How to Cope with Chemo Rage and Other Mood Changes
Being diagnosed with cancer is overwhelming. Aside from having to deal with pain, you have to undergo a tonne of treatments just to get better.
What’s more, cancer treatments can cause adverse effects to your emotions. Anger may arise, as well as sudden mood swings.
Fortunately for you, we provided a list of coping methods for chemo rage and other mood changes to help you. Ready? Go and read on!
What is chemo rage?
Chemo rage is an emotional response after undergoing a certain cancer treatment called chemotherapy or “chemo.” This treatment uses powerful drugs to kill off cancer cells in the body.
Unlike other treatments that target specific areas, chemo works all throughout the body. It can affect healthy cells including your skin, hair, bone marrow, and intestines.
In addition, you also need to deal with its physical impact on your body. Chemo can cause nausea, fatigue, mouth sores, bowel issues, and even hair loss.
Other Mood Changes After Chemotherapy
It’s never easy to stay positive if you have breast cancer, colon cancer, or other forms of cancer. Your oncologist will likely encourage you to keep your hopes up as chemotherapy is a long journey.
Aside from surviving this extensive treatment, you also need to face what people call a “chemo brain.” It’s a phenomenon where you’ll experience thinking and memory problems after chemotherapy.
During this period, you will feel extreme mood changes. Depression, anxiety, and stress may take a heavy toll on your mental health as well.
Your mind will be clouded with family life, finances, work, and the fear of having cancer again. You may even cut off other people who don’t understand what you went through.
Additionally, the chemo brain is responsible for intensifying the feeling of anger. In some cases, it can even cause drastic personality changes.
Coping Methods to Deal with Negative Emotions
Anger is a natural reaction, especially when you receive a cancer diagnosis. It’s not necessarily bad, but some people tend to express it in unhealthy ways.
Once you reach the end of the treatment for your cancer, you may feel a sudden impact of negative emotions. Don’t worry though, that’s perfectly normal.
There is really no right way to react or feel after finishing treatment. Sometimes life after cancer may even be as hard as the treatment process itself.
The good thing is, it can produce a positive change when you express those emotions in a healthy way. In fact, there are several ways for you to cope with that.
Here are some of the following coping methods:
- Relax and meditate
- Consider therapy and counselling
- Exercise and stay active
- Engage in creative activities such as photography or calligraphy
- Join recreational workshops
- Share your personal story
- Join support groups
- Take action and volunteer for a cause you feel passionate about
- Try journaling and track your emotions
- Focus only on what you can control
For the most part, these methods will help you get back to your life and face the world cancer-free.