supportive medical staff may lower the risk of developing PTSD.

Signs and Symptoms of PTSD

Symptoms of PTSD can arise suddenly, gradually, or come and go over time.  Sometimes symptoms appear seemingly out of the blue. At other times, they are triggered by something like the anniversary of your diagnosis or surgery, follow-up scans, or a certain image, sound or smell.

There is no right or wrong way to think, feel, or respond to cancer, but it’s important to know which symptoms and signs to look out for, so you can put strategies in place to deal with it. People react in different ways to traumatic events and you may experience some or all of the following reactions to a greater or lesser degree.

  • Re-living the traumatic event: Intense memories of the time around your diagnosis, flashbacks or nightmares, especially if accompanied by symptoms like racing heartbeat, shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, or uncontrollable shaking.
  • Increased arousal: Feeling hyper-alert ( the “fight” and “flight” reaction is always on even though there is no present danger at hand), on edge, irritable, easily startled or angered; mood swings, difficulty sleeping or concentrating.
  • Avoidance: Staying away from places that remind you of the traumatic time (for example, avoidance of follow-up appointments).

8 Key Strategies and Tips for Recovery

 

1. Acknowledge and accept your feelings

Don’t deny or ignore how you are feeling. Accepting your feelings is part of the healing process. Allow yourself to feel what you feel without judgment or guilt. Remember,  there is no right or wrong way to think, feel, or respond to cancer.  Be compassionate to yourself and patient with the pace of recovery.  Talk through your fears with someone you trust. Try journaling, art or other creative outlets to help you work through your feelings.

2. Avoid obsessive thinking

While it’s  important not to ignore your feelings, obsessively dwelling on them will slow the healing process down.  One tip is to designate one or two 10-minute periods each day, time in which you can fully focus on your feelings. When intrusive thoughts come into your head during the day, write them down and “postpone” them to the period you’ve designated.

3. Reduce your stress

Make relaxation a part of your regular routine. Learn to meditate, practice yoga, take a walk in nature or do whatever it is that helps you relax and unwind. Relaxation is not a luxury – it is a necessary step in your recovery.

4. Take regular exercise

Regular exercise boosts serotonin, endorphins, and other feel-good brain chemicals.  It’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce stress and anxiety, helping you feel grounded in times of emotional stress.

5. Eat a healthy diet

A healthy body increases your ability to cope with stress from a trauma.  Foods rich in certain omega-3 fats—such as salmon, walnuts, soybeans, and flaxseeds—can give your mood a boost. Avoid caffeine, alcohol and nicotine, which can worsen symptoms.

6. Get plenty of sleep

Poor sleep can make your trauma symptoms worse. Go to sleep and get up at the same time each day and aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night.

7. Pay attention to triggers

Anniversaries of your surgery, diagnosis and other cancer-related milestones can reawaken memories and feelings. Plan ahead for those times.

8. Connect with others

Following a trauma, you may want to withdraw from others, but isolation makes things worse. Research shows that support from others is an important part of your healing journey.  Look to cancer support groups in your area or search online for groups.   Talking to a psycho-oncologist or counsellor can also help.

When to Seek Help

It’s normal to feel anxious and unsettled after a traumatic event such as cancer.  A diagnosis of cancer is distressing, the treatments and side effects are stressful, and the fear of recurrence is frightening.  Most people find the intensity of their feelings will ease in a relatively short period of time, but for some the feelings will stick around or increase in intensity.

If painful thoughts and intrusive memories last longer than a month, and begin to cause problems in your  personal relationships, employment, or other important areas of daily life,  it’s important to seek a professional diagnosis of PTSD. The sooner PTSD is tackled, the easier it is to overcome.  Unfortunately, many patients are not referred to psycho-oncology services to be assessed and treated, as high levels of sadness and anxiety are often perceived as ‘normal’ reactions to cancer diagnosis and treatment,[4] so it may be up to you to advocate for your own assessment.

Types of treatment can include cognitive-behavioral therapy (adapting negative ways of thinking into more positive ones to help “re-frame” the traumatic experience); exposure therapy (to help you safely face the thing that you find frightening); medication (antidepressants/anti-anxiety drugs); and psychotherapy. When looking for a therapist, seek out mental health professionals who specialize in the treatment of trauma and PTSD.

You may also want to consider a form of treatment called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which incorporates elements of cognitive-behavioral and exposure therapy with rhythmic eye movements designed to stimulate the information-processing system in the brain. The aim of the treatment is to help you process the traumatic events, and speed up recovery.

Conclusion

A trauma like cancer shatters our sense of security,  making us feel powerless and vulnerable. Taking positive action towards recovery directly challenges this sense of helplessness and helps us regain a sense of control.  It can take time to get over the trauma and feel safe again.  But by seeking treatment, reaching out for support, and developing new coping skills you can heal and move on with your life.

[1] The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders introduced malignant disease in its definition of PTSD in 1994.

[2]  The National Cancer Institute estimates that approximately 35% of patients experiencing cancer may suffer symptoms of PTSD.

[3] No Half Measures. “The Violence of Cancer” https://nohalfmeasures.blog/2020/01/09/the-violence-of-cancer/

[4] Leano, A., Korman, M. B., Goldberg, L., & Ellis, J. (2019). Are we missing PTSD in our patients with cancer? Part I. Canadian oncology nursing journal = Revue canadienne de nursing oncologique, 29(2), 141–146.

Let’s Start Healthy Habits to Reduce Your Cancer Risk

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Living a healthy lifestyle can be very helpful in reducing your risk of contracting various diseases, including heart diseases, osteoporosis, stroke, and diabetes.  You might not believe it, but just by eating healthy, exercising regularly, and incorporating healthy eating habits, you can reduce the risk of one of the most dreadful diseases, cancer.

Nowadays, cancer has become quite common. Studies have shown that our lifestyle choices play a vital role in reducing your risk for this dreadful disease. Here are some simple tips that can be very helpful in cancer risk reduction.

Cancer Risk Reduction:

1. Maintain a Healthy Weight

We all understand the importance of maintaining a healthy weight. Still, many of us fail to maintain our body weight. If you are overweight, the first and foremost thing that you need to do is avoid adding any more extra kilos. Once you start keeping a check on your weight, it would automatically help in improving your health. Once you achieve this goal, put some extra effort and try to reduce your weight by a few pounds.

Tips for weight loss:

  • Do regular exercise or indulge yourself in physical activity.
  • Focus more on eating fresh fruits and vegetables.
  • Avoid taking fried food, canned food, and sweetened aerated drinks

For faster results, you can even take phentermine. Phentermine is found to be very useful in weight loss when accompanied by regular physical activity and a healthy diet. The best part of this supplement is the availability of “online phentermine prescription”

2. Don’t use tobacco

We all are well aware of the ill-effects of smoking. Smoking may result in various kinds of cancer like lung cancer, bladder cancer, cervix cancer, mouth cancer, pancreas cancer, larynx cancer, kidney, and bladder cancer. It’s not only active smokers that have higher chances of getting cancer. Passive smokers, too, have higher chances of getting cancer of lungs.

