Breast cancer wreaks havoc for women. It affects women’s health and relationships. Women experience complex emotions and tend to express anger, anxiety, skepticism, and shock. of self-confidence and is unable to maintain relations with family and friends.
The woman experiences various emotions as they deal with breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. During such times, the closed ones should be incredibly supportive and express additional care.
Breast cancer and dependency
Breast cancer can be treated with the latest technology and medicine, but it’s a time-consuming road to recovery. But this illness makes them physically and emotionally weak, and they are unable to do daily chores without support. It makes them feel dependent on others, and their self-esteem drops to the lowest level.
A woman in a family is supposed to play different roles as a daughter, wife, mother, or mother-in-law based on age and circumstances. As she undergoes treatment that includes surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, her ability to fulfill those responsibilities is severely affected. She feels helpless and is emotionally disturbed because of the dependency factor.
Radiation & side effects
Radiation therapy is a part of the treatment that damages cancer cells but is also likely to damage the healthy cells. The damage done to healthy cells causes side effects because cells and tissues in the body respond differently to radiation. Radiation can make the person feel very tired and hence, it is crucial to sleep and rest as much as possible during treatment.
Radiation is done using high-energy waves to kill the cancerous tumor cells. The intention is to damage the cancer cells without harming too many healthy cells. Side effects of radiation therapy are hair loss, sore throat, skin problems, difficulty in swallowing, loss of appetite, cough, swelling of the breast. Sometimes, people experience slight discomfort or pain around the breast, or stiffness in the shoulder area.
Loss of body weight
Breast cancer diagnosis and treatment make the woman lose her appetite and that inadvertently results in loss of weight. Even if she tries to eat a complete diet, but the body is not able to consume the protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Continuous weight loss can be a worrisome issue and constantly reminds you of your battle with cancer.
Muscle Loss
Breast cancer has become the most prevalent illness in recent years, and the number of women becoming vulnerable to it has been rising steadily. The woman suffers through weight loss and muscle loss as well. There is loss of hair as well due to chemotherapy sessions, and the woman has low self-confidence because of her appearance.
Having low muscle mass will lead to several other problems like fatigue and exertion to do daily activities. This will ultimately reduce the overall quality of life and increase the risk of chronic disease in breast cancer survivors.
Mammary gland loss
Breast cancer takes away the breasts from a woman, and the long, horizontal scar is a constant reminder of it. The loss of mammary gland can be terrible and devastating as it is the breast that is an identity to her gender. It is the sensual part of the body that attracts the opposite sex and the nourishment center for the newborn babies.
After the surgery, a woman is not able to see her body because she feels ugly and incomplete without her breasts. It shatters her completely, and she is unable to live life with the same enthusiasm as before.
Depression, anxiety, and loss of confidence
The feelings of depression, anxiety, and fear are widespread for a breast cancer patient. There are several reasons for this, like change in body, fatigue and not able to perform activities, and so on. The pain and chaos in mind cause emotional distress, and so during such times, the family and friends should be very supportive. Even after the surgery, some of them are worried that cancer will return and so are always anxious about it.
Sadness is the most apparent emotion of your breast cancer experience. Expressing the grief, doubts and all those bad emotions help you heal faster. You are not able to focus and even have trouble sleeping. All of this can lead you to depression and family, and friends should watch out for signs for anxiety such as angry outbursts, irritation, minimum focus to solve problems and no confidence to face tense situations. It may so happen that, sometimes the woman will not acknowledge that her mental health is deteriorating and will not ask for help. At such times, the family should seek the professional advice of a therapist or counselor.
Self-loathing
Breast cancer damages the woman’s self-esteem and body image, and she feels miserable about herself, after that impacting her relationship with everyone. The woman deals with a lot of negativity and evil thoughts in her mind and considers cancer as a punishment.
Mastectomy surgery changes women’s perception about several things. She is not comfortable with social interactions and prefers isolation. There is no urge for sexual intimacy since the woman has lost the self-confidence to do anything. She is unhappy and considers herself a curse for her near and dear ones,
Lack of Motivation
Women feel depressed after the cancer diagnosis and feel worthless and useless and do not feel motivated to carry out any of the activities. Stress can worsen feelings of fatigue. When a person is tired, they lack the energy to think or do any activity. The woman should take proper rest so that she can manage to do her daily activities. A lack of motivation, stress, anxiety, and depression can drive the woman to an extreme point of frustration with life.
Financial dependencies
Breast cancer treatment and other related costs are very high like the costs of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, medicines and diet food. Due to fatigue, the women who are employed will demonstrate low levels of productivity and eventually quit their job because of their low performance.
She then becomes financially dependent on her family to take care of the expenses. The entire budget gets reconsidered as several expenses occur monthly, and the medical costs need to be covered.
Look and appearance
Breast cancer and its treatments bring about various changes in the woman’s body. She will have scars, hair loss and probably gain weight during treatment. Her look and appearance completely change, and it doesn’t seem pretty. The breasts will look swollen after the surgery and will take time to heal. The woman’s confidence and self-esteem are severely affected, and she feels unattractive about herself.
