Anxiety attacks - 4 years out!

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jancie
jancie Member Posts: 2,631
edited June 2014 in Mental Health: Because Cancer Doesn't Just Affect Your Breasts
Anxiety attacks - 4 years out!
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  • jancie
    jancie Member Posts: 2,631
    edited July 2013

    I am still dealing with anxiety attacks since I was dx'd 4 years ago.  I was in therapy for the first two years and then due to an insurance change I stopped going.

    However, I can't get rid of the anxiety attacks.  These attacks are not necessarily related to scans, it could be something as simple as getting overwhelmed with too many options, too many people, etc.  They just happen.  I take lorazepam as needed for them.

    I never had these issues prior to BC.  I called to set up an appointment with a therapist and am waiting for a return phone call.

    Is this normal to be so many years out but still deal with this after effect?

    I had a total mental breakdown 2 years ago and ended up in a psych ward for a week.  Never would have thought I would have ended up there but I was at the end of my rope.  No, I didn't want to kill myself.  I was just totally overwhelmed and went nuts.

    My oncologist was concerned when I saw him last and suggested I get back into counseling.

    I really have nothing to complain about per se.  I have a good life.  My husband has always been so supportive so it is not issues with him at all.  Nor are there any issues with my stepson.

    I know to some extent I suffer from depression which is why I have been on zoloft for 4 years now and that has helped tremendously.  I do get depressed about my "new normal"  I know I will never be the same emotionally or physically.  I think the physical limitations is what bothers me the most.  That and I can't remember a darn thing and missed going to a card playing party with a friend a weekend ago as I totally spaced it.  

    I used to never have to write things down.  I had such a good memory but now that is gone and has never come back.

    Anyone else experience these issues?  What have you done to combat them?  Does it get better?

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  • sgreenarch
    sgreenarch Member Posts: 528
    edited July 2013

    Hi, Jancie, I noticed your post as I've been having anxiety attacks lately. Not even related to BC, necessarily. Could be about the weather, anything. Then read the insert for Femara, which I recently started taking and anxiety is an SE. This may or may not be the case, but you may want to consider checking ths out.

    Best wishes, S

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  • jancie
    jancie Member Posts: 2,631
    edited July 2013

    I saw my oncologist yesterday and told him that I was back in counseling again.  My counselor suggested I increase my zoloft to 200 mg per day and that the zoloft if at right dosage for me would help with the anxiety attacks.

    Yesterday was not a good day - heres hoping today is a relaxing day.

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  • chef127
    chef127 Member Posts: 891
    edited July 2013

    Hi Jancie,

    I just posted this on another thread. I have a friend who has suffered w anxiety,not bc related, since she was very young, preteen, she has been on and off anti depressants and anti anxiety meds for years. She recently started a supplement called GABA and she is a new person, really. It inhibits neurotransmitters. Neurotrsnsmitters are chemicsl messengers that carry information between nerve cells or from nerve cells to other targeted cells. It is supposed to calm the brain. She cut her dose of anti dep in half, but still takes xanex. I think shes afraid to go drug free?? There is a product called PharmaGABA, which I need to research a bit more, its a bit more natural, I think??

    I take the GABA but I haven't noticed any change. No anxiety and I sleep like a baby, I was hoping it would help with my MS.............No such luck.

    I hope your able to control the panic attacts. I've only experienced it once at the dentist who was a complete AssH. It was scary and horrible...................................xoxMaureen

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  • jancie
    jancie Member Posts: 2,631
    edited July 2013

    Maureen - don't get me started on going to the dentist.  I have to take lorazepam on top of getting gas because just getting gas is not enough.  Luckily I have a dentist that understands.

    I am interested in the GABA - let me know more!

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  • jancie
    jancie Member Posts: 2,631
    edited July 2013

    sgreenarch -thanks for your response!  I am on Tamoxifen and I am wondering if maybe it is a side effect from blocking all of my hormones?  SE of being in menopause?  

    Going to Costco yesterday was very painful.  I had to take a lorazepam before I even stepped out of my house as I had already worked myself up knowing I was going to Costco and dealing with the idiots in the pharmacy department.

    The weather can send me spiraling but most of that is because of the pain I deal with anytime the barometric pressure drops.

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  • chef127
    chef127 Member Posts: 891
    edited July 2013

    Janice,

    GABA is available at most vitamin shops, health food stores or online. PharmaGABA may be better, it is a natural form. From what I've read we have GABA in our system naturally. Supplimenting with it creates a calm.

    Ask your dr. if it would be ok for you to try, but I think it is rather benign. My drs. never heard of it.

