Being diagnosed with lung cancer can have a significant impact on your physical health and emotional wellbeing, so it is important to do what you can to look after yourself.
In this section, we’ll provide some practical advice about:
- Emotional wellbeing
- Eating well
- Exercising and staying active.
Living with lung cancer booklet
From managing side effects and symptoms to advice about going on holiday, our free Living with Lung Cancer guide is full of information to help you live well with all forms of lung cancer. Download now or click here to request a copy in the post.
Emotional wellbeing
When you have lung cancer, you can go through many different emotions. You may experience high levels of anxiety, fear, grief and even depression, or feel very angry or guilty about your diagnosis. You may also feel pressure to put on a brave face around loved ones or stay positive.
These are all extremely normal reactions, and it is ok to feel like this. It is important to try find ways to help you cope with these anxieties and reduce stress.
Talking to someone
This could include family members, friends, your lung cancer nurse specialist, a counsellor or therapist, or us.
We offer a range of online, telephone and face-to-face support services to help you through diagnosis, treatment and beyond.
Getting enough sleep
From the distress of a diagnosis to certain medications and side effects, many people with lung cancer experience difficulty sleeping.
Poor sleep cannot only affect your mood, it can also influence how you choose and respond to treatment options.
There are things you can do to improve your sleep:
- Have a regular bedtime routine
- Avoid electronic gadgets before bedtime, such as TV, tables or mobile phones. They give off blue light which can affect sleep patterns
- Try some relaxation techniques before bed. This could include some light stretches, breathing techniques, reading or meditation.
- Be more physically active in the day
- Make sure your bedroom isn’t too hot or too cold
- Avoid caffeine, sugar and alcohol
- Write down any worries a few hours before you go to bed to help clear your mind.
If you continue to have trouble sleeping, don’t put up with it. Speak to your lung cancer nurse specialist for advice.
Find things that don’t include lung cancer
When you are diagnosed, lung cancer becomes the focus of your life. It can consume everything you do, everything you eat, everything you talk about.
But you are so much more than your diagnosis!
- Let family and friends know when you don’t want to talk about lung cancer
- Enjoy days out with loved ones
- Find joy in everyday tasks
- Try a new hobby or join a new group where people don’t know you have lung cancer.
Eating well
Loss of appetite and weight loss are both very common in people with lung cancer. It can be caused by the cancer itself, your treatment or medication, or through worry and anxiety.
However, it is really important to try and eat a varied and nourishing diet. Our practical tips can help make mealtimes become a little more manageable.
Little and often
Smaller meals can be less of a challenge than a big plateful of food. Try three small meals with extra snacks and nourishing drinks in between.
Try softer, moist food
Things like nourishing soups, scrambled eggs, pasta in a cheesy sauce, vegetable bakes, slow cooker stews or fish or mince with mashed potatoes can be easier on your throat.
Don’t drink a lot a fluid before a meal
This can make you feel full and reduce your appetite.
Take nutritional supplements
These can be added to everyday food such as milkshakes, soups, juices, yogurts and puddings. They can be consumed on their own as an addition to your usual diet, or they may be used to replace a meal when you are unable to eat.
Eat high calorie and high protein food
If you are experiencing weight loss, add ‘extra’ calories to your meals.
- Add butter, olive oil grated or cream cheese, or cream to savoury foods.
- Enrich puddings and fruit with cream, evaporated milk, ice cream, honey, jam or syrup.
- Using mayonnaise, salad dressings and olive oil drizzled through soups or on bread can also be good ways to increase your calorie intake.
- Try to include protein in each meal. Eggs, meat, fish, soya, Quorn, milk and dairy products, beans, pulses, nuts, seeds and quinoa are all good protein-rich foods.
Eat when you feel hungry
If your appetite is better at a particular time of day, plan to eat at that time even it’s not a ‘typical’ meal time.
Get some fresh air
Fresh air can stimulate the appetite, so try and go outside whenever possible, or sit by an open window before mealtimes
Accept help
Sometimes you may simply feel too tired to cook. Friends and relatives can often want to help by bringing you meals, so take them up on the offer.
The team at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust has developed a series of videos about eating well and managing symptoms.
Exercising and staying active
Many people presume if you have lung cancer, you should avoid exercising. However, staying active and undertaking light exercise has been shown to help better tolerate, respond to and recover from lung cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.
Exercising can also help you:
- Manage lung cancer fatigue
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Boost your mood and energy levels
- Help you relax
- Improve your sleep
- Reduce the risk of depression
- Increase your appetite.
There are lots of different ways to stay active that don’t include going for a run or to the gym. Try some of these light exercises that easily fit into your everyday life:
- Going for a walk
- Doing some gardening
- Taking your children or grandchildren to the park
- Walking upstairs instead of taking the lift
- Strolling round museums, galleries or shopping centres
- Light aerobic exercise including swimming, walking or gentle jogging
- Yoga and Pilates.
As your fitness increases, you may wish to find more ways to improve your endurance and strength further. There may be suitable locally organised exercise programmes you can join. Your lung cancer nurse specialist or physiotherapist will be able to advise you whether these would be suitable for you and how you can access them.
The Royal Marsden have also develop three exercise circuits you can do at home. They are designed to gradually build up your fitness.
- Circuit A – This is designed for people who may feel challenged by climbing two flights of stairs, or walking on flat ground for 20 minutes without stopping
- Circuit B – This is designed for people who can climb two flights of stairs with ease but feel challenged by four flights, or are able to walk up a gentle gradient for 20 minutes without stopping
- Circuit C – This is designed for people looking to enhance their fitness level who do not feel limited in their daily function
The most important thing is you don’t try and push yourself too hard. This can be difficult, particularly if you were quite active before your diagnosis. You may need to be patient and realistic about how much you can do now compared to before. Lung cancer reduces strength and endurance no matter how fit you have been.
You may find that at times, particularly during periods of treatment, you feel more tired than usual. Be guided by your own body. It is better to rest if you feel ‘below par’ rather than carry on regardless and cause a setback to your recovery. Aim to pick up again as soon as possible.