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Thursday, August 14, 2008 Denise asks

Q: Had a mastectomy 1 1/2 yrs. ago, can alot of stress effect my wellness?

My cancer was stage 1, as I said I had a mastectomy 1 1/2 yrs ago.  I'm now on Tamoxifen and in the process of switching over to Arimidex.  Due to some family problems I've been under alot of stress and I find my implant side which is my left has started to have a bothersome ache.  Can stress effect my wellness?

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8/14/08 12:00pm

Denise, stress can definitely affect your general wellbeing, since it's been shown to lower your resistance to illness. And in that way — if you believe cancer can get a toehold when your immune system is compromised, which hasn't actually been proven — then you could make the connection between cancer and stress. However, I'm guessing your aching implant has more to do with muscle tightness due to stress, than cancer. Cancer doesn't usually come accompanied by pain. My advice? If the pain is bothering you a lot, or you're TOTALLY worried about cancer, go get it checked out; maybe there's some scar tissue that can be adjusted. But don't add to your stress by believing the cancer is coming back due to stress... that's circular thinking for sure! Best of luck, and I hope your life starts to trend better- PJH

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