Fear of Recurrence
Fear of recurrence, or fear of the cancer coming back, is one of the most common worries among women with breast cancer. This fear can have a powerful effect on the quality of your life. Nearly all women who have had breast cancer worry about this possibility.
These are some common concerns you might have about the cancer coming back:
- You may worry that cancer will come back in your affected breast, your other breast, or in other parts of your body.
- You may have concerns about having to go through treatment again. You may also have fears of experiencing pain or discomfort from more surgery
, chemotherapy
, radiation
, or other treatments.
- You may feel stressed about the impact of another diagnosis
on your appearance, relationships, social life, family, or career.
- No matter what stage
of cancer you had, you may be afraid of dying from cancer.
You are not alone. Knowing what triggers your fears and how to manage your feelings can help you cope. We hope the information in this section can help with your worries about recurrence.
Updated
November 5, 2019
Reviewed By:
- Learn
- What is Breast Cancer?
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- Types of Breast Cancer
- DCIS and LCIS
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- Bone Metastases
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- Treatments and Research
- Being in Treatment for Life
- Complementary and integrative medicine
- Goals of Treatment
- Making Treatment Decisions Throughout Your Care
- Clinical Trials for MBC
- Metastatic Trial Search
- Hormonal Therapy for MBC
- Targeted Therapy for MBC
- Chemotherapy For MBC
- Radiation Therapy for MBC
- Surgery for MBC
- Yoga and MBC
- Side Effects
- Bone Health and MBC
- Bone Pain and MBC
- Chemobrain
- Hair Loss and MBC
- Hand-Foot Syndrome and MBC
- Heart Health and MBC
- Insomnia and Fatigue and MBC
- Menopausal Symptoms and MBC
- Mouth Sores and MBC
- Nail and Skin Changes and MBC
- Nausea and Vomiting and MBC
- Neuropathy and MBC
- Neutropenia and MBC
- Pain and MBC
- Sexual Side Effects
- Sexual side effects
- Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer
- Stress and Anxiety
- Metastatic Breast Cancer & Diet
- Self-Care for Stress and Anxiety
- Coping With Stress in Relationships
- Exercise
- Fertility and Metastatic Breast Cancer
- Intimacy and Sexuality
- Anxiety & Depression
- Navigating Finances
- Understanding Health Insurance
- Work/Life Balance
- Money, Insurance & Career
- Feelings of Loss
- Building Your Community of Support
- Talking With Family
- How to support a loved one with MBC
- Inflammatory
- Lobular
- Treatments and Research
- Getting a Second Opinion
- Preparing for treatment
- Surgery
- Breast Reconstruction
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation Therapy
- Targeted Therapy
- Hormonal Therapy
- Immunotherapy
- Clinical Trials
- Biosimilars
- Complementary Therapy
- Yoga and Breast Cancer
- Side Effects
- Anemia
- Bone Loss
- Bone Pain
- Chemobrain
- Diarrhea
- Fear of Recurrence
- Fertility
- Hair Loss
- Hand-Foot Syndrome
- Heart Health
- High Cholesterol
- Insomnia and Fatigue
- Lymphedema
- Menopausal Symptoms
- Mouth Sores
- Nail and Skin Changes
- Nausea and Vomiting
- Neuropathy
- Neutropenia
- Pain
- Secondary Cancers
- Sexual Side Effects
- Weight Gain
- Weight Loss
- Living With Breast Cancer
- Body Image
- Bone Health Basics
- Diet, Nutrition and Exercise
- Emotional Health
- Fear of Recurrence
- Fertility and Breast Cancer
- Genetics and Family Risk
- Job and Financial Concerns
- Financial matters
- Breast Cancer and the Workplace
- Telling Employers and Coworkers About Your Diagnosis
- Work Accommodations and Disability Benefits
- Managing hidden costs
- Getting Organized for Health Insurance
- Private, State and Federal Insurance
- Understanding your health insurance
- Dealing With a Claim Denial
- Other Ways to Get Insurance
- Financial Planning
- What is the ACA?
- Sex and Intimacy
- Birth Control and Breast Cancer
- Maintaining Sexual Life
- If You Feel Pain During Sex
- Sexual Side Effects
- Body Image and Sexuality
- Improving Sexual Health With Medical Approaches
- Improving Sexual Health With Self Care
- Talking With Your Partner About Sex and Intimacy
- Talking With Your Healthcare Team About Sex and Intimacy
- Signs of Recurrence
- Survivorship Care Plans
- Learning from Others
- Additional Resources
- Get Support
- How You Can Help
- News & Opinion