Hence, avoiding tobacco products or quitting smoking completely is very important if you want to reduce your risk of cancer. Quitting such addictions is not easy. But with determination, strong will power, and support of your family and loved ones, you will be able to quit it. If you want, you can seek help from professionals.

3. Protect yourself from the sun

We all know the importance of sunlight for sustaining life on earth. But, too much exposure to the sunlight may cause skin cancer. Tips to protect yourself from skin cancer caused due to sunlight:

Sun rays are strongest between morning 10 to evening 4. So avoid going out at this time of the day. Try to keep yourself in the shade when you are outside. Wearing hats, glares, and applying sunscreen lotion can be very helpful. Avoid using sun lamps and tanning beds.

4. Cancers that should be tested for regularly:

Going for regular check-ups is very important if you want to reduce your risk of cancer. Numerous tests help in detecting cancer at an early stage. Early the stage of detection higher is the chances of survival. In the case of breast and cervical cancer, women are recommended to go for cancer screening tests at an interval of six months. These simple screening could save thousands of women’s lives every year.

Cancers for which screening test should be taken frequently:

  1. Breast cancer
  2. Cervical cancer
  3. Lung cancer

5. Avoid alcohol and if you take it, take it in moderation

Drinking alcohol increases the chances of getting cancer. Taking a drink or two occasionally might not be that harmful, but people who drink regularly that too in quite large quantities should try to overcome this addiction. If you want to quit drinking, you can start by avoiding parties and gatherings which are centered around alcohol. Try taking non-alcoholic drinks at parties. If needed, consult a health-care professional. Avoiding alcohol would not only save your liver but would also reduce the chances of getting liver cancer.

6. Avoid risky behaviors

Another essential health tip that would help you in reducing your risk of cancer is to avoid getting indulge in dangerous habits.

Practice safe sex:

Sexually transmitted diseases are found to be a major cause for various types of cancer, including cancer of lung, anus, and liver. Always follow healthy sexual habits. Try to have a monogamous relationship. Whenever possible, talk to your kids about the importance of safe sex. If possible, get your kids vaccinated against HPV at the right age.

Avoid sharing needles:

Sharing needles is another reason for the transmission of HIV. Besides this, sharing needles with a person having Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B would result in the transfer of these diseases, which may further increase the chances of having liver cancer. If you are looking forward to getting rid of drug addiction, taking help from a professional could be very beneficial.

Cancer is a very dangerous disease. It not only affects the patient, but it hampers the life of the people surrounding who are connected with the patient. If, by following some healthy habits, we can reduce the risk of these diseases, believe me, it is worth every effort. Eat healthily and live a healthy lifestyle and reduce your risk of the health monster named Cancer from entering into your life.

Patient Profile: Perseverance and Positive Thinking Helped This Young Mother

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Cancer is a stealthy assailant. Symptoms can be nonexistent or masquerade as some other ailment. When a medical professional utters the “C” word, the shock can be intense.

“I had no idea,” said Lindsay Hutchings of the softball-sized tumor that had been growing in her chest behind her breastbone. “I just knew I didn’t feel right.”

Lindsay was 34 at the time of her diagnosis. A mother of two young children, she never suspected cancer when she started feeling unwell. It was October. Time for picking Halloween costumes and the season when colds spread like wildfire through schools.  A mom with young kids feeling fatigued and achy was nothing to be alarmed about.

Lindsay went to a walk-in clinic. When she didn’t improve, she went to her primary care doctor. She was given antibiotics. She was tested for the flu and then mono. Allergies were blamed and antihistamines suggested. Every week she was back in either the walk-in clinic or her primary care doctor’s office.  Until one morning she woke up with a swollen neck and jaw.  She knew this was not just a stubborn cold. She knew it wasn’t allergies.

“This time I was diagnosed with a sinus infection and referred to an Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) physician. It was frustrating because I knew it wasn’t a sinus infection. I just didn’t have any idea what it could be.”

By this point, Lindsay’s husband, Jake, was going to appointments with her in hopes he might think of some question or detail she had missed. The ENT doctor examined Lindsay and listened to the path that had brought her and her husband to see him. He scoped Lindsay’s sinuses and found nothing.

Then he ordered a CAT scan and posed the possibility that Lindsay’s symptoms might not be related to a virus, allergy, or superbug. It might be cancer.

She was told to expect to wait three weeks for the results of her CAT scan because of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, but the ENT called her after a few days with the results.  He suspected lymphoma and referred her to an oncologist.

Lindsay started the New Year off by having two biopsies and a PET scan to confirm what the ENT had suspected.  Four months after she first began feeling off, Lindsay had an answer. It was Stage IIB Hodgkin Lymphoma.

About Hodgkin Lymphoma

Cancers that start in white blood cells—also called lymphocytes–are categorized as lymphomas. The two main types of lymphomas are Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Hodgkin Lymphoma. Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) can start in any lymphoid tissue in the body, such as the spleen, bone marrow, thymus, adenoids or tonsils. However, it most often starts in lymph nodes in the upper part of the body. Lymph nodes are bean-sized collections of lymphocytes and other immune system cells and are located throughout the body.

The causes and triggers for HL are unknown. Children and adults can develop Hodgkin Lymphoma. The average age at the time of diagnosis is 39. Although there is a higher rate of lymphomas in people with immune disorders, there is usually no known risk factor or cause for people diagnosed with HL.

There are four subtypes of classic HL and a rarer form of HL called nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL). Treatment for the disease varies depending on what type the patient has, what stage the disease is in (I, II, III, or IV), and whether certain other symptoms are present (called B symptoms).

Cancer’s Emotional Side Effects: Shock, Optimism & Guilt

From the first mention of lymphoma by the ENT physician Lindsay began researching the disease online. She went to her first post-diagnosis oncology appointment armed with questions. Her oncologist patiently answered her questions and laid out a treatment plan he felt confident was the right one. He explained the survival rates were high and the rates of recurrence of HL were low. He assured Lindsay and Jake her prognosis was good.

“I was in shock. I had no idea what I was doing but he was responsive and reassuring. I would call or email my oncologist between appointments with questions and he always responded. It really helped me be positive and more confident,” Lindsay explained.

She needed that positive confidence to help with the first challenge that followed on the heels or her diagnosis. She and Jake had to sit down with their daughters—who were just four and seven—to explain their mommy had cancer and what that meant for their family.

Lindsay’s mother had passed away from lung cancer just two years prior.  It was hard for seven-year-old Delaney to understand that this cancer was different from her grandmother’s.  She became anxious after the effects of treatment began taking their toll that Lindsay might die just as her grandmother had.

Her younger daughter had a hard time distinguishing the kind of sick her mommy was from the everyday illnesses she and her friends might have.

And of course, once treatment began, there was a lot Lindsay couldn’t do for her children anymore. Some days she couldn’t get out of bed. Often Lindsay was unable to take them to school or help with homework. She stopped volunteering at their schools. A low point for their family came early in Lindsey’s treatment when Delaney came home from school sick Lindsay had to avoid being near her. Meanwhile, her husband worked from home as much as he could or took time off to care for Lindsay and their daughters.

