Anxiety is a vague feeling of uneasiness, unpleasant feelings, or fear resulting from expecting some bad news or harm. Anxiety can happen to anyone. Persons dealing with serious illness of a family member may get anxious more easily than others. Anxiety and fear are common and normal feelings when coping with serious illness in the family.
How do people describe anxiety?
People who have anxiety say they feel uneasy, tension, apprehensive, wary, agitated. They have a feeling of restlessness, uncertainty, and are fearful or have a sense of dread or impending doom. People tremble, sweat, have rapid breathing, rapid heart rate, or heart pounding in the chest. In addition, some people experience shakiness, or difficulty falling asleep. Sometimes people may become overly fearful and may no longer cope well with his or her day-to-day life.
What causes anxiety?
Many different things can cause people to feel anxious. Symptoms that are not under control can make a person feel anxious or “sick to his/her stomach”. Loss of control from serious illness in the family can also make a person feel anxious.
How do people cope with anxiety?
No two people experience anxiety in the same way.
Here are some tips people have found helpful:
- Try to identify what “triggers” your anxiety.
- List coping strategies that have helped in the past.
- Talk with others, such as in a support group, about your anxiety.
- Increase pleasurable, distracting activities such as listening to favorite music.
- Use relaxation techniques such as controlled breathing or guided imagery (picture a pleasant scene in your mind).
- Be around others as much as possible, if this is relaxing.
- Use prayer or other types of spiritual support, such as meditation.
- Talk with your doctor or nurse about prescribing medicine to help reduce your anxiety.
- Use relaxation tapes.
- Express feelings and concerns to others.
- Limit you caffeine intake by decreasing your intake of coffee, colas, tea, Mountain Dew and chocolate.
- Ask your doctor for a counseling referral if these tips are not helpful.
- Have family members and friends help you with relaxation exercises such as deep breathing or visualizing pleasant scenery.
- Ask family members and friends to help you with situations or chores that you’ve identified as stressful.
- Ask family members and friends to bring home books from the library or bookstore about teaching relaxation exercises or imagery.
- Be open and honest about your feelings and concerns with your family members.
- Try to describe your feelings when you’re experiencing them (racing thoughts, lump in your throat, nausea, shortness of breath, dizzy or scared).
- Ask you family members and friends how your anxiety is affecting them.
- Panic attacks.
- Problems with depression that lasts beyond 2 weeks.
- Persistent fearfulness.
- Shortness of breath that lasts beyond 2 weeks.
- Shakiness, agitation or restlessness that lasts beyond 2 weeks.
- Persistent problems sleeping or getting to sleep.
- Heart racing and beating hard in the chest.
- No relief after trying suggestions.
- Excessive sweating.
- Contact your doctor or nurse.
- Call the National Cancer Institute at: 1-800-4-CANCER or visit on the internet at: http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/. Click on Coping with Cancer.
- Visit the Family Care Research Program on the internet at: http://www.cancercare.msu.edu.
- Visit the National Family Caregiver Alliance at: http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/home.jsp
- Visit the AARP website at: http://www.aarp.org/.
- Rawl, S.M., Given, B.A., Given, C.W., Champion, V., Kozachik, S.L., Barton, D., Emsley, C.L., & Williams, S.D. (2002). Intervention to improve psychological functioning for newly diagnosed patients with cancer. Oncology Nursing Forum, 29(6), 967-75.