    Like I said, my friend is a totally new person!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to up my dose from 750mg 1500mg. I'll let you know if it helps me.               xoxmaureen

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  • suzfive
    suzfive Member Posts: 456
    edited July 2013

    Hi Ladies,

    Just a suggestion. I was having lots of anxiety after coming off Arimidex 2 years ago and some traumatic life events. Tried an antidepressant which while it worked caused my cholesterol to skyrocket so off of that I went. I am 7-1/2 years out. Did not want to live on Xanax. Did some research and found out that most of us are deficient in magnesium. Most of our soil has been depleted of magnesium so even things that should be good sources of it are not. Magnesium is sometimes called the "calming" mineral. I tried magnesium pills that did not seem to do much (probably was not absorbing them?). Then I found a magnesium powder that you dissolve in water. I started taking that at night, the dosage is 2 teaspoons but I started with a lower dose and worked up to the 2 teaspoons (it works like a laxative so it is wise to work up to the 2 teaspoons). After about 2 weeks, my anxiety disappeared. I slept so much better too. After about a month, I could skip taking it and now don't take it at all unless I start to feel a little anxious or have trouble sleeping, then I will take it again for a couple days. Haven't needed to take Xanax in a long time. I recently flew on an airplane which would normally be "Xanax time" and put me in panic mode but I was so calm it was unreal. Not sure if this would work for everyone, but you might want to give it a try. The magnesium I used is called "Natural Calm". It is a blend of citric acid and magnesium carbonate which when mixed with water creates ionic magnesium which is supposed to be easier to absorb.

    Have not heard of GABA, will have to look that up.

    Suz

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  • flannelette
    flannelette Member Posts: 984
    edited July 2013

    jancie - I'm almost 5 yrs on arimidax - I forget everything - names of flowers, names of people, I've known all my life. I too use a trank (clonazapam as needed) and have done for years. I too had a total breakdown in 1992 - thought my chronic fatigue syndrome was coming back and I had a total meltdown, out of commission, could not drive or go outside etc for 6 months.

    I did a 4-fold approach: meds, physical body work especaily Tragers which are deep, not just muscle massage for tense muscles - tha tragers were incredible. also acupuncture because my dr also was an acupuncturist - very rare!, talk therapy AND the Stress REduction and Relaxed course developed by Joh Kabat-zinn from the Univeristy of Massachusetts medical centre, now taught everywhere by social workers, doctors etc. You can read/buy Full Catastrophe Living by him - it is a classic, deeply compassionate, I used to fall asleep with it on my stomach...take the course! it's about 12 weeks of dedicated & very simple, basic mindfulness - very gentle yoga, a body scan which for me worked the best and I still use it and still follow my breath when in a medical procedure.

    But if I've HAD a scan, mammo, whatever and the phone rings and it's not what I want to hear I still bend over & rush around the house screaming them take 2 clonazapams & calm down. I have - and you might too - generalized anxiety disorder. it is very, very common. It is not pleasant. but tranks are the most frequently prescribed med in the world. some people are anxious. I was since a child, bit my nails - a sure sign. that's my disposition - and maybe yours, too. we're all somewhere on that bell curve.

    However, something odd did happen when I was DX - of course i had massive anxiety - but something changed within me - could it have come from my stress reduction course? I'll never know....people who figured it was game over for me were astonished - was I on drugs? ---somethin came from inside, and especially when, sobbing, I waited for my path report after my MX - no nodes, no lympho-vascular invasion, yet highly aggressive cells, the worst on the .....richardson? scale 9 out of 9 for hooliganism....stage 2b. I jumped for joy!! It was my gift from the universe. I became an optimist, from being a certified pessimist.

    You are only stage 2a! no nodes! small tumour. Mine was 8- 10 cm and my surgeon, just before my MX looked at me on my guerney and I looked at him and said "you're oncerned about mets, aren't you" and he just said "yes". I healed quickly, not a tylenol or any pain meds needed. Happy, because the breast was off. But waiting to see my surgeon for the path report I just sat & sobbed. Because i was sobbing, and because the surgeon was goimng to take a while longer on his rounds at the cllinic, they sent in an intern right away - he whips open the folder & says no nodes, no vascular invasion, margins clear. with each one I jumped for joy, laughing. It was my gift! and you had one , too.

    Maybe try sending your dear body love and compassion, intentionally, and something will arise from deep inside that tells you how lucky you are to be alive! to have no real crises. a supporting husband. I'm 5 yrs out and, with a supportive partner and something I love to do (volunteer for humane society) I've never been happier. (but still freak out at mammo time, take a trank, return to calm)

    I wish you a similar transformation, for that is all you need, a transformation from fear - anxiety, like depression, is a mood disorder, and with work and help, you might find you do have the power to adjust your vision of your body and life to something that is more realistic, not skewered by fear. all the best! I know some people will hate me for this - but for me, my encounter with bc had a profound silver lining. it's totally wonderful to be an optimist, for a change.

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  • jancie
    jancie Member Posts: 2,631
    edited July 2013

    Flannel - thanks for taking the time to respond!    I saw a little bit of myself in your post.  When I heard the news "lymph nodes clear" I literally jumped for joy - it was a very very happy day for me.   I never asked "why me?"  my view was more of "why NOT me?"  I am just an average person dealing with cancer.  My fear of reoccurrence has lessen over the years however my oncologist wants me to stay on Tamoxifen for 10 years and I will endure the SE's because the tamoxifen is almost like a comfort blanket for me.

    My physical limitations are what really bother me the most but I still try to be as active as possible.  I just literally ache all over - more so the bottom half of me - from my hips to my ankles.  My oncologist believes it "could" be due to age and the amount of injuries I have had over the years.  Luckily for me he will still give me pain meds when I ask for them.

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  • Denise-G
    Denise-G Member Posts: 1,777
    edited July 2013

    http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/anxiety-lingers-long-after-cancer/?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

    Good article in NY Times yesterday about cancer patients and anxiety.

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