Lindsay admits, “I still feel guilt for the burden I put on my family.”

The Cancer Journey Continues

Lindsay’s cancer was treated with chemotherapy and radiation. There were side effects, of course:  exhaustion, chemobrain, nausea, constipation, blood clots.  She had to get daily shots of blood thinners in the doctor’s office, which brought other risks and complications. There were moments of panic when it seemed the tumor had stopped responding and additional biopsies followed.  But in the end, nearly a year after Lindsay first began experiencing symptoms, she was declared cancer-free.

There is a sense of victory from beating cancer. But like many other cancer survivors, Lindsay can’t say her cancer journey has truly concluded.

“At this point I am cancer-free, but I’m paranoid. It [the tumor] got so big without me knowing! I feel like some part of me will always worry.”

Ten to 30 percent of HL patients experience recurrence of the disease, with recurrence being lowest for those who are treated in the early stages of the disease. However, rates of developing a second cancer are higher for HL survivors than the general public regardless of whether the lymphoma returns.

Lindsay will have quarterly follow-up visits and two scans this year to screen for recurrence. As long as her results remain normal, she can scale back to annual screenings the following year. However, because she’s now at higher risks for other medical issues, she needs annual screenings by a cardiologist and pulmonologist. She will have annual mammograms now, instead of waiting until age 40 or 45. She has a roster of doctors at a time of life when many of her peers are in peak health.

The upside, Lindsay says, is that if any of her friends or family ever need a recommendation for a specialist in town, she has her list ready!

In addition to the health concerns she will carry, Lindsay also continues to deal with fatigue. Fortunately, while undergoing treatment Lindsay was able to connect with, Brittany, a two-time survivor of Hodgkin Lymphoma.  Brittany used to teach at Delaney’s school and when she heard about Lindsay’s diagnosis, she tracked down her phone number from a friend because she knew from experience how helpful it is to hear perspective and encouragement from someone who has been there before.

“When I went to my appointments, I was usually the youngest person in the office by decades,” Lindsay explained. Talking to someone closer to her own age has helped.

In addition to finding a connection with a fellow survivor, Lindsay is also grateful for the support she and her family received from friends and family in their community. During her treatment, Jake and Lindsay’s family helped as they could.  But there was also an outpouring of support from friends and acquaintances who helped with meals, gift cards, and donating to a GoFundMe account for the family.

“If I could give one piece of advice,” Lindsay says, “it would be to build your community. If we didn’t have friends and family to help get us through, I don’t know what we would’ve done. You can’t be involved in your community or volunteer or even go to church when you are sick. But I am so grateful that we were involved and active before the diagnosis.”

At a time when she saw few people and did very little outside of her home, she felt buoyed by the care and concern of from relationships she’d established before her illness. So, along with the guilt and worry she may carry forward from her cancer journey, she will also carry an abiding appreciation for the value of a supportive community.

Life for the Hutchings family is gradually settling back into normalcy, with family vacations and school schedules supplanting doctors’ appointments and treatments. Lindsay can begin to enjoy her new mantle of ‘cancer survivor’ with increasing confidence. But rather than consign the experience to something that “happened” to her, she is sharing what’s she learned from the experience. She would not claim to be an expert in cancer and its treatment options. But she does advocate for the power of building relationships and positive thinking. These are lessons that can help others whether they are confronting cancer or any other life-altering ordeal.

Three Night Time Activities To Help Cancer Patients Fall Asleep Quickly

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Battling cancer is, undoubtedly, tough. On any given day, you might find yourself feeling so sick that you can’t even get out of bed. Being relegated to bed and struggling to even fall asleep can feel utterly disheartening. Adopting some healthy habits in your sleep routine can help to ease your body and mind into sleep more quickly and easily, letting you get some much needed rest and recharge.

Why Does Cancer Alter Your Sleep?

There are a lot of side-effects that you might experience as a result of your cancer treatment. Though one of the most common side-effects is fatigue, many patients also find that they have difficulty sleeping, which only exacerbates their feeling of  fatigue and sleep-deprivation. These sleeping problems can be the result of many factors such as newly developed sleep disorders, physical triggers, and psychological triggers.

Sleep Disorders

It is incredibly common for cancer patients to experience insomnia, which refers to any number of factors that make it difficult for someone to fall asleep and/or stay asleep. People with a serious illness are at an increased risk for insomnia. In fact, while about 20% to 30% of the healthy population suffers insomnia, over half of all cancer patients have reported facing periods of insomnia.

To be clear, insomnia is not caused by cancer, but it is a precipitating issue that results from the physical and emotional stress that often accompanies a cancer diagnosis.

Other sleep disorders may also manifest, such as sleep apnea, hypersomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, parasomnia, and restless leg syndrome. All of these make it difficult for sufferers to fall asleep and sleep soundly through the night, therefore deteriorating sleep quality and causing daytime fatigue and exhaustion.

Physical Triggers

Cancer can cause a great deal of pain and discomfort, which makes it understandably difficult to fall asleep as well. Tumors and treatments alike may result in troublesome pressure in isolated spots on the body or all throughout, as well as gastrointestinal issues, breathing problems, fevers and itching, to name just a few physical symptoms. When your body is uncomfortable, it is incredibly difficult to relax and lull yourself into restful sleep.

Psychological Triggers

Additionally, cancer comes with its fair share of life changes and psychological stressors. Fear and anxiety related to your diagnosis and prognosis alone can be enough to keep you up at night.

Following your diagnosis, you might also experience career, relationship, and body image changes which cause additional stress. We understand that cancer can be a distressing experience, and many patients are at an increased risk for anxiety and depression.

If you are experiencing any troublesome side-effects, whether they are related to your sleep pattern, your physical well-being, or your mental health, it is important to consult your oncologist and other medical professionals for their advice and assistance in easing your symptoms.

How Having A Routine Makes It Easier To Fall Asleep And Sleep Well

For the sake of your health and quality of life, sleep is perhaps the most important thing you can do for yourself. A good night’s sleep can increase productivity, improve mood, and expedite the body’s natural healing processes. This is a vital part of everyone’s life, not just those who are battling illness—still, up to half of all Americans report not getting enough high-quality sleep each night.

If you are kept up by physical pain or emotional stress, implementing a bedtime routine that works to calm your mind and body in preparation for sleep might be the change that you need. Your routine does not have to be overly complicated, especially if you don’t have a whole lot of time or energy in the evening, but a few moments of intentionality before bed can work wonders for your sleep quality and relieve daytime fatigue and sleepiness.

1) Take A Bath

We all like to be warm and cozy in bed at night (hello, fuzzy blankets!) but it is actually really important for your core body temperature to be fairly cool in order to induce sleep effectively. Our bodies follow circadian rhythms which dictate when to sleep and when to wake up. At night, your body naturally cools down and begins to release melatonin and other sleep hormones. Taking a bath or warm shower before bed can have several positive benefits to your sleep, not the least of which being a reduction in your core body temperature.

