Severely anxious before appointments

I think it is absolutely normal to be terrified, especially when you have any kind of symptoms. Your rational mind just

cannot kick in. PTSD just rears its ugly head. That is what happens to me, to my sister, and so many other cancer survivors

that I know.

The one thing that helps me is I constantly picture myself getting home after the doctor's appointments are over. I envision that everything is

okay, that I am safe, and no cancer. It is just a simple thing, but it always helps me.

You are not alone out there on "the ledge". We know how you feel.

Hi Theresanne, I'm so sorry you have to deal with this new worry. When I read your symptoms I thought of a handful of other, non cancer things it could be. Gluten sensitivity, dairy sensitivity, diverticulitis, intestinal infection, IBS, leaky bowel. Well, I could go on. I had horrible stomach pains for months. Turned out I had become sensitive to garlic. Who knew. It could be that something that's always been part of your diet has now turned against you. Does taking tums help

You might try an elimination diet (like Whole 30) add in some probiotics (we drink kombucha) and practice guided imagery to help with the stress.

I've never found a doctor very educated on digestion issues and had to become my own detective. Hopefully you'll find out it's something simple and be able to put this behind you.

Theresanne, are you taking any anti-hormonals? I have done a lot of searching for info on this as I never had a GI problem in my life that I couldn't chalk up to a bug or something I ate and had always been able to eat just about everything, but that changed drastically a couple of years into Tamoxifen and particularly post-Lupron. I am also taking Metformin but it never got bad until the Lupron really. I have stumbled upon some info about GI changes post-menopause and have seen people on IBS boards state that things got worse for them around period time or into menopause. So really it doesn't seem all that far fetched for me that a lack of estrogen or chemopause would affect this part of our bodies.

I started taking a probiotic which helped. But the anxiety of appointment times also affected this and while I don't normally, I had to start taking immodium before every oncology appt and definitely before the gyno ones.

I know this post is old, hope you are doing well.

Hi BJKinNebr:

I just want to send you a virtual hug. I feel for you. I hope your scans show that treatment is working - shrinking tumors and all that.

I wish I could take away the anxiety for you. What a beast this disease it....

Hang in there.

wallan

BJ - thinking of you!

Hi everyone. Well, my scans came back stable!!! The only change they could see was on one of the spots on my liver.

It appears to have grown a little (going from 1.5 cm to 2.5 cm) My oncologist isn't too concerned yet. She said it could be

a difference in how they viewed each layer of the scan?????? Anyway, we will be keeping a close eye on it and will do another

scan in about 2 months instead of 4 months. I'll be staying with the taxotere for now. I am fortunate that I have had very few

issues with nausea. My biggest problem has been the fatigue. I also found out today that two more of my Wednesday friends

have died. One had been in hospice for about a month. The other one was very unexpected. I now feel like I am the "last of the

Mohican's" Other patients have come and gone. They have moved out of state, changed doctors or changed chemo days. this

still has me fighting back the tears and depression. How do you deal with losing chemo buddies???? I need some suggestions.

Barb