Wellbeing and cancer treatment

We've made some videos to help you to live as well as possible during your cancer treatment.

Talk to your key worker, or clinical nurse specialist (CNS) if you have any questions about your wellbeing, self-care, or mental health.

Fatigue management

Fatigue is a lack of energy or extreme tiredness that doesn’t go away with rest or sleep and can affect your daily life.

Small amounts of daily exercise, rest periods, good sleep, and energy conservation are just a few ways that can help.

Agnieszka Jaworska, clinical specialist and occupational therapist, talks you through several ways that can help you to reduce your fatigue.

Living with and beyond cancer

Sandra Jackson, MacMillan cancer nurse specialist, talks about personalised aftercare which will help improve your overall quality of life.

We’ll do an assessment of your needs, discuss your top concerns, provide a summary of your treatment, and help to develop your care plan so you can live well post-treatment.

Should you need it, Sandra covers a range of additional help such as charities, support centres and groups, programmes, mobile apps, websites, and where you can get financial support.

Managing pain during cancer treatment

Ian Rudrum, senior clinical nurse specialist, describes the common causes of pain during cancer and how you can best manage it.

Not everyone will experience pain, but if you do it’s important you tell us so we can help.

In this video, Ian covers the different types of pain to help you describe it to us, the different types of painkillers we might prescribe, common side effects, drug-free methods, and explains some of the myths and worries.

Coping with stress, managing anxiety, and building resilience

Dr Libby Lyons, Macmillan counselling psychologist, offers insight into why people can feel emotionally distressed during their cancer journey and ways to help focus on wellness.

Libby covers common signs and symptoms of stress, common fears, tips, and strategies to reduce stress.

She’ll also share some useful resources to help you cope and reduce stress.

You can find more support on the Macmillan website.

Cancer treatment self-care and aftercare

Claire Taylor, Macmillan nurse consultant in colorectal cancer, explains how you can look after yourself, and make changes to improve your aftercare.

Claire advises how you can incorporate things you can do for yourself (self-care), such as planning to be more active, and making changes in your diet.

As part of your aftercare, Claire covers how to recognise symptoms to be concerned about, the types of follow-up care, and what you’ll need to do to prepare for your follow-up appointments to get the most out of them.