Chemo brain

Anyone have chemo brain? I wonder if there IS such a thing like chemo brain?

Took chemo last summer & early fall. Just finished 6 weeks of radiation.

Yet, I feel like I haven't gotten my mind back. It isn't quite as 'sharp' as prior chemo-life. Takes longer to remember things. I miss my old brain! Ha :-)

Well, I hope that chemo brain is temporary, is it???

Hugs

JoJo,
I wish I could tell you whether chemo brain is permanent or not, but I can't remember!!!

Seriously, yes, it is real and there's no way to "measure" it. I first had chemo for 6 months in early 2000 and had "not quite so sharp times" ever since. I'm sure it's different with everyone, but at least now when I forget a word or thought, I have something real to blame it on!

Love and light,

Lisa

I agree; it's very real. I have just recently been noticing an improvement in memory and vocabulary recall. My coworkers have noticed as well. I have not had chemo for about 10+ months and am really excited with this progress!

YA I'M PRETTY SURE IT