Re: Pills, cures, depression, anxiety, cancer - was: I need reasonably priced source of Cialis

[Guest guest]

Alan,

As usual wise words! I am a former psychotherapist-I never practist in retirement and now I cannot because I am disabled from the VA for back and other things. So I volunteer to help substance abuse folks and try to make their lives better. I have always had a commitment to "be healing" wherever I am although I have not always been that way. I had pretty good skills in coping with life as reality really is. No when it comes to medical stuff I am not very good at all. The last back operation I was in sheer panic and terror. I am needle phobic and this process I will go through to just be alive is kicking my "ass". The Lupron(sp) side effects are really effecting me and I need help with the chemical affects because I have all of the psycholohical symptoms. I could not get myself to do any thing and I had a lot of anxiety that is not me and so on. So in order to feel myself and fumction I am pretty sure I will need chemical help to maintain a

quality of life and remain interested in life. I could talk about more but I hope the MD psychiatrist will be able to help.

I will pursue a prize for the cure and I think it is worth having an incentive to cure it. I will ask someone I can talk with because I do not like pills to feel "normal". I am pretty certain it is the Luron(sp) and I want to clean up I can so I will also pursue some grief work in case I have buried things that might cause stress in my body.

Thank You,

Alan

To: ProstateCancerSupport Sent: Mon, February 1, 2010 6:40:08 PMSubject: Pills, cures, depression, anxiety, cancer - was: I need reasonably priced source of Cialis

Tom <tomcw4aaayahoo (DOT) com> wrote:> ... I am taking mega this and that and I am not sure if> they are effective and of course my digestive system seems to> be effected by the number of pills I take.Tom,It may not be the number of pills, it may be one particular pill.I suggest you cut out one pill for a few days, then try adifferent one, and so on, to see if you can find one that'scausing a problem for you. If you do find one, you might do wellto cut the dosage or cut it out altogether.I found that a green tea extract that I was taking was upsettingmy stomach. I decide I would live without that.> No one wants to help me define cure. Ok cure is undetectable> PSA in they system for five years. I do not like this> definition because selfishly

I am not likely to live that long> and two I was undetectable for 6 years after my prostectomy and> it then reoccurred. Please refine and comment. I have decided I> will pursue that goal for my son and grandson-a prize for the> cure. I think that it will be possible to get enough to make it> tempting to find as cure. Only I want to start now. So guys you> have been at this longer than me and are scientist. Please> refine even if it is not as complete as you would like.I think what's happening is that some scientist will discover aninteresting new fact about prostate cancer. Perhaps it utilizesa particular hormone, or it has a hormone binding site that canbe fooled by a molecule like abiraterone, or it has a chain ofseveral unique molecules in its reproduction pathway that mightbe disrupted.That leads the same or other scientists to wonder if there is away to use

that new discovery to attack cancer cells. They thinkit might possibly help, but they have no way of knowing, untilmuch more research is done, whether the approach they've takenwill produce life extension for some patients, for all patients,be a complete cure, do nothing at all, or even do harm. So theytry to get a grant and do more research.It's not that the researchers start out with the idea - "Let'sfind a way to add two months to a cancer patient's life", it'sthat they have discovered something that might help and they wantto pursue it to find out whether and how much it might help.Cancer is a vastly more complicated disease than, say, abacterial infection. It doesn't have a single cause. It doesn'thave a single pathogenic agent, like a particular strain ofbacteria, that you can completely wipe out, thereby curing thepatient. The disease comes from within, from the patient's

owncells, that start doing harmful things they don't normally do.We know tremendously more about it now than we did 20 years ago,and 20 years from now we'll know that much more again. But westill only know a fraction of what we need to know in order tofully understand it. It's going to take decades of additionalresearch - but we are making definite progress.> PS Oh Alan you wrote a wonderful comment of encouragement to me> when I first joined. I asked about assistance with the> depression, anxiety, lack of sleep and no energy etc. I will> see a psychiatrist on Feb 8. Tell what works for you please.> Thanks this lupron started kicking my ass and I could not with> it. I am using Sam e 400 x 4 is helping until I get to the> psychiatrist. Help Allan please and others too/ Thank you for the kind words.One thing I've noticed about you, and a great many others of

thepeople in this group, is that you don't just ask for help, youtry to offer help to others too. That's important, and it meansthat, even though you may often feel depressed and anxious, youhaven't become totally self-absorbed. You still feel sympathyfor other people's pain. You still want to remain engaged withlife.That seems to me to be a key to dealing with depression andanxiety. Our biggest enemy is total self-absorption. Ourbiggest friend is engagement with life. We need to continue tocare about others. We need to continue to take an interest inothers. We need to continue to take an interest in the thingsthat have interested us and that we cared about in the past -friends, family, perhaps books, music, movies, food, photography,dancing, volunteering, hobbies. I remember a guy in another cancer group who loved cooking andshared many of his favorite recipes with the group. He

alsoplayed the organ and found a way to play one in a church. I knowother guys that have always loved sports and they've continued toworkout and play handball or basketball, or golf, or just go forwalks if that's all that they could do. I'm sure that, like mostof us, those guys were depressed and anxious from time to time.Everyone is. But they didn't let it rob them of the pleasures oflife.I myself got interested in science. I had a liberal artseducation, studying philosophy, literature and history. Not longafter being treated for cancer, and very near age 60, I gotinterested in biology and read a college textbook. Since thenI've read about a dozen serious textbooks in biology andchemistry and learned a great deal. It's given me a new interestin all kinds of things, including seeing cancer from a morescientific perspective.I don't want to urge you specifically to take up cooking,

theorgan, basketball, golf, chemistry or biology. What I want youto do is to think about activities that *you* like and renew yourinterest in them. I want you to think about activities thatengage you, that involve you with other people, that have someimportance to you or to others.At some point when we were children we all learned that we woulddie some day. We all felt bad about it and didn't know what todo. But most of us found that there were lots better things todo in life than worry about dying. That fundamental truth thatwe learned as children is just as true in our old age. There arestill lots better things to do than worry about dying. There'sstill a lot of living to do and a lot to enjoy. I hope that ifand when I find out that I'm going to die the next day, I'llstill find something interesting and enjoyable and meaningful todo in the day I have left.When you see the

psychiatrist, don't just get a prescription forpills - though pills may help. See if he can talk to you abouthow to find more interest in life. If he can't do that (manypsychiatrists today don't do "talk therapy", they just writeprescriptions) , ask if he can refer you to a social worker orcounselor, or support group that can do that, or find one on yourown. This group is pretty good for that sort of thing but a faceto face encounter could be even better.Best of luck to you and to all who face these problems.Alan