It may seem counterintuitive that soaking in hot water helps to cool you down, but when you get out of the tub the water begins to evaporate from your skin, cooling your core and cuing your circadian rhythm to do its thing. Baths also improve circulation, ease aches and pains, and help you relax and disconnect before bed.

If you decide to implement a bath or shower into your bedtime routine, go ahead and make it a real treat for yourself. Even just fifteen minutes of uninterrupted relaxation time can have major benefits. Light a calming candle or turn on soothing music, allow yourself to let go of any stressful thoughts or to dos and just breathe. We recommend bathing about one to two hours before bed so that your body has enough time to fully cool down and reap all the cleansing rewards of your pre-slumber soak.

2) Stretch

Practicing some simple yoga stretches before bed can also help sooth your mind and body before bed. In fact, exercising regularly has been seen to have major benefits on sleep quality. Even if you are someone who abhors spending time in the gym or for whom running is a form of torture, you can get in touch with your body and improve your sleep with just a few gentle stretches or a basic yoga practice before bed.

Getting your body moving releases endorphins and enhances mental clarity. If you plan on participating in a workout where you break a bit more of a sweat, we recommend scheduling that earlier in the day so your body isn’t too warm or wired before bed. Stretching and breathing exercises, however, have the same positive benefits and can be done right before bed as they help to relax your mind and body.

Not only does yoga loosen up your muscles and help to relieve pain, it also encourages mindfulness and developing a trust in one’s own body. After a cancer diagnosis, it can be difficult to have faith in your body’s ability to keep you healthy. When you practice yoga, however, the process allows you to see your strength and flexibility improve over time. You will be amazed by what your body is able to do!

Getting in touch with your mind and body through a yoga practice or stretching routine has also been seen to have positive spiritual benefits for practitioners. No matter what your spiritual discipline is, taking time out of your day to clear your mind and ground your body can be enlightening and spiritually encouraging. Use the time that you are stretching to engage in prayer, meditation, or simply focus on controlling your breathing.

3) Keep A Journal 

Do you find that as soon as your head hits your pillow it begins swirling with all of your unfinished tasks and worries? You are not alone! Writing in a journal each night before bed can help to ease your mind and stave off stress and anxiety that commonly keeps you up at night.

What you decide to write is up to you. You can jot down a recount of what you did throughout the day, or make a plan for what you intend on doing the following day. Perhaps you have a mantra of aspiration phrase that encourages you? Try writing this down each night or compose a list of things that you are grateful for or proud of from each day. If you are struggling with day time fatigue, using your journal as a place to record your daily fatigue level (on a scale of 1-10) and the activities that you participated in throughout the day can be useful for figuring out your fatigue triggers and working to manage your energy efficiently.

Ultimately, having a place to clear your head and process your thoughts is a great addition to any bedtime routine. It does not have to take a whole lot of time, nor does it have to follow any sort of structure. This journal should be for you and you alone, so don’t overthink it, just get to jotting (and then get to snoozing!)

Wrapping Up 

Ultimately, changing your routine can create a sense of regularity and control, helping to ease your mind and body into sleep. Routine changes, however, are no substitute for medical care and a strong support system. So, if you are having trouble sleeping, do not hesitate to mention it to your doctor as this might be a symptom of a larger problem.

Can Diet and Exercise Reduce MPN Symptoms?

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Can Diet and Exercise Reduce MPN Symptoms? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

What can YOU do to make a positive impact on your overall MPN care? Researchers Dr. Jennifer Huberty and Ryan Eckert review the latest research on how movement and diet can benefit people living with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).

Dr. Jennifer Huberty is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University. She focuses her research on the use of complementary approaches to manage symptoms and improve quality of life for patients living with myeloproliferative neoplasms. More about Dr. Huberty here: chs.asu.edu/jennifer-huberty.

Ryan Eckert currently works at Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center. Ryan is the Research Coordinator for the MPN QoL Study Group and assists in research related to complementary health approaches in myeloproliferative neoplasms and other hematological disorders. More about Ryan here: mpnqol.com/research-team.

See More From the The Path to MPN Empowerment

Related Programs:

Am I Meditating Correctly? Getting the Most Out of Mindfulness

Expert Tips for Managing MPN-Related Anxiety

Improving Life with MPNs: The Latest Research and How to Get Involved

Transcript:

Ryan:

So, as far as the benefits of exercise for MPN patients, there’s many, and so, I guess starting with cancers as a whole, there’s a lot more research that’s been done in recent decades that looks at the effects of various forms of exercise and physical activity on other cancers. They just tend – researchers tend to do a lot more of that work in breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, et cetera.

And so, the research in exercise for MPN patients is actually really new, and nobody outside of Dr. Huberty in conjunction with Dr. Mesa and a few other researchers have done any research related to exercise specifically in MPN patients. Our yoga studies that we’ve done have been the first venture down that route for MPN patients. But, what we do know in general is that exercise has obviously systemic effects across the whole body.

So, you’re gonna get health benefits just in general from exercise, but as far as for MPN patients specifically, some of the things that we’ve seen with our yoga studies, which is obviously a form of physical activity, is that we’ve seen sleep improve in MPN patients, so we’ve seen a reduction in sleep disturbances or disruptions in their sleep, a quicker time to fall asleep, and then, less waking up throughout the night – so, just better sleep in general.

We’ve seen some reductions in fatigue that have been reported by MPN patients who have gone through our yoga studies, and then, we’ve also seen a few other reductions in some other symptoms, such as anxiety and reduced depressive symptoms, a little bit of reduced pain is another one we’ve seen. So, just in general, we’ve seen some of those effects on MPN patients through some of our yoga studies.

Dr. Huberty:

So, in terms of adding to what Ryan just said, I would just say that exercise – maybe yoga or walking – is good for your body. It’s good for your health. It’s a recommendation that we get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity every week. The more that MPN patients can be achieving that goal towards 150 minutes – yoga counting at that – the better off they’re gonna be, and it doesn’t have to be going for a run.

It can simply be going for a walk around the block. It can be standing at your desk when you’re working instead of sitting all the time. That’s not necessarily activity per se, but it is moving your body and less sedentary. So, I think just focusing on the more that patients can move their body every day, the better off they’re gonna be.

Dr. Huberty:                

So, yeah, the role of diet in MPN patients – so, this is the beauty about the quality of life study group, because we have all these wonderful investigators that are part of the team, and we do have Dr. Robyn Scherber, who’s at Mays with Dr. Ruben Mesa. She’s doing some work with keto diet right now, so it’s very new, so I don’t know if you’re familiar with the keto diet, but it’s very high-fat and very low-carbohydrate, extremely low levels of carbohydrates. I wouldn’t tell any patient to go start doing those things unless they’ve talked to their physician for sure, but we do know that based on how you eat does certain things to your body.

So, MPNs have high inflammatory markers, and so, we wanna decrease inflammation; we probably wanna eat foods that are going to be anti-inflammatory. So, berries, let’s say, is a good example of fruits that are anti-inflammatory, almonds are anti-inflammatory, and I’m not a dietitian by any means, it’s just that things that I know to be true for my own diet because everybody should be thinking about having an anti-inflammatory diet.

