No matter how loving and helpful your family and friends are, when you are coping with colorectal cancer, there’s nothing quite like having the support of others who are going through the exact same experience. This is the No. 1 reason cancer patients participate in support groups. In fact, the National Cancer Institute reports that joining a support group may improve both your quality of life and survival.
“Life is stressful,” says Diane Robinson, a neuropsychologist and program director for Cancer Support Community & Integrative Medicine at UF Health Cancer Center — Orlando Health. Yet, our bodies are uniquely designed to cope with short-term stress (think fight-or-flight response). A cancer diagnosis, however, shifts stress levels from an acute event (intense but short term) to one that persists for a long time. “Because cancer has now become a chronic condition,” Robinson says, “patients are living longer [with cancer], coping with the consequences longer. The long-term consequences of chronic stress [impact] every aspect of your life, day in and day out. If you don’t have a coping strategy, stress can damage your body.”
[See: 8 Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Colon Cancer.]
Support groups give cancer patients tools to adapt to stress. “There’s nothing like sitting in a room with people sharing something [in common],” Robinson says. “[Support groups are] a hive of information. You can see how others made difficult choices and see things from a greater perspective.”
Being with others who share a significant life experience counters a phenomenon called unwanted aloneness. “If you have a life-threatening diagnosis, no one around seems to understand,” Robinson says. “If you to go to a support group, people understand and are right there. [With support groups] no one faces cancer alone.”
Types of Cancer Support Groups
Not all cancer groups are alike. Some meet in person on a regular basis at a hospital or other public venue. Others take place entirely online. With online support groups, you can participate when you want, as much or as little as you like.
Although a general cancer support group (one whose members have different types of cancer) might be fine, patients often find they prefer to be with people who have the same type of cancer they do.
[See: 10 Seemingly Innocent Symptoms You Shouldn’t Ignore.]
“In some ways, colon cancer is worse,” says Bronwyn Long, palliative care and oncology clinical nurse specialist at National Jewish Health. Colon cancer affects eating and the digestive system. Some patients undergo multiple abdominal surgeries that are deforming or disfiguring and that modify the digestive tract. There are pouches and odors. “There’s a whole other set of things to cope with. It can be embarrassing for patients,” Long says.
Robinson agrees. Cancer in general is not dignified, she says, but with colon cancer, you often have an even greater loss of dignity. For this reason, some colon cancer patients prefer online groups where they can reap the rewards of support without having to deal with the accompanying indignities of colon cancer in a public setting. Colontown, for example, is an online community of private Facebook groups based on age, diagnosis and other special interests. If you have a stoma (a surgical opening in the abdomen), you can join Stoma City, the “neighborhood” for people with stomas.
Support Groups Are Not Just for Patients
There are also support groups for family members who are trying to cope with a loved one’s diagnosis. “Families are unique ecological units,” Robinson says. “If something happens to one, it affects everyone in the unit. It ripples outward. Cancer is a disease of the family.”
In a family support group, you can learn how to talk to children about a loved one’s cancer in age-appropriate language and detail. “If you don’t talk [to your kids], they make up things in their head,” Robinson says. In kids-only support groups, children can interact with others who are going through the same experience — whether it’s their own cancer or that of a family member.
And, let’s not forget caregivers. Often spouses are the primary at-home caregiver for a cancer patient. “Everything falls on the caregiver,” Robinson says. “Caregiver stress can be greater than [the stress level of] the person who is ill.” Support groups can help.
[See: 14 Ways Caregivers Can Care for Themselves.]
Are There Downsides?
There can be. Hearing about other’s problems can make you feel worse, according to the National Cancer Institute. However, one of the biggest myths regarding cancer is that is everyone is going to be depressed, Robinson says. “This is not necessarily so.”
Where to Find a Support Group
Ask a member of your health care team if your hospital has a support group for colon cancer patients. Or, check out some of these resources. You may have to try a few groups to find the right one for you.
— The Colon Cancer Alliance offers a Patient & Family Support Navigator Program, peer-to-peer support and other programs.
— Colontown.
— CancerCare offers telephone, online and face-to-face support groups.
— The American Cancer Society has the Cancer Survivor Network.
— The Association of Cancer Online Resources offers resources and collections of cancer communities.
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How Support Groups Can Help Colon Cancer Patients originally appeared on usnews.com
