"Chemo Brain" Studies Underway
Lisa, a 36-year-old legal analyst, is attempting to return her life to “normal” after a bout with breast cancer. Normally an extremely articulate communicator, Lisa feels increasingly frustrated when she can’t remember a common word, and these days, multi-tasking has become nearly impossible.
Lisa has “chemo brain,” a phenomenon of short-term foggy thinking and forgetfulness that afflicts cancer patients after chemotherapy treatment.
Until recently, cognitive losses in cancer survivors were dismissed or trivialized by doctors who blamed the phenomenon on fatigue of the illness, or the simple aging process, but new research has confirmed chemo brain is real. However, researchers still aren’t quite sure what causes it.
Nearly every chemotherapy patient experiences short-term problems with memory and concentration. But about 15 percent suffer prolonged effects of what is known medically as chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment.
The symptoms are remarkably consistent: a mental fogginess that may include problems with memory, word retrieval, concentration, processing numbers, following instructions, multitasking and setting priorities.
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Wow...what a timely article for me. It's a year since my last chemo treatment and I've wondered if I'm losing my mind. I feel like I've "lost my edge": I can't seem to make decisions at work as quickly as I used to, I forget words while I'm speaking...right in the middle of a sentence! I leave letters out of words when writing, I find it hard to concentrate and I have to read a "cheat sheet" just to do tasks at work I've done a hundred times. I feel about as dull as a butter knife. I can't get to sleep or stay asleep without sleeping pills and I feel tired all the time. I've been telling myself it's all in my head, that I'm making things up, which just makes me feel ashamed that I can't "snap out of it". Thank you letting me know I'm not alone...or crazy. Cecile in Houston
Hi Cecile,
You are certainly not alone in your symptoms, and you're not crazy; you just have a side effect that you need to learn to manage and there's nothing to be ashamed about that.
Many large hospitals and cancer centers have specialists who test brain function, including the symptoms of chemo brain. Testing can help specialists find the extent of your symptoms and then suggest the best mental exercises for you. You may want to ask for a referral to one of these specialists who can help you learn the scope of your problem and work with you on ways to manage your memory or thinking problems. Thank you for reading and posting. Best wishes.
It is long overdue for chemobrain to be recognizd as legitimate doctors! The next step is to help with alleviate these symptoms. An article in the NY Times on Aug 10 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/health/11brod.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 outlined some practical steps to take to help compensate for chemobrain. In addition to this, there was a study of a computer training memory program by Posit Science where I am employed as an in-house scientist. After training on this program for eight weeks, the women in the study reported improved cognitive symptoms and also improved health-related quality of life compared to a control group that was on a waitlist for the same amount of time. There are currently three other large studies being conducted using this software for people with chemobrain. We believe that reconnecting the brain with cognitive functions through brain fitness can really improve the lives of people with chemo brain and other brain-related conditions.
Laila Spina, Psy.D.
Research Neuropsychologist
It's great to see this kind of attention being given to the subject of cognitive decline after cancer treatment. It's also good to see the comment from Laila at Posit Science. My company publishes brain training software and I've heard from countless customers about the benefits of brain training for all kinds of brain improvement.
Best wishes,
Martin Walker
http://www.mindsparke.com
Effective, Affordable Brain Training Software