Processed foods are not healthy. They are higher-inflammatory. Breakfast foods, eating out, and the foods that you get when you eat out a lot are going to be more inflammatory than not. So, just those small things – lots of vegetables. Vegetables are very good. Lots of greens. But, there is research going on – again, just like exercise and yoga, it’s in its infancy because MPN has been an under-studied population for years, and we’re trying to power through and make that difference.

Expert Tips for Managing MPN-Related Anxiety

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Expert Tips for Managing MPN-Related Anxiety from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

Health-related anxiety and worry can be overwhelming. Dr. Jennifer Huberty provides advice for using complementary approaches to cope with the emotional impact of a chronic cancer, like myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).

Dr. Jennifer Huberty is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University. She focuses her research on the use of complementary approaches to manage symptoms and improve quality of life for patients living with myeloproliferative neoplasms. More about Dr. Huberty here: chs.asu.edu/jennifer-huberty.

See More From the The Path to MPN Empowerment

Related Programs:

Can Diet and Exercise Reduce MPN Symptoms?

Am I Meditating Correctly? Getting the Most Out of Mindfulness

Improving Life with MPNs: The Latest Research and How to Get Involved

Transcript:

Dr. Jennifer Huberty: 

With anxiety and worry – it’s like we get in this state of mind that we can’t seem to get out of, and then, thoughts just keep piling in and piling in and adding to more anxiousness and more anxiousness, and so, the key is quieting the mind, and the best way to do that is to focus on your breath, and again, just coming back to the moment, coming back to the moment. You can do body scans where you’re just thinking about where your body is in space, going from the tips of your toes all the way to the top of your head.

I recommend guided meditation for MPN patients, especially because it is difficult. The anxiety and worry is real. The fears are real. This is a – it’s a traumatic event to be diagnosed with any cancer, and the brain is a powerful thing in terms of getting in our way of healing and feeling better, and so, knowing that it’s powerful, we can quiet our mind so that our body can learn to let go. And, I will say that spending that time doing that with the anxiety and worry, there will be physiological symptoms that change – so, heart rate goes down, blood pressure goes down, sweaty palms decrease, stomachaches – those kinds of things will tend to go away as anxiety and worry goes down.

And, the other important thing I would say is a tip for managing is to be self-compassionate. So, that’s a big part of meditation and yoga philosophy, is self-compassion. And so….being okay with being anxious and being okay with being worried, and there’s nothing wrong with that, and it’s completely normal.

And so, learning to be compassionate in ways that you would be compassionate to a sibling, or a parent, or a best friend – use those same compassionate thoughts and feelings toward yourself.

Improving Life with MPNs: The Latest Research and How to Get Involved

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Improving Life with MPNs: The Latest Research and How to Get Involved from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

Can yoga and meditation help improve life with an MPN? Researchers Dr. Jennifer Huberty and Ryan Eckert share what they’ve learned in their research in complementary medicine and how you can get involved.

Dr. Jennifer Huberty is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University. She focuses her research on the use of complementary approaches to manage symptoms and improve quality of life for patients living with myeloproliferative neoplasms. More about Dr. Huberty here: chs.asu.edu/jennifer-huberty.

Ryan Eckert currently works at Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center. Ryan is the Research Coordinator for the MPN QoL Study Group and assists in research related to complementary health approaches in myeloproliferative neoplasms and other hematological disorders. 

See More From the The Path to MPN Empowerment

Related Programs:

Can Diet and Exercise Reduce MPN Symptoms?

Am I Meditating Correctly? Getting the Most Out of Mindfulness

Expert Tips for Managing MPN-Related Anxiety

Transcript:

Dr. Huberty:

My name is Jennifer Huberty. I’m an associate professor at Arizona State University in the college of health solutions, and I’m preliminarily a researcher.

I do teach a course a year, but I do research, mostly using complementary approaches delivered digitally, and I focus on cancer patients and also middle-aged pregnancy age lifespan, if you will, of women. So, women’s health and cancer.

Ryan:

My name is Ryan Eckert, and I’m a research coordinator with the Mays Cancer Center, which is at University of Texas Health in San Antonio.

So, in regards to what I’m excited about with the research that we have ongoing, I’m excited about the potential to help improve MPNs’ just quality of life and their well-being in general.

It’s a pretty under-studied area, especially as it relates to MPNs specifically, so there’s been a lot of work over the past couple decades as it relates to pharmacologic and more medicine-derived approaches with MPN patients, and we’re just now kind of realizing that there’s a little bit of a gap in some of the research that we’ve been doing, and there’s some unmet symptom burden needs and quality of life needs among MPN patients, and me, my background is more so in exercise science, and so, I’m all about the complementary approaches and the physical activity-based approaches.

And so, it’s pretty exciting for me to see the field of just cancer research in general, but also the research as it relates to MPN, start to evolve more towards the complementary and alternative approach route as it relates to mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and other physical activity interventions.

Dr. Huberty:

In relation to what I’m excited about with MPN research, I could say ditto to exactly what Ryan just said because he said it very well, and I feel strongly the same, and my background is in exercise physiology, and I’ve been working – helping women and cancer patients adopt physical activity behaviors. But, yoga is a physical activity behavior, but it has this really cool mindfulness component.

And, meditation has this mindfulness component where it’s exciting to see that we can be educating and providing MPN patients with a way to manage their symptoms themselves and rely a little bit less on their physicians in terms of “I’m feeling really anxious. What can I do?” If you’re feeling anxious, we’re giving them the tools that they can use to work on the anxiety themselves.

So, quieting their mind, allowing them to understand that it’s okay to feel anxious, and there’s nothing wrong with them, and if they’re having fears, that that’s normal, and that inviting those feelings and emotions in and just quieting their minds through yoga or meditation is so powerful. And so, I’m really excited about the fact that we’re giving them a tool that’s not just “Here’s a pamphlet, here’s what you should do,” we’re actually providing them an opportunity to practice it, to do it safely in their homes, and we’re also giving them a resource that’s consumer-based.

So, all of our interventions – the yoga and the meditation that we’ve been working on – have been with partners. So, our yoga partner is Udaya.com then, Calm.com, which is the meditation app. And so, these are things that we might provide for patients for free during the study, but when the eight-week or 12-week study is over, typically, any patient, any participant wouldn’t have access to the intervention anymore, but here we are with a consumer-based product that’s available to them.

So, we’ve taught them how to use it, we’ve made them comfortable, we’ve helped them to see that they can see improvements in the way that they feel, and then they have the ability to continue to use this as needed. Symptoms are gonna change over time – less anxious, more anxious, less fatigue, more fatigue, those kinds of things – and this helps them with the ups and downs of symptoms. So, I’m super excited about offering something to the patients that can be a lifelong friend, if you will.

Ryan:

So the MPN quality of life study group is a little bit of an acronym for the myeloproliferative neoplasm quality of life study group, and so, Dr. Mesa has obviously been working in this field of MPN research for decades now, and he had what he used to call the MPN quality of life international study group, and that was basically just a variety of different researchers from the U.S., and also abroad internationally.

