Mind, Body and Side Effects

Between one-third and one-half of patients seen in the Cancer Rehabilitation Clinic are dealing with a sleep-related problem. Psychological distress and fatigue often lead to poor sleep habits and keep those with a history of cancer from snoozing soundly, while others wake up regularly because of pain or develop sleep apnea.

One patient transcends her ‘moat’ against COVID-19 while her art therapist finds unexpected benefits to teaching online.

Estrogen-lowering aromatase inhibitors are frequently prescribed to women with ovarian and uterine cancers. Research shows joint and muscle pain are a common and often life-limiting side effect of letrozole and other medications in the same class, known as aromatase inhibitors. They can also cause hot flashes and fatigue.

Aromatase inhibitors are a game-changer for the treatment of some breast cancers, but many patients experience muscle and joint pain. A Rogel Cancer Center specialist discusses what’s behind treatment-related pain and what patients can do about it.

Rehabilitation care can repair and restore the body after many cancer treatments -- including breast and prostate cancer -- leave patients weak, fatigued and in pain.

Dealing with a cancer diagnosis is stressful. No matter if your illness was caught early or is advanced, whether you live close to the hospital or hours away, or whether your treatment plan requires surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or all of the above, hearing the word cancer can change your life in profound ways.

Feeling anxious, sad or helpless? Having trouble concentrating, sleeping or completing everyday tasks? Worrying about family members, work or finances? Mental health professionals sum up troubles like these with one word: distress. Everyone with cancer feels some distress, and about half of patients with cancer will experience a significant level of distress at some point. Yet too often, cancer-related distress goes undiscussed and unaddressed.

Waiting for answers is never easy, but cancer patients know that waiting for scans, test results or health information can be so stressful that day-to-day life can be practically unbearable. Patients have coined the term “scanxiety” to capture the flavor of the experience.

The Remote Patient Monitoring Program for Chemotherapy Related Nausea at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center helps patients receiving high emetogenic treatment deal with the difficult side effects.

The sheer impact of the word cancer carries many emotions, such as fear, shock and worry. It can be challenging to make sense of all the information and put some order to it. Donna Murphy, LMSW, director of Patient and Family Support Services at the Rogel Cancer Center, talks about the importance of emotional well-being during cancer treatment and where to turn to find it.