Hello Brownlegs and welcome to the forum.

I'm really sorry to hear you have been diagnosed with DCIS for a second time and of the troubles you've had with your insurance claim. It sounds like things have been tough but I'm glad you've reached out to us as our community is full of very supportive and understanding members who will have some knowledge of what you are going through, so you are not alone, and hopefully you won't have to wait too long to hear from them.

Although you don’t mention the type of insurance, it sounds like you may be talking about critical illness insurance? In short, it all depends on the terms of your policy. Usually, if a valid claim is made they will pay out your amount of critical illness cover in full, once. After this happens, the policy will end and you’ll no longer have any cover. There are some types of critical illness insurance policies that will make partial payments if the illness is still treatable. These are called scaled critical illness insurance policies. Usually, you can still make another claim. It will just deduct the amount that has already been partially paid.

I am not sure what sort of policy you had, and as we don’t have insurance experts here at Cancer Research, it might be worth contacting Citizens Advice if you still feel you have been unfairly treated as this is an area they would have more knowledge of. I hope this information I've found about critical illness insurance and what is generally covered will be useful. The cancer charity Macmillan do have benefits advisers so you might want to give them a call to talk things through as well.

Given everything that has happened, it's completely understandable, and natural, for this to have an impact on your mental health. I'm not sure from your post how long you have been on anti depressants but they can take a little while before you start seeing the benefits of taking them. Hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later, but in the meantime, I do hope this information and advice on coping with your mental health will help you during this difficult time.

We're thinking of you Brownlegs and sending our strength and support your way.

Kind regards,

Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator