Coping with breast cancer

It can be very difficult to cope with a diagnosis of breast cancer, both practically and emotionally. At first, you are likely to feel very upset, frightened and confused. Or that things are out of your control. It is very important to get the right information about your type of cancer and how it is best treated. People who are well informed about their illness and treatment are more able to make decisions and cope with what happens.

Breast cancer and its treatment may cause physical changes in your body. These changes can be very difficult to cope with and may affect the way you feel about yourself. Most women will have surgery, which can affect the shape of one or both breasts and cause scarring. Such body changes can affect your self esteem and the way you relate to other people, especially close family and friends. There is information about coping after breast cancer surgery in this section. 

Another problem you may have to cope with is feeling very tired and lethargic some of the time, especially for a while after treatment or if the breast cancer is advanced. There is information about fatigue and cancer and treating cancer fatigue in the section about coping physically with cancer.

A review of studies about exercise after cancer treatment reported in February 2012. It found that appropriate exercise had healthy effects on the body and helped women to feel better after breast cancer treatment. It also helped to reduce fatigue and depression for some women. If you are interested in exercising it is important to speak to your cancer specialist or breast care nurse.

If you are having a sexual relationship, one or all of these changes may affect your sex life. There is information about how cancer can affect your sex life in the coping with cancer section of CancerHelp UK. There is information about pregnancy and breast cancer in this section. CancerHelp UK also has information about how cancer drugs may affect fertility in the coping physically with cancer section.

As well as coping with the fear and anxiety that a diagnosis of breast cancer brings, you may also have to work out how to manage practically. There may be money matters to sort out. You may need information about financial support, such as benefits, sick pay and grants.

Who do you tell that you have cancer? And how do you find the words? You may also have children to think about. CancerHelp UK has information about talking to people about your cancer and how and what to tell children.

Remember that you don't have to sort everything out at once. It may take some time to deal with each issue. Do ask for help if you need it though. It is likely that your doctor or specialist nurse will know who you can contact to get some help – they can put you in touch with professionals who are specially trained in supporting people with cancer. These people are there to help and want you to feel that you have support. So use them if you feel you need to.

You may need to have access to support staff, such as a breast care nurse or dietician. Social workers can help you with information about your entitlement to sick pay and benefits. If you live alone, a social worker may be able to help by organising convalescence when you first come out of hospital.

The coping with cancer section of CancerHelp UK has lots of helpful information. There are sections about

• Your feelings
• How you can help yourself
• Who else can help you?
• Mortgages, pensions, loans and insurance, including travel insurance

If you would like more detailed information about coping with breast cancer, contact one of the organisations on our breast cancer organisations list. They will be happy to help. They often have free factsheets and booklets they can send to you. They may also be able to put you in touch with a support group. There is also a breast cancer reading list. 

You can also contact our cancer information nurses. They would be happy to help.

You can also find details of counselling organisations, that can tell you more about counselling and help you find sources of emotional support in your area.