I’ve always found it strange that Breast Cancer Awareness Month is in October, the month that ends with Halloween, when we scare each other with costumes of ghouls and ghosts and other creatures. Except for that last day of October, we push hard to keep the focus on overcoming the challenges of breast cancer — the cancer women fear the most.
Fear of breast cancer is pervasive. It affects women who don’t have the disease but dread that one day they might feel that lump or get that call from their doctor after having a mammogram. For women who receive a breast cancer diagnosis, their fears are all too real and hard to manage.
While fear is a natural, and at many times, effective response that propels us into action to protect us from a real threat, it can also have the opposite effect. It can overwhelm us, making it difficult to think clearly, learn what we need to know and face a situation head-on. It can make us withdraw, avoid and deny.
[See: How to Be a Good Patient Wingman.]
A 2015 survey found that almost 1 in 5 women who spotted a sign of breast cancer such as a lump or other suspicious breast change put off seeing her doctor for more than a month, and 1 in 20 waited over six months to get it checked. For those patients, fear of the possibility they had cancer stopped them from doing the very thing that could help them the most. That same fear of potential bad news can also deter women from getting regular mammograms.
It’s understandable why breast cancer scares us: it’s a life-threatening disease. Almost everyone knows someone who has been diagnosed or has been personally affected by the disease. But in actuality, the fear we feel is often far greater than the true risk. In fact, 8 in 10 women who find a lump don’t have breast cancer, and more than 87 percent of women in the U.S. will never develop breast cancer during their lifetime.
But statistics apply to people in general; they don’t address your own specific personal fears and risks. That’s why it’s so important that you work with your doctors to determine what your individual risk of developing breast cancer really is. Your overall risk depends on a combination of factors, including family history and genetics; medications and environmental exposures; weight, physical activity and other lifestyle factors. Once you get your questions answered and understand your real risk factors, some uncertainty lifts, anxieties start to recede and you can focus your efforts on a customized step-wise plan to become as healthy as possible, and stop wasting precious personal energy on things that matter much less (or not all). Getting clear on your own situation helps determine the start, type and frequency of mammograms, whether genetic testing is appropriate and what behavioral and lifestyle changes can be made to reduce your risks.
Despite our best efforts to reduce breast cancer risks, some women will still be diagnosed with breast cancer. Seven years ago, I was diagnosed; fear took over in ways I never imagined. Even though I was a trained breast cancer specialist, when I heard the diagnosis, swirling fears and negative thoughts consumed me. It was extremely difficult to focus and absorb what my doctors were telling me.
[See: A Tour of Mammographic Screenings During Your Life.]
What helped me and so many of the patients I see is to recognize that fear is a normal response to a real threat. But the high level of anxiety that immediately follows can and must be managed. First, we need to shift our focus to the facts of our individual situation: What are the specifics of the cancer? Who’s on my medical team? What are the pros and cons of my best options, and how will treatment affect my life? Getting these answers will help replace or reduce many of the fears and can make you feel more in control.
While fears brought on by your initial diagnosis often become more manageable with time and better understanding of your cancer and its treatments, the fear of recurrence will never completely leave you alone. Every time I go in for a scan, my anxieties come back to haunt me. For some women, they’re so severe that they develop what’s known as “scanxiety” — a fear of imaging tests that can cause them to avoid or delay getting tested. Up to one-third of cancer patients fear recurrence to such an extent that it affects their quality of life.
Once you’ve had cancer, you’re never truly free of it and its accompanying fear. But there are things that can help you manage the worries around recurrence. Expressing your concerns and fears with skilled clinicians who can help you understand the specifics of your situation, answer your questions and resolve your uncertainties can be therapeutic and empowering.
It’s also important to remember that breast cancer is usually a very treatable disease. If detected early, over 90 percent of women will survive the disease. And even for women dealing with metastatic cancer, with current advances in treatment, many can still have many more years to live a good quality life.
[See: What Not to Say to a Breast Cancer Patient.]
Because facts, knowledge and emotional support are key to managing the fear of breast cancer, Breastcancer.org is using this October to help make breast cancer a little less scary with our education and fundraising campaign, Take the Fright our of Breast Cancer.
While we can never remove all the fears around breast cancer, we’d like to try and make sure that fear doesn’t get in the way of your health.
More from U.S. News
Breast Pain? Stop Worrying About Cancer
What Not to Say to a Breast Cancer Patient
A Tour of Mammographic Screenings During Your Life
Facing Breast Cancer Fears originally appeared on usnews.com
