How Illness Can Affect Depression

Illness and Depression

Depression often tags along with another serious illness such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, Parkinson's Disease and more.  So often doctors will treat the illness but not treat the depression which follows along. This is sad because if you are so dejected and pessimistic about being sick, chances are your recovery won't be the best.

Cancer Can Scare You to Death

Millions of people are living with a current or past diagnosis of cancer. Just the word 'cancer' causes people to panic, become overcome with fear of dying, and think they are forever ruined. There is an immediate fear of death, life plans upset, change in lifestyle, medical bills to face, and a fight to survive.  So often your doctor, your family, friends, and cancer specialists think that it is normal for you to be depressed when you have cancer and don't think it needs to be treated.  But how can you really participate in your treatment plan if you are expecting the worst, and knowing it will happen?

I have sat with people and their families when the diagnosis of cancer is given. The reaction is always disbelief, even if the person was suspecting this to be true. I have held the hand of women who have been told that their husbands have prostate cancer, lung cancer, brain cancer, and many more.  I have sat silent with husbands who have just been given the news that their wife has breast cancer, uterine cancer, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer.  Men tend not to talk but their pain can be felt through the looks on their faces. Cancer scares people and sometimes it scares them to death before their time.

Depression can and should be treated right along with any treatment for cancer. Antidepressant medications are usually well tolerated but there may be some side effects and problems with other medications taken.  It is very important to make it clear to your doctor that you need help for your depression as well as your cancer. It is also very important that if you are the husband, wife, sibling, or child of someone who is dealing with cancer to do the same thing. Please ask your doctor for antidepressant medication if you are suffering with cancer and are depressed.

Depression Can Break Your Heart

People with heart disease tend to suffer from depression more than healthy heart people. Flip that coin and people with depression are at greater risk for getting heart disease. If you have heart disease and are depressed you have a bigger risk of death after a heart attack. After having heart surgery, it's very important to follow through with necessary rehabilitation.  This is more difficult for someone who is depressed. Depression can increase blood pressure and affect clotting.  It can also lead to elevated insulin and cholesterol levels.  It can increase stress hormones, those fight or flight impulses we have when faced with danger. Again, a chemical imbalance in the brain sends the wrong messages to the body. Depression and heart disease are deadly companions and can lead to each other. They are a frightening hand in glove combination.

Despite the real connection between these two dangerous illnesses, depression often goes undiagnosed and untreated. Persons with heart disease, their families and friends, and even their doctors and cardiologists may miss depression's warning signs. And when treatment is given it is often not enough. They think that these feelings just go along with heart disease.  When my husband had emergency open heart surgery, there was never any discussion about depression which went along with heart problems.  I was on top of it and worked to make sure my husband was able to get all the support he needed. Others may not know what to do and they get no help from the doctors.

The impact of depression and heart disease is enormous. Depression is the leading cause of disability and heart disease is by far the leading cause of death in the US. One in three Americans will die of some form of heart disease. So it is very important that we all become aware that depression and heart disease are associated with sickness and death and proper treatment must be given. Newer anti depressants don't have the negative complications that the previous ones did.

Treatment for depression helps you manage heart problems better and have a better quality of life. It should be made very clear to people with heart problems complicated by depression that exercise is one of the best treatments for both.

Treatment for depression helps people manage both diseases, making survival and enjoyment of life possible. Keep your heart and mind safe and sound. Total health is in your future.