Fears And Feelings Associated With Cancer

The word cancer is known to develop a sense of fear and anxiety in an individual’s head. Medical professionals have sensed the fear in their patient’s eyes when they heard that they might have a slight chance of developing cancer. The sense of going through prolonged medication, intense surgery, and other forms of cancer treatment can be intense for the patient as well as for their family. 

Here are some of the things that a patient or their family might feel during cancer treatment-

Overwhelmed - It is normal to feel a flood of emotions when the news of cancer hits. You may feel helpless, hopeless, lonely, or angry about the whole situation. In a healthy way, It is crucial to let this emotion flow out of our system. Talk to a medical healthcare professional or your loved ones in order to deal with the overwhelming emotion of being a cancer patient. 

Anger - If a person is not able to let go of feelings of fear, panic, frustration, anxiety, or helplessness, it can develop into anger. This anger can be expressed on anyone, like your doctor, loved ones, or even god. It can also be expressed in oneself in “why me?” form. Pent-up anger can be very harmful to your mental health, so it’s important to let it out the way you want. 

Fear - One of the most common fears which are experienced amongst cancer patients is the fear of survival. Cancer has always been misinterpreted that it will lead to death. Well, that’s not the case! While the news can hit your fear too high, there are many forms of cancer that can be successfully cured without the risk of death. Other things that can cause fear are pre-thoughts of pain, financial crises, and effects on social life and family during the course of treatment. 

Stress - Prolong exposure to negative emotions like fear, worry, and anger can lead to physical stress, anxiety, or depression. You may start to feel dizzy, weak, shaky, have headaches, increased heartbeat, etc. It’s good to have an open conversation about how you feel before it turns into any medical condition. You can also talk to a mental health professional for a better insight into stress management during cancer treatment. 

Hope - After a while or in some cases, patients learn to take the whole situation on a positive note. They feel more hopeful than stressed and try to pursue different activities that give meaning to their lives. From planning the day to the future, the patients become hopeful for a successful result.