Key takeaways

  • Managing stress is crucial when you have EGFR-positive lung cancer, as chronic stress can negatively impact your body’s immune system and contribute to cancer growth and treatment resistance.
  • Stress management techniques, such as mindfulness, exercise, creative outlets, therapy, peer support, relaxation, and delegation can improve well-being during cancer treatment.
  • If stress begins to interfere with daily activities or overall quality of life, it’s important to talk to your care team and work together to find better ways to manage it.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-positive lung cancer is a subtype of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). If you’ve received this diagnosis, it means that your cancer cells carry a mutation in the EGFR gene.

In healthy cells, EGFR helps regulate cell growth and repair. When the gene is mutated, the receptor becomes overactive, causing cells to grow and divide.

Unlike many other forms of NSCLC, EGFR-positive lung cancer is more common in people who have never smoked.

While EGFR-positive lung cancer is treatable, receiving any cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming. Beyond the physical effects, stress and uncertainty can also impact your emotional well-being, even when treatment is going well.

Understanding how stress influences EGFR-positive lung cancer can help you take steps to manage it and support your day-to-day well-being and overall quality of life.

Stress is your body’s natural response to a perceived challenge or threat. To help you face it, your body triggers a chain reaction known as the stress response, or stress cascade.

In the short term, this reaction can be helpful. Hormone levels fluctuate, digestion slows, cardiovascular performance increases, and immune signaling temporarily ramps up. These changes are designed to help you survive a threat.

However, your body isn’t meant to stay in stress mode for long. Prolonged stress can be harmful.

Cancer is inherently stressful, both physically and mentally, as you navigate life with a your diagnosis.

In EGFR-positive lung cancer, stress may influence cancer growth and spread. According to a 2024 study, chronic stress may accelerate NSCLC by increasing levels of circMBOAT2, a type of RNA that regulates gene activity. When circMBOAT2 levels are high, NSCLC cells survive longer, grow faster, and spread more easily.

Chronic stress may also weaken your body’s immune defense. It keeps inflammatory processes active, which can disrupt key systems involved in immunity, like the digestive tract. Chronic stress also suppresses active immune surveillance, where natural killer cells detect and destroy cancer cells.

In addition to promoting cancer growth, spread, and survival, stress may contribute to treatment resistance.

Older research from 2018 suggests that certain stress hormones can bind to receptors on cancer cells and activate alternative survival pathways. This may make certain medications that inhibit EGFR appear less effective.

It’s not that the drugs aren’t working. Rather, stress hormones can boost other signaling pathways that allow cancer cells to survive despite treatment.

That said, even though stress may influence treatment response in some cases, there’s no evidence that stress causes treatment failure. Many people respond well to EGFR inhibitors even under stress.

Managing stress is a priority in cancer care. Reducing stress supports your overall well-being and may even help your body respond to treatment.

The good news is that stress management is highly customizable. You can choose strategies that fit your schedule, lifestyle, and personal preferences. Options range from quick, daily practices to longer-term approaches that help you cope with the ongoing challenges of living with cancer.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of focusing on the present moment. It encourages you to notice your thoughts and feelings without judgement or attachment, letting them come and go naturally.

When you practice mindfulness, you’re not dwelling on the “what ifs” of the past or future. You’re fully in the here-and-now. This can help break rumination cycles of worry and anxiety by teaching you to step back from unhelpful thought patterns that fuel stress.

Exercise

Physical activity can help you manage stress and support mental health.

When you’re stressed, exercise provides an outlet for your body’s fight-or-flight response. Exercise also releases endorphins, the body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals. Physical activity can also improve sleep, which regulates hormones and promotes balance.

Creative outlets

Engaging in creative activities can help shift your mind from “threat mode” into “mastery mode.”

Instead of focusing on danger or worry, your brain moves toward exploration, sensory engagement, expression, and accomplishment. When you’re painting, drawing, sculpting, or composing, your attention is on the creative process instead of the challenges of living with EGFR-positive lung cancer.

Therapy

Working with a mental health professional can be an important part of cancer care.

Therapists can help you process difficult thoughts and emotions. They can teach coping strategies for stress and guide you in shifting unhelpful patterns of thinking into more constructive thoughts.

Peer groups

A lung cancer diagnosis can feel isolating, but you’re not alone. Joining a peer group, whether in person or online, allows you to connect with others who understand your experience. It’s a ways to seek guidance, share support, and build a sense of community.

Relaxation techniques

Relaxation can help calm your body’s stress response and reduce the “alarm” signals triggered by chronic stress. Some in-the-moment relaxation techniques include:

  • structured breathing exercises
  • progressive muscle relaxation
  • mediation
  • mind-body arts
  • taking a walk
  • grounding techniques

Delegation

After an EGFR-positive lung cancer diagnosis, life can become hectic. Doctor’s appointments, tests, and treatments can take up a lot of time and energy, especially when you’re already not feeling your best.

It’s OK to ask for help. Your family and friends are there to support you, and can take on responsibilities like chores, errands, meal prep, and child care to help lighten the load. Even small acts of assistance can help ease your stress and allow you to focus on recovery.

The best approach to stress is prevention, so it’s never too early to talk with your care team about stress management. They can help sort out if stress is related to the cancer, treatment, side effects, or your emotional response to it all. From their, your care team can recommend the right ways to support you.

Even if stress hasn’t come up yet, signs it may be time to talk with your doctor include:

  • feeling drained all the time, even after rest
  • frequent headaches or muscle aches
  • sleep disturbances
  • changes in appetite or weight
  • constantly feeling on edge
  • irritability or mood swings
  • low mood or hopelessness
  • feeling overwhelmed by small tasks
  • increased sensitivity to criticism
  • trouble concentrating
  • persistent negative thoughts or rumination
  • constant worry
  • feeling unwell despite treatment

If stress is interfering with your daily life, your doctor can help you find strategies to manage it effectively.

EGFR-positive lung cancer is treatable, but stress can take a toll when treatments are going well. Chronic stress may increase inflammation, weaken your immune system, and create conditions that allow cancer to grow and spread.

Managing stress is an important part of your overall treatment plan. Practices like mindfulness, relaxation, exercise, creative outlets, delegation, peer support can help you mange stress.

If stress is interfering with your everyday activities, it’s important to talk to your care team for guidance and support.