Based in the U.S., we have a range of different physicians and researchers across four or five different institutions, and we all tend to focus on very similar research involving MPNs or other blood-related cancers. And so, the MPN quality of life study group is essentially just a collection of those – I think it’s somewhere between 10 and 12 different physicians and researchers that do similar research.

So, in order for patients to find out more about the MPN quality of life study group, they can – so, we do have a website that we just created a little less than a year ago, and it’s just www.mpnqol.com, and if they go there, we just have some information related to what our mission as a group is. We also have a tab on that website that explains all the different researchers and positions that make up the group.

So, if you were interested in, say, a particular researcher or physician, there’s links in there to go to their professional websites, and then, there’s also links within the tab of that website that covers some of the ongoing studies that we have. So, patients can go there, click on that link, and fill out an eligibility survey for a study that they might be interested in, and then, the project coordinator or research assistant will be in touch with them related to their eligibility

Finding Support in Unlikely Places

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This blog was originally published by Cancer Today by Patricia Anne Ward here.

WHEN I WAS DIAGNOSED ​with stage IC ovarian cancer in February 2018, my life came to a screeching halt. It was the first life-threatening health issue I’d ever faced in my 70 years of life. Despite my fear and anxiety, I knew I didn’t want my cancer or treatment to define me as a person. Honoring that wish turned out to be much easier in theory than in practice, as even a well-intentioned question like “How are you?” served as a reminder of my circumstances.

There were also some insensitive remarks that cut far deeper. One person told me, for example, that God never gives us too much to handle. Another described how cancer was a blessing reserved only for the strong—if this is true, I’d much rather be weak. Someone else suggested my cancer was a result of some transgression to God and that I should make amends.

Despite being surprised by these comments, I understood. People say a lot of things when they are faced with the uncomfortable concept of mortality. And my cancer was a tangible reminder of what we all know and ignore: Each of us has a finite amount of time.

It was shortly after I started losing my hair, a side effect of chemotherapy, that I began noticing others were uncomfortable around me. Some family and friends even avoided making eye contact when talking to me. Others used text messaging to avoid uneasy verbal conversations. With no one in my immediate circle undergoing cancer treatment, I felt alone.

That’s when I started discovering support in the most unlikely places. In the pickle and condiment aisle at the grocery store, a woman turned to look at me, a wide smile across her face. Not too long before our meeting, that woman wore a cap just like mine. She shared that she was two years out of treatment and her scans were still “clean.” We spoke for a bit, tearing up. I held hands with this kind stranger for a few moments. We hugged, wished each other well and went our separate ways.

At a clothing store, another woman stopped me after spotting that cap, which gave my cancer away. Apologizing first for interrupting, she then told a familiar tale of symptoms, diagnosis, surgery, treatment and the worst part: waiting. Still, she was approaching the five-year mark since her diagnosis with no evidence of disease. Speaking from a place of vulnerability but also strength, she described how her cancer had helped her to become more compassionate, a virtue that she would surely lean on, since her husband had been newly diagnosed with cancer. As we said goodbye, I promised her I would stay positive and upbeat—and strangely I wasn’t lying.

All through my treatment, chance encounters with people who knew what I was experiencing came to me just when I needed them. I saw these people as angels, and still do. They came with no judgement or preaching. There was no awkward response or agenda. Our connections were palpable.

There were other signs: I found feathers everywhere, next to my car in a parking lot, the floor in the garage or at the park. One simply blew in on a breeze and landed right at my feet. And each time I made a discovery of these gifts from nature, a sense of warmth and protection would envelope me. I have always believed in angels; I found it encouraging to think that they believed in me too.

For now, my treatments are over. My hair and eyebrows are growing back. My recovery continues. There will be more doctor appointments, more exams, and more wondering about and praying for a future with no more cancer. I’ve changed too. I am smarter, kinder and less quick to judge. When I am out of the house, I scan my surroundings for people like me—signs of treatment, signs of fear—to offer an encouraging word. I don’t know what the future holds, but I can’t help but believe that I am going to be OK. ​

Patricia Anne Ward of Gaylord, Michigan, is a retired human resources administrator and supervisor who has been married to her husband, Richard, for 30 years. She is the former president of a local animal welfare group, Friends for Life of Otsego County. Her proudest title is survivor.​

Anxiety Management for Patients and Caregivers

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This podcast was originally published by The Cancer Cast with Weill Cornell here.

 

Kelly Trevino, Ph.D., Clinical psychologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital – Speaker Bio
  • Why anxiety management is so important for all those affected by cancer, plus actionable coping strategies.

    Guest: Kelly Trevino, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

    Host: John Leonard, M.D., world-renowned hematologist and medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

Facing Forward: How to Move On After Cancer Treatment

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When you go through something as stressful, traumatizing, and life-altering as cancer, you may come out on the other end of the tunnel feeling like you were just put through the spin cycle. There’s no “normal” way to respond to a cancer diagnosis, treatment, or remission prognosis, and you should never force yourself into taking on one specific emotion or perspective. You may feel angry, sad, scared, hopeful, or joyous, and all are perfectly acceptable responses to have.

Regardless of how the experience left you feeling, it’s important to work at moving on and processing it in a healthy way. Here are a few ways to help you do it.

Measure Your Mental Health

You’ve spent the last several months or years caring for your body to the point of exhaustion. Now it’s your brain’s turn. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and cancer fears are quite common among survivors. In fact, between 18 and 20 percent of adult cancer survivors report symptoms of anxiety[1], while almost 80 percent of survivors experience some level of fear of recurrence. It’s vital that cancer survivors and patients alike are constantly looking inward and taking daily measurements of mood and general well-being. If you experience any persistent, negative feelings, be sure to seek out advice from a licensed mental health professional.

Focus on Daily Self-Care

Because your daily life was thrown completely off track during treatment, it can be hard to settle back into a healthy routine when it’s all over. Implementing certain self-care practices into your day-to-day life can help you stay mindful and prevent you from slipping into prolonged states of anxiety or depression. It will help you immensely to pick up healthy self-care practices, such as yoga, meditation, or long evening baths. Integrating weekly or bi-weekly social time will also help quite a bit, especially if you’re spending time with people who share similar interests or experiences.

Work on Rebuilding Self-Confidence

Though we’re ever-grateful that they exist (and save thousands of lives each year), chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation take a massive toll on our bodies. They leave us looking and feeling burnt out and exhausted, often grinding the last little bit of self-confidence we have into a sad, lifeless pulp. Even if you’ve never been a particularly vain person, your life post-cancer is time to help you regain your self-worth at every turn, and it’s perfectly okay to spend some time making yourself feel beautiful both inside and out! Here are some great ways to do it:

Regrow a Full Head of Hair

If you lost your hair during chemotherapy, there are a few cutting-edge hair loss treatments to consider. Though they’ve only been cleared to treat hair loss due to androgenetic alopecia by the FDA, many people find that low-level laser therapy devices help hair to grow back [2] quicker and healthier after treatment. Luckily, while it takes a little bit of time, most cancer patients are able to fully grow back their hair.

