Understanding the Distress in People with Cancer: What is normal or abnormal?

With the prevalence of chronic diseases like cancer, there are certain questions that we need to answer well if we want to keep distance from such diseases. Being distressful is one common problem that is associated with cancer, and this brings us to the first question to respond to. “How do you know when your distress level is normal or more serious?” according to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, responding to this question directly may be very difficult due to the fact that some distress are normal and are expected when one is struggling with cancer. However doctor Akoury, who is also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, says that certain signs and symptoms can warn you that your distress level is too high and is becoming serious. Some of those sign and symptoms may include:

• Feeling flabbergasted to the point of panic
• Being overcome by a sense of anxiety
• Being overwhelmed with sadness to the point that you think you won’t make it through treatment
• Being unusually irritable and angry
• Feeling unable to cope with pain, tiredness, and nausea
• Poor concentration, fuzzy thinking and sudden memory problems
• Having difficulties in making certain decisions including very little and simple things.
• Feeling hopeless – wondering if there is any point in going on
• Thinking about cancer and death all the time
• Trouble getting to sleep or early waking (getting less than 4 hours of sleep a night)
• Trouble eating (a decrease in appetite, or no appetite) for a few weeks
• Family conflicts and issues that seem impossible to resolve
• Questioning your faith and religious beliefs that once gave you comfort
• Feeling worthless and useless

Understanding the distress in people with cancer can be very complicated because a lot of things can be involved. Like for instance in some cases and many of them historical things from the past may put you or your loved one in danger of greater distress and in need of help. The following are some examples of past events that can cause distress to be worse when you have cancer:

• Having a loved one who died from cancer
• Having a recent serious illness or death of someone close to you
• Having had depression or suicidal thoughts in the past
• Memories of painful events from your past that come back as nightmares or panic attacks

If any of these describe you or a loved one, then you need to talk to your doctor immediately for direction. This could be an indication that you need help in dealing with distress. Remember that currently doctors and nurses and even other health professionals have established that emotional distress is closely associated with having cancer and should be treated along with the physical symptoms of cancer. If you are looking for the best cancer treatment centers, remember to have this problem of distress treatment in mind. Look for facilities that offer both cancer and distress treatment all together.

Understanding the Distress in People with Cancer: Tools to help measure distress

Sometimes it’s hard to talk about distress in a way that helps your cancer care team understand how much distress you’re having and how it’s affecting you. There’s a distress tool that’s much like a pain scale to help measure your distress. The pain scale works like this:

When asking about pain, the doctor might say, “How is your pain right now on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 the worst pain you can imagine?” This has proved to be a helpful way to measure pain. A score above 5 is a sign of significant pain, and tells the cancer care team that the patient needs more help to manage it.

Some cancer teams measure distress in the same way, using a 0 to 10 scale. Just as with the pain scale, you are asked to choose the number from 0 to 10 that reflects how much distress you feel today and how much you felt over the past week. Ten is the highest level of distress you can imagine, and 0 is no distress. Most people can use this scale to rate their distress in a way that helps the cancer team. If your response is 4 or more, you are likely to have a moderate-to-high degree of distress. Your doctor and/or cancer team should find out more and offer some help with your distress.

Not only does this tool tell your team about your emotional health, but it also gives you a chance to talk and work out problems during your visit. Surveys done in cancer clinics have shown that up to 4 in 10 patients have significant levels of distress. It therefore means that no matter how distressful you may be, you are not alone in your distress situation.

Another part of the distress tool is the “Problem List,” or a list of things that may be causing your distress. For this, you read through a list of common problems and mark possible reasons for your distress. This helps your doctor to know whom you need to see to get help. The list of physical problems helps you remember those you should tell your treatment team about.

Understanding the Distress in People with Cancer: Do you need extra help for your distress?

People are affected differently with some people having a higher risk of serious distress. Like for instance if you have any of these experiences, then you will need some extra help:

• Have had depression or other major mental health problems in the past
• Have made a suicide attempt in the past
• Suffer from other serious medical problems besides cancer
• Have communication problems (such as a different language, trouble reading, or hearing problems)
• Have some type of social or family problems
• Have ever been physically or sexually abused
• Are younger
• Are female
• Live alone
• Have limited access to medical care
• Have young children in the home
• Lived with very high stress levels (even before the cancer)
• Have ever abused alcohol or drugs
• Have financial problems
• Have spiritual or religious concerns
• Have uncontrolled symptoms

Both you and your cancer care team may also notice when there are times when you are at risk for greater distress during the course of illness and treatment. Cancer is often said to be “like being on a roller coaster.” These times for more distress are often at points of change in the illness and treatment:

• Finding a suspicious new symptom
• During work-up and diagnosis
• Waiting to start treatment
• Changing treatment
• Going home from the hospital
• Finishing treatment
• Going back to your cancer doctor for follow-up visits
• Going back to a “normal” life after treatment
• Cancer comes back
• Treatment doesn’t work
• Cancer gets worse or becomes advanced
• Nearing the end of life
• Going into hospice care

If your distress reaches moderate to severe levels at these times, you may need extra help. And up on understanding the distress in people with cancer, you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for that much needed professional help.

Understanding the Distress in People with Cancer: What is normal or abnormal?