Anti-anxiety medication and chemotherapy

Hi Mad Dog Lady, sorry to hear about your situation.

I take Citalopram for anxiety, I really don’t know how I would manage without it. The prospect of having to just stop and not have an alternative is not good.  

Anxiety in itself is wretched, then add in cancer & chemo and then a seizure, you must have been really scared.

Have you been offered any talking therapies like counselling or CBT, sometimes these can help instead of medication. And mindfulness, perhaps ask your breast care nurse if there is anything you can access.

I hope you are doing OK

Hi , when I was really anxious during the staging scans my doctor prescribed diazepan,  which I never took in the end, but did bring with me to results appointment for the scans just in case  I know that a few others here take it sometimes and find it helpful, so it might be worth asking about that to take the edge of things a bit. X

Hi

Siiiiiiigh....this seems to be another example of medics working within their own specialism and the patient losing out on holistic care.

'Just have to manage..'...really? How many balls are you supposed to juggle and how many do you have to drop before someone accepts a little assistance may be required?

If your anxiety was a preexisting condition warranting  medication... just exactly how has that need lessened with your newer medical needs and aggressive treatment?

Do you have a good relationship with your GP? Have you been seen by anyone else in psychological or mental heath services in the past?

Do you have any good pharmacies in your area (I am two minutes walk from an independent one, that isn't part of a chain) where you could have a chat?. If they aren't familiar with your situation, you may peak their interest in looking at medication in conjunction with chemo.

Hope others here will be along to share their experience.

Take care

I wasn't offered anything at all and feel that my mental health needs were completely disregarded - I had told the oncologist about the citalopram before I started treatment and the fact that the dose had had to be increased to enable me to even contemplate the chemo.  Worse still there is a suggestion that the interaction between the citalopram and the chemo might have caused the seizure.  I have had other therapies in conjunction with the medication in the past and they have helped but not enough to enable me to come off the medication.  

After nearly 2 weeks I am not having as many panic attacks but the slightest thing can set me off.  Do not feel I will be able to continue with the chemo unless something can be done.

Thanks for making me feel normal.xx

I don't have any sort of relationship with my gp - in fact my sister has spent the last 10 days going backwards and forward to speak to the receptionist at my gp in order to get them to prescribe various medications that 'must not be stopped suddenly' and which they claim to know nothing about.  One prescription that I actually put into the receptionists hands went missing and had to be sorted by a very helpful receptionist - I still had to get down to the local pharmacy to collect it and I can no longer drive after the fit! If I have a problem the hospital tell me that I must sort it with gp and the gp tell me I must sort it with the hospital.  And bear in mind that at one point I couldn't even put a sentence together!

My local pharmacy is Lloyds  and they are pretty useless but I suppose I could try another?When they discharged me from the hospital they suggested I should try the Samaritans if I was struggling! Bet Boris Johnson would get better treatment than this!

Thank you so much for getting back to be - at least I know I am not alone. xx