Work on Getting Back to a Healthy Weight

Cancer patients know that the constant barrage of chemicals and harsh treatments can seriously mess with our weight. Weight loss is one of the most common symptoms of both cancer and treatment, with between 40 and 80 percent of patients reporting weight loss [3] and cachexia (wasting) from diagnosis to advanced treatment. Working with your doctor or a dietician will help you return to a healthy weight in a safe way. He or she will design a diet and, if needed, prescribe medication to help you manage your weight.

Treat Your Skin and Nails

Hair isn’t the only physical feature that takes a beating during the treatment process. Chemotherapy and radiation can leave skin red, dry, itchy, or discolored, and it tends to leave nails cracked, infected, or yellow. A full-blown spa day is in order after you’ve recovered from your final treatment. Make sure to also see a dermatologist, especially if you’ve seen any serious changes in your skin since you were diagnosed. 

Connect with Other Survivors

Building up a strong social network is vital to staying happy and positive post-cancer, and nobody will help you get there faster than fellow survivors. Like anything on this list, make sure you ease into it and wait until you’re fully ready. Having to recount your experience before you’ve fully processed it can worsen symptoms of post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. But, after a period of time, it will help you feel stronger and more secure when you have a group of friends or family members to share your experience with. You can use the American Cancer Society’s resources database [4] to find specific support groups in your area.

Get Enough Exercise

Medical experts consistently say that exercise is among the most important components of a healthy life during and after cancer. One of the biggest reasons for this is that, though it sounds counterintuitive, getting physical can help reduce the ever-present cancer fatigue while also helping you get better sleep, reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, and helping you build back muscle strength that may have deteriorated during treatment. Just be sure to follow all medical advice as you ease back into exercise, especially if you’ve recently had surgery.

Volunteer for a Research Foundation

If you’re experiencing any feelings of sadness, anger, or hopelessness, it can really help you to get involved in cancer-specific organizations that donate to research efforts. Finding a cure or at least more viable treatment options for this devastating disease is certainly on the horizon, but getting there takes a lot of money, resources, and effort. Getting involved can help you connect with other survivors and hopeful people, which will lead you into a deeper state of happiness and optimism.

Let Yourself Experience Loss, Pain, and Joy

Again, there’s no “correct” way to experience cancer, no matter if you’ve just been diagnosed or have just finished your final round of treatment. The most important thing you can do is to constantly take stock of your feelings, being careful not to suppress them, and do everything you can to stay healthy both mentally and physically every step of the way.

References:

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5915316/

[2] https://www.capillus.com/blog/a-skeptic%E2%80%99s-guide-to-understanding-how-a-laser-hair-cap-helps-regrow-hair/

[3] https://www.cancer.net/coping-with-cancer/physical-emotional-and-social-effects-cancer/managing-physical-side-effects/weight-loss

[4] https://www.cancer.org/treatment/support-programs-and-services/resource-search.html

How to Read and Understand Scientific Research #patientchat Highlights

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Last week, we hosted an Empowered #patientchat on how to read and understand scientific research. The #patientchat community came together for an engaging discussion and shared their best advice and tips.

Top Tweets and Advice

Understanding Scientific Research Is Critical

Science should be accessible to all

“The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking”

Full Chat

Will Cancer Be Cured By 2020?

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After cardiac diseases, cancer is the second most leading cause of death worldwide. According to WHO, 20% of deaths are down to cancer while in 2018, there were 18 million new cases, along with 9.6 million deaths were reported. Although the number of surveillance within five years after the diagnosis of cancer is 43 million. In the US alone, 1,688,780 new cases and 600,920 cancer-related deaths were reported in 2017 by National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Researchers have conducted meticulous studies to discover new ways to cure this deadly disease. Currently, the most effective treatment options are radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgery, and hormonal therapy. But the concern is; how close are experts are in finding more effective treatment options for cancer? Many innovative therapies are beginning to pick up steam to defeat the battle against cancer and ideally having fewer side effects than available options.

Cancer is not just a game of winners and losers [1], these innovations are aimed to address the issues of aggressive treatment, recurrence, irreversible side effects that healthcare providers and patients both face. Below are some updates on the most advanced cancer research breakthroughs that have given us hope for better therapies and prevention methods with less harm.

1.   Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy aims to reinforce existing arsenals in our body to fight against cancer cells. Some types of cancers have the characteristic of duping our immune system. However, with the help of in vivo and in vitro experiments, researchers are exploring new ways to deactivate the protective system of cancer cells.

According to Nature Immunology, macrophages that usually eat up harmful foreign bodies and cellular debris fail to obliterate highly aggressive cancer cells. The reason behind this is the macrophages read out two different signals from cancer cells that are meant to rep-el them for cleaning mechanism. Hence, by blocking the dual signaling pathway, researchers can make white blood cells unable to perform their action.

2.   Therapeutic virus vaccines

Innovative virus vaccines are proven to be a surprising weapon to fight against cancer. In the UK, a team of scientists has succeeded to use reovirus against brain cancer cells [2] while not harming healthy cells. It can pass the blood-brain barrier hence opens up the possibilities towards betterment.

Another milestone is the discovery of dendritic vaccines, in which they are extracted from a person’s body and armed with tumor-specific antigens that make them hunt and smash the cancer cells. Then the dose is injected back to the patient’s body to boost the therapy. Some concerns raise as it may have some pitfalls of damaging healthy tissues.

To address this, researchers from North Carolina have developed a bio-responsive scaffold system to hold on both chemotherapy and immunotherapy with better control on targeting tumor.

3.   Nanoparticle revolution

Stakeholders believe that nanoparticles can be a game-changer in the treatment of cancer.  They are précised and are less invasive to target specific cells without harming the surrounding environment. They can be used to give hyperthermic treatment to make tumors shrink.

Researchers are working on self-regulating nanoparticles to target undifferentiated carcinoma cells without damaging healthy tissues. They can be used to target stem cells to treat the resilience of cancers. They can even be loaded with drugs to prevent recurrence of degenerative diseases [3] and can be beneficial in the treatment of invasive carcinomas such as endometrial and breast cancers.

4.   Starvation strategy for tumors

Starving cancer cells to death is a novel method to kill them. There are many studies onboard that prove multiple ways of cutting off cancer cells nutritional supplies. One effective way is to stop the glutamine supply. It will maximize the oxidative stress and induce cell death. Moreover, blocking the supply of vitamin B2 can halter cancer stem cells. Therefore the strategy can help to avoid the toxic effects of chemotherapeutic agents.

5.   Epigenetics

This refers to the alteration of gene expression to dominate the representative action to affect cells at a biological level. Recent advancements have shown that cancer cells can harbor epigenetic modifications [4] to promote progression and eradication of carcinoma.

Scientists have to channelize the potential without triggering Huntington’s disease, and this is the biggest challenge and concern for them that makes them more hopeful. The knowledge can be utilized to treat stubborn tumors and progress enzyme inhibitors for better success rates.

