Depression after cancer

I feel more depressed now after surviving surgery and radiotherapy and having been told recently that my latest CT scan was looking good. I think at the time of going through everything I didn't have time to think about it. Now I'm thinking about everything that went wrong, like delays and cancellations, having shingles, a burst seroma from having lymph nodes removed. I have also recently started having panic attacks when I feel like I can't breath. I wonder if people can get PTSD after having cancer. This was the 2nd time I have had breast cancer, the 1st time was 17 years ago. I should be feeling glad to have got through it but I keep feeling really low and scared that it will come back as I wasn't fit enough for chemo and triple negative so couldn't have any drug treatment.

  • Hi Lyricoflight I am sure that PTSD after cancer is a real thing.  Going through it twice is very traumatic.  Have you thought about some counselling, Maggies centre are very good.  I had counselling that Macmillan arranged for me.  It really helps talking to a neutral person as you don't worry about saying something that might hurt them, like if yo spoke to family.  Local cancer charities also often offer support.  

    Lee x

  • Thank you for your reply. I had a few calls from Macmillan. The lady said she would phone me again but I didn't hear back from her. My GP has referred me for counselling but she said it could be a long wait. I will see if there is anything local. xx