Mental health during cancer treatment plays an important role. Physical illness may recover soon and be treated but once your mental health is disturbed, it disturbs your whole life and all functions of your body or even your whole family. Moreover, your thoughts and feelings can be protected by healthy habits and healthy practices. Going through cancer treatment is a painful procedure for the patient as well as for the family. It causes many side effects and also puts financial pressure on patients and due to feelings of fear and death patients become anxious and go into depression. Therefore it is necessary to take proper care of your mental health.
Following are some tips to manage your mental health during cancer treatment:
Practice following tips for good mental health while on cancer treatment.
Getting Ready for Challenges:
prepare yourself for upcoming challenges due to the treatment, such as the side effects of chemotherapy or radiation therapy or if you are going for a bone marrow transplant. Have a positive attitude by thinking that you will be free from the disease by this treatment. Think that there will be some side effects that I have to face during the treatment.
Get enough/ Healthy Sleep:
Daily eight hours of sleep is very necessary for your brain and mental health. As our brain works on our whole body by giving signals if we do not take rest our brain becomes exhausted due to which our whole body physically starts showing symptoms of fatigue and exhaustion. If you are facing sleep disturbance talk to your health care provider for sleeping pills at least till the completion of a course of your cancer treatment.
Take a proper and Healthy Diet:
As chemotherapy disturbs the digestive system patients feel nausea and vomiting and patients do not feel hunger. Moreover, selecting a light diet with high calories can be effective in managing this problem. Furthermore, you will feel energetic and active. So, a healthy diet during chemotherapy plays an important role in managing your stress level.
Seek healthy stress management techniques:
Talk about your feelings with someone you trust. Have a walk with your friend.
Be active: Do not be dull and lazy in your daily routine, engage yourself in household work as you tolerate.do your favorite mind-diverging activity such as playing cards with a family member, going for a walk with your best friend, or with whom you feel comfortable and relaxed.
Look for Professional Help:
If you feel that you are anxious and feeling signs of depression, you must seek medical help. For early recovery from mental illness such as anxiety and depression, it is necessary to have self-awareness and identify the signs and symptoms of mental illness. Early detection of symptoms leads to early recovery from the disturbed mental state. Moreover, minor depression can convert into major depression if not treated on time.
Make sure to separate your professional matters from your personal life:
If you are doing a job Always keep your personal life separate from your professional life. Give quality time to your job and when home give quality time to yourself and your family. By doing this you will have less stress and you will have quality time for yourself and yourself.
Manage your income with expenses during your cancer treatment:
As far as you are receiving cancer treatment you must manage your expenses. so that you may have enough money for your treatment Furthermore you will not be anxious and stressed due to expenses and your family will not suffer a financial crisis due to your treatment.
Do not interfere with others life matters:
Focus on your own life and do not be disturbed by other’s life events or situations. Moreover, try to keep yourself away from negative people. Negative people will consume your positive energy and will increase your stress level. Furthermore, try to spend time with positive people around you. By doing this you will feel relaxed and happy.
Limit your Alcohol Intake:
Try to limit your alcohol intake Drinking more alcohol can decrease or interact with your treatment /medications as well as can worsen your condition by increasing acidity and indigestion of food. Moreover, it can also cause dehydration, which is not good for you during chemotherapy. And can also disturb your sleep cycle which may further increase your stress level.
Give time to your family:
Spend more time with your family and share and memorize good events from your past in your life.do not talk about bad events.
Always be positive: (During cancer treatment)
Always be positive regarding your health and trust in the treatment that you are receiving keep your willpower strong Positive thoughts will encourage you and you will remain active and pessimistic throughout your treatment. That can have a positive outcome on your health and treatment results.
Share your feelings:
join a group of people with the same health conditions and share your experiences and feelings with them. Moreover, share your feelings with your most trusted friend or a family member.
Focus on your well-being:
chemotherapy causes some physical changes such as hair fall, skin pigmentation, and weight loss, do not be upset just think that these are temporary changes and will be recovered after treatment.do not disturb your mental health due to these changes.
How can you realize that your mental health is disturbed?
If you are feeling the following signs and symptoms you must know that your mental health is disturbed and going into depression. You must consult your healthcare provider.
- Disturbed sleep (waking up again and again or unable to fall asleep.)
- hopelessness
- Loss of appetite/overeating
- Negative thoughts
- Irritability
- Feeling of fear
- If you have become less talkative or do not want to talk to anybody
- Feeling angry with your loved ones
- Want to cry on small things
- Want to live alone
- Mild to moderate headache with body aches and joint pains.
Hence, protecting your mental health is very important while you are on an aggressive treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Good and stable mental health keeps you strong and gives you confidence and a positive attitude towards your treatment. Furthermore, it helps in maintaining your willpower.
