Extreme anxiety before followup mammos & -- HELP!

Dawnsm....i also have a follow up appointment tomorrow, feeling very anxious also, we cannot control our emotions, i also try to distract myself .

We were both dx at an early stage, our prognosis is rearly good, the chances of us facing this again is so small, we should have a long life ahead of us.....BUT  even though we know this we cannot change the way we feel, maybe experiences in early life affect our emotions in dealing with this. I keep saying to myself this time tomorrow the app will be over, i wish we lived closer, sending you (HUGS) xxxx

Dawnsm.....i will be thinking of you also tomorrow...regarding family celebrations this evening...only go if you rearly want to, having a migraine and having to make conversation with others may be hard. Perhaps having a relaxing bath, and some me time may help that migraine. I sometimes feel making time for oneself and doing what you truely feel, not always trying to please others gives a sense of control over ourselves, and can reduce stress/anxiety..hoping you feel a little more relaxed soon. PM me anytime kaza xxx

I did the same thing, so many of the same reasons.

What finally worked for me was Cognitive Behaviorial Therapy - I worked with a therapist who specializes in this treatment, and learned how to change the experience.

Took a while, so it may not help for this time-around, but it really made a huge difference. I got to be in charge of my feelings.

Dawnsm....i was thinking of you yesterday, we did IT and we had good news regarding mammo....what a relief to know thats it for 6months, the anxiety this causes is so bad.

I am sure past experiences mainly from childhood affect us now, my childhood was not great and i lost my brother at a young age.

While i was at the hospital yesterday i was waiting at reception to let them know i had arrived, there were a few of us waiting,one lady had already had her mammo we just lookes at each other and smiled, that look said everything she said i just want to run out of here, i felt the same, so not in control anyway had my mammo got results that were fine i was shaking so much when i came out, managed to keep my emotions together my friend who was with me starting crying so i comforted her, it is also hard for our friends and family, i felt guilty causing her to feel this way. when i escaped went into town, then to a garden centre where there were water features, we just stood looking at them, the trickling water created a calmness both my friend and i were just standing there an extreme tiredness came over both of us, like a real relaxation we both felt we could have dropped off to sleep on our feet, so calm feeling the emotions drifting away.............

I hope you also find calmness,cognitive therapy may help us cope with these emotions i am certainly going to give it a go and inquire today.

Hoping you are feeling a little better today and your headache has eased, sending you warm and sincere hugs Kazaxxx

Ps...i am going to get a water feature for my garden   Godbless  

pegnie......hi, we all have our own way of coping, worrying is just so normal, and we all have our little coping habits, its whatever helps us to ease anxiety/stress a little.

I will be thinking of you as you approach your appointment, please post date and time, so good you have kept your original onc team as they are familar with your your dx and surgery. You will soon have this ordeal over and then 6mths to put it to one side/ or at least in a litte box on the top shelf, i guess thats how i cope, as soon as appointments are over all paperwork, appointment cards i put in a little box as soon as i get home, they then go on top of my wardrobe right at the back, there they stay for 6mths works for me, its sort of now thats it over, freedom for 6ths if you what i mean. Treat yourself well the next few weeks, do what ever you enjoy, have some treats, PM me anytime.....sending you a big HUG ...kaza xx    

So interesting to read all of your posts! I, too, have extreme anxiety around these scans. Mammogram in December, the MRI in may, each year, also since 2010. I'm convinced this is PTSD, and it's akin to making a plane crash survivor relive the crash twice a year. My BC was found on a routine mammogram, with additional tumors found on a subsequent MRI. No symptoms. Just going into the mammogram room makes me physically sick. Thinking about the MRI makes me a wreck for a month prior, an I worry about freaking out while in the machine itself. Oh, best part is that I worry about the worrying! What if all this stress impacts my body and makes the cancer return! Can't win.



My mom was a holocaust survivor who lost most of her family and my dad lost his dad at a young age so illness and death were prominent subjects in our household. Any illness was a cause for panic. But I'm not sure this is all of it, tho it must play a part. I think anyone who finds out they had BC purely through a scan (no symptoms) will be scarred from the experience. Wish I could figure out how to handle it as I hate this terror. I do have faith that ultimately I'll be ok, so it's strange that I get this way. Still waiting for official read on last weeks MRI. A colleague of my husbands read it and said alls clear but won't be totally at ease until I get the final report. Nutty. Wish I had more insight for you, but maybe this is part of the situation.