Can a Cancer Diagnosis Cause PTSD

[Squishee]

Hello,
So here is my situation, ive always been a bit of a worrier I guess - and its pretty much rooted from low self esteem. But as i got older I was ok...i still worried about things - mostly health related. Because from a young age i remember always crying that someone in my family was going to die. Skip ahead to December of last year, I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. After the diagnosis I wasnt so bad. i did have some panic attacks and uneasiness but it was manageable. I had surgery in January and Radioactive iodine treatment in May...all the while having some anxiety. Then in July, I got bit by a big and I flipped out that i was going to get West Nile, encephalitus, or meningitis...im not going to go down the list of all the other diseases I was convinced I had. Now, I know I have health anxiety. But ive been told I am suffering from PTSD. It was basically like, the bug bite set me off. i was having panic everyday, afraid to be alone, thinking extremely irrational fears, derealization, manic like episodes and ER visits. i am also obsessed with death!!! I am now having muscle tics. i gues they are obsessions. they are voluntary - i am doing them myself - so ive convinced myself that i have a terrible neurological disease. i always kind of did have some OCD like tendencies. im also manifesting alot of physical symptoms from anxiety. Well, I find myself crying all the time ( i know this can also be hormones because i have no thyroid) raging like mood swings, terrible intrusive thoughts - and basically im scared out of my mind now. I dont know who I am anymore. I dont know whats happening to me.I want to be me again. the me I was before I had cancer. I always think I have all these diseases and I flip out and I need to know the answers of what it is NOW. I feel that I am getting better - but I dont know if I will ever be back to normal. Everytime I have to get a test done or if I get sick or something...am i going to flip out? I dont want to be like this forever. This is really ruining my life. i wish i could just accept it and move on. Do I have PTSD?

[Cuchculan]

Having cancer is thing. Most people who have it do see a therapist to deal with the mental aspect of the situation. Because it is bound to take a toll on you. The various thoughts that would go through your mind. The emotional aspect of it all. It all adds up. So if you never got any real help for that side of things, there is a chance you could be suffering from PTSD. PTSD is like a bad situation that was not dealt with at the time. One that comes back to bite us months or even years later. There is a special form of theraphy for it called EDMR. It works well for some. If the past is affecting your present then it would be PTSD. That is the basics of how it works.

[Noahs Mom]

I don't know if you'll read this - but I wanted to tell you that I understand.  When I had cancer, it opened up pandora's box with my anxiety, including health anxiety.  I was severely PTSD about it.  Kept reliving everything around the diagnosis....  it's okay.  EMDR did do wonders for me...

[Mr. Rager]

I was diagnosed with cancer twice before age 5. I had chemo and radiation. Although its been a long time since then (21.5 years), I do remember getting chemo. I guess because of how miserable I felt I don't think I can ever forget that. However I do have some good thoughts like my "end of chemo" party where I got this awesome ninja turtles watch but I digress.

Even though having cancer was over I do have plenty of late effects from it which required tons of surgeries,i like you I don't have a thyroid or a hypothalamus which I have to take medications forever, low self esteem. Before I had anxiety I was going through depression in college and my docs did suspect I could have possible PTSD from cancer and all the baggage that came with it after. PTSD is not always caused by a single traumatic event.

I don't think I'm really depressed anymore but I do have hypochondria, and social anxiety. I too have derealization, irrational fears (like cancer coming back). I also still am afraid of death more particularly the fear of nothingness.

Does your clinic have a late effects part to it ? More and more cancer centers are starting to have psychiatrists that will help you with feelings after cancer because it would be crazy not to have them !! Good or bad ! I'm sure they can help you finding the help you deserve. I just want to know that PTSD or not you can get help and your symptoms will ease. Let me know if you have any questions !

[Ihadcancer]

I have colon cancer that returned in my liver 3 years later.  After surgery to remove that, I developed horrible, horrible anxiety.  My oncologist gave me .25 Xanax and said panic attacks but my Gastro said he has MANY patients who have PTSD after cancer and thinks I should be treated differently.  I live in a small rural town in Georgia so not sure where I'd search out the EMDR.  I'd love to have more information on that because this is stealing my life!

YES!  Cancer can cause PTSD!  It's a horrible trauma and the 'what if' hangs over your head forever!

[msgb98]

I have not had cancer (that I know of) but my sister who is 18 months younger than has had stage 4 Non-hodgkins. She is 11 1/2 yrs out from a bone marrow transplant. She has feelings that it might come back and she has a behavior that causes her to act like she has PTSD sometimes.
I have had a life threatening illness and there are times when I feel like it will come back. I was diagnosed with DVT when I had been married less than a year. It was a rather large one and I was on blood thinners for 2 1/2 yrs (most people are on only for 6-9 months). I hemorrhaged and had to go off them. I had severe panic attacks and felt like I was not going to wake up because of blood clots when I was first taken off the blood thinners. I must admit I still feel this way sometimes. I do what I can naturally to make sure that my blood is thinned. I have a little 'sludge' as the doctor calls it adhered to the side of the vein in the upper thigh area. I must wear a compression stocking for circulation. I do not fly as a result and therefore it has been hard (besides the economy to go on a vacation with my husband).
Most days there is pain but when it gets a bit beyond the usual I get frightened and begin to think that it is coming back.
I try try to think positive.

[consulate]

I think it can happen.  I think a cancer diagnosis is traumatic.   It's just so hard to comeback from that sort of thing.  It's almost like you have to glue the pieces back together.  But i think PTSD is the least of your worries if you have cancer.

[shakymcgee]

My counsellor has told me that yes, a cancer diagnosis can cause PTSD, and in my case, most likely did. In most cases, it probably isn't the diagnosis alone that causes the trauma, but the culmulative effect of the treatments and invasive testing that is often necessary. Along with the high levels of stress that comes with the constant knowledge that you have a disease which could kill you. I had never heard of this before I started exploring it in therapy, but it is called Medical Trauma and there is some information on the web about it, particularly about cancer survivors and their increased risk of PTSD. I was told that I could have been vulnerable to PTSD because I, like yourself, was naturally an anxious person to begin with. The helplessness that comes along with such a diagnosis is traumatic, and unfortunately, it is something that is drawn out for years after the initial shock due to follow up testing. I would really suggest seeking help as soon as possible because the longer you try to shove the feelings down, the worse it might be in the end. Also, be patient with yourself. As far as cancer diagnoses go, yours is still very recent and it's not unusual to be feeling the way you are feeling. You may not even have processed all the feelings involved yet. I understand the feeling of waiting for the next blow. It may never happen, and in the meantime you are making yourself sick with worry. I am in the same boat. But please, don't do what I did and try to ignore it for years and years. If it is real trauma, it will not "just go away with time. Help yourself by asking for help.

[rayandrae]

I didn't have cancer, but I had several medical emergencies. One was my last child's birth. A year and a half later I thought i was pregnant again, and one morning I woke up with panic on panic. That was the start of the disorder for me. They didn't understand back then that medical stuff could cause PTSD, but I had most of the symptoms. Now I still deal with the hyper-vigilance health wise. It's like my body is always producing health issues for me to focus on. Its been almost sixteen years. It's alot better, but it really helped me to understand that I had PTSD. I also found that de-sensitization therapy was quite helpful too. So yes, in my experience, medical emergencies can definitely cause PTSD.