You probably remember the television show “Fear Factor,” a dare-devil situation reality show.
In the program, people were challenged to overcome their fears and accomplish dangerous activities involving high places, dark places, creepy creatures, and disgusting foods.
At the Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists, we never saw any of the participants of Fear Factor deal with the terrible fear factor we see almost every day: Fear of their Lung Cancer Diagnosis.
Fear is a strong emotion with many symptoms, we have seen manifested in even our most courageous patients.
Not only is the fear of the lung cancer diagnosis powerful, it has no sense of time.
Patients can engage the freezing touch of fear at many different times, once they have been given the definite diagnosis of lung cancer.
Arlene Rubinstein, a survivor of stage 3-A lung cancer who lives in Brooklyn, New York, said, “I was more frightened of chemo than anything else.” Because she knows the awful taste of that kind of fear, she now “volunteers as a phone buddy for the Lung Cancer Alliance.”
Don’t Try To Go It Alone: Finding Allies Against Fear
According to the Lung Cancer Alliance, “The Phone Buddy Program is our peer-to-peer program for people with lung cancer. Our Phone Buddy volunteers have either been through or are going
through lung cancer treatment and as a result are uniquely qualified to lend support and share information and resources.”
As you might imagine, talking with another patient who has experienced the same fearful situation can really help another patient cope with fear and focus on feeling better emotionally if not physically.
However, if you have been diagnosed with lung cancer, you might not need to reach outside your own circle of friends and family. We of FLASS feel it is important that patients find someone who can listen to anxieties in a supportive way.
Signs of the Fear Factor
Sometimes fear can not be immediately expressed, but we can see it in signs and symptoms, just like physical disease. It is unhealthy to deny this emotion, for it can manifest itself in many ways. This blog is a message to our patients and their loved ones to look out for these symptoms of fear.
- Tense facial expressions…
- Uncontrollable, almost constant worry…
- Problem Solving Difficulty… (Everyday discisions become almost impossible.)
- Distraction… (Concentration can be very difficult in a heightened state of fear.)
- Tense muscles…
- Restlessness… (Interests or hobbies no longer can hold your attention.)
- Dryness in your mouth
- Anger… (Unreasonable and intense, sudden verbal lashing out is not uncommon.).
- Irritability… ( A patient can become easily annoyed, defensive, and jumpy.)
Experts have told us, “As you move from diagnosis to treatment and recovery, you will experience many emotions, including fear.” The staff and doctors of FLASS believe in patient centered care, and be assured, you are like family to us.
Therefore, we want you to face your emotions, just as we would if a member of our own families were given this fearsome diagnosis. Experts also 
advise, “By facing your emotions, acknowledging them, and talking about them with people you trust, you may be able to reduce the hold they [the emotions] have on you…”
Here in Orlando Florida, at Florida Lung, Asthema and Sleep Specialists, we know of helpful tactics that will assist lung cancer patients in their fight against fear. Find three of our recommendations below:
1. Don’t Give Up: By maintaining a positive attitude, you can rise above the fear. “A positive and hopeful attitude about her cancer was another way Rubinstein dealt with her fear, even when doctors told her she had only a 30 percent chance of surviving the lung cancer.”
2. No Shame: FLASS wants patients to avoid those hopeless guilt feelings. They can be as detrimental as fear. Understand that a certain amount of sadness and anxiety is absolutely normal. “Don’t blame yourself for your cancer or for your inability to keep a positive attitude at all times.”
We have previously reported on the power of guilt or the social stigma of this disease. It breeds it own kind of prejudice, so you must fight guilt as well as fear.
3. Every Day is A New Gift: Rubinstein stated, “Even when I had surgery, I kept saying to myself, ‘It’s only pain, and tomorrow will be better.’ ”
This subject is too important to cover in one blog, so we invite you to learn about several more very specific tactics to defeat the demon of fear in next week’s Part II of this topic. Until then, keep in mind that you can thrive, only in a climate of support and reassurance, and FLASS will enhance that climate every way and every day that it can.
Our committment at Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists is to help our patients so they can spend more of their days enjoying their life instead of wasting days by worrying about what might happen.