In a nutshell

Shawn Brad, Research content writer at King Essay [5] believes that researches have given us innovate safe ways to cure cancers and studies are running at a good pace; however, curing every type of cancer is definitely a matter of time. Promising studies immensely give us hope on some technological terms for upcoming years.

It is difficult to say that a single approach is going to work for a variety of needs, while much advanced emerging ways can be useful in treatments. Hence, there are optimistic efforts, that make us claim that cancer can be eradicated quickly, and further depth in knowledge can give us more targeted and précised tools to turn the tables.

Resource Links:

[1] Cancer is not just a game of winners and losers

[2] reovirus against brain cancer cells

[3] prevent recurrence of degenerative diseases

[4] harbor epigenetic modifications

[5] King Essay

To stay up to date on the latest cancer information and resources, sign up today!

How Do You Deal With Cancer Guilt?

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It may come as a surprise to those who have not experienced cancer to learn that many cancer survivors suffer a form of “survivor guilt.”  Survivor guilt is most often associated with a reaction to surviving a traumatic event that others have died in, for example, survivors of combat, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, or air crashes. Survivors feel guilty that they have survived the trauma and others – such as their family, friends, and colleagues – did not.

When the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) was published, survivor guilt was removed as a recognized specific diagnosis and redefined as a significant symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

It seems clear to me that a diagnosis of cancer fits both the description of survivor guilt and PTSD too. Cancer is a traumatic experience and no-one who survives treatment comes out the other side unscathed.    As so many of us know, the end of treatment is not the end of dealing with cancer.  When we’re going through treatment, we are simply trying to survive and don’t really feel the full emotional impact that being diagnosed with cancer involves. It’s often only when treatment ends, that the full impact hits us.

Cancer Related Guilt is a Complex, Multi-Faceted Emotion

We may feel guilt at “surviving” when others have not.  Dee Sparacio writes of her feelings at a time when a friend’s husband died. “How could I face my friend?  How could I, NED [No Evidence of Disease] for 5 years since my recurrence face my friend. Would she look and me and think – why are you still here and my husband is gone?”

Karin Sieger also describes her experience of feeling guilty after a relative died from cancer.  “A few years after my first cancer treatment, the terminal cancer diagnosis of a relative of mine, her gradual and then very quick deterioration and death filled me with the old feeling of guilt,” she writes. “In the presence of the bereaved mother my own mother felt guilty that her child is still alive. Cancer guilt can happen to anyone affected by cancer, including relatives and friends.”

We might feel guilty that our lifestyle choices somehow contributed to a cancer diagnosis. If we have discovered we carry the BRCA1/2 gene, we may feel guilty that we could pass this gene mutation on to our children.  On her blog, Audrey Birt describes how “breast cancer guilt has stalked me. Even when I’ve thought I’d put that beast to rest, up it pops in various guises. My guilt as a parent for causing my family to suffer has been a long term one. Carrying the BRCA2 gene tipped me again into a spiral of grief and guilt but somehow staying with that and recognizing that for what it is has helped me move through it.”

Cancer Guilt May Arise During Any Stage

I have also heard from patients diagnosed with an earlier stage disease, and patients who didn’t have to go through chemotherapy that they felt less “deserving” of sympathy.  One of my blog readers wrote, “I felt like a fraud when diagnosed as in I didn’t need chemo just surgery, radiation and tamoxifen so I didn’t want to make any fuss when so many others had REAL cancer.”

Guilt may also arise from a sense that what I’m doing with my life must have greater meaning if my survival is to be justified. Another of my blog readers commented, “I feel guilty that I am not making more of my life. When I was going through treatment, I made all sorts of plans for what I would do when I finished. I was really going to make the most of my life, now that I’ve been given a second chance…but I am too tired and overwhelmed to do any of those things.”

If any of this sounds familiar to you, you are not alone.  Feeling guilty at surviving cancer is a common experience and a perfectly normal reaction to what you have gone through. When I asked the question of my breast cancer community on Twitter “how you deal with survivor guilt?” I received some great answers.   I hope you will find comfort and practical advice in the quotes below.

“Cancer guilt was related to my family. Years before my diagnosis, my dad died of cancer. So they all had to do it again with me though a different situation. I felt huge guilt about my dad for not understanding. Counseling helped a lot. I would recommend counseling for sure. Or friends who listen and allow you to air the emotion.” Julia

Survivor’s Guilt

“I do feel a certain amount of “survivor’s guilt” since my cancer was stage 0 and no chemo or radiation-just surgery. Volunteering at a cancer support center helps me and inspires me filling me with hope – witnessing patients fortitude and determination to regain their health is so inspiring.” Susan

“The survivor guilt I felt was a sense of discomfort. I was quite possibly picking up someone else’s anger, frustration and despair at their own situation. But it is their situation, not mine. And since my second diagnosis I certainly have nothing to feel guilty about or to apologize for. We have a choice not do guilt, and also do not need anyone else to do guilt for us.” Karin

“As I’ve lost friends and colleagues to breast cancer I’ve grieved for them with an added complexity. What made the difference? Why did I survive and not them? In some ways I’m embarrassed I’m still here, four diagnosis later. It’s a form of madness to feel guilty you haven’t died, to feel guilty your treatment isn’t as bad as others, to feel guilty you’ve survived more than 20 years since your first diagnosis. I know it makes no sense but it’s easy to carry guilt along with everything else. But it serves no purpose and is fueled by a media that feeds a view of the cancer experience which is unrealistic, overly simplistic and laden with judgment.” Audrey

Overcoming Cancer Guilt

In his book, Travelling Light (The Columba Press) Daniel J. O’Leary quotes Bearwatcher, an Apache medicine man. “In the Apache language there is no word for ‘guilt.’ Our lives are like diamonds. When we are born we are pure and uncut. Each thing that happens to us in our lives teaches us how to reflect the light in the world; each experience gives us a new cut, a new facet in our diamond. How brilliantly do those diamonds sparkle whose facets are many, to whom life has given many cuts.”

So when you experience those feelings of guilt, contemplate the brilliant new facet in your diamond and reflect on the way that you can reflect that light in the world. You will best honor the memory of those friends who have died, by looking to the future and pledging to make the best life you can for yourself and those you care about. Life is a precious gift and you have been given the opportunity to recommit yourself to it. Now is your time to live; so armed with the lessons you have learned from your cancer experience, look to the future and shine with the brilliance of your diamond light.

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Resource Links:

 Dee Sparacio

Audrey Birt

Karin Sieger

Is there a hierarchy among cancer survivors?

Twitter Comments:

Julia

Susan

Managing the Emotions of a Chronic Illness #patientchat Highlights

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Last week, we hosted an Empowered #patientchat on managing the emotions of a chronic illness. The #patientchat community came together for an engaging discussion and shared their best advice and tips.

Top Tweets and Advice

Step One: Acknowledgement

Emotions Aren’t “Negative” or “Positive”

“We all deserve the freedom to express feelings all the time”

Full Chat