When You’re Feeling Rotten

Cancer treatment is almost always aggressive, and it can lead to a number of unpleasant and demoralizing side effects, including nausea, fatigue, hair loss, weight changes, skin burns, and a general feeling of illness.

When you are feeling rotten, it’s easy to begin to feel depressed. Most people going through cancer treatment feel sad or depressed at some point in their treatment, but they begin to feel better if they can share their feelings with family or friends, or divert their attention from their disease through pleasurable activities. For some people, however, these feelings of sadness become severe depression, a more serious condition. Severe depression is characterized by these and other symptoms:

• Long-lasting feelings of hopelessness that are not relieved.
• Changes in eating habits causing major weight loss or gain.
• Inability to sleep or excessive periods of sleep.
• Changes in sexual desire.

Professional help is usually in order for severely depressed cancer patients. In many cases, antidepressants and/or counseling can relieve the depressed feelings.

Serious depression can have a negative effect on your recovery, or even result in suicide in rare cases. Talk to your doctor about your depression so that together you can take action to relieve your symptoms and move toward recovery.

Different medications are used for different types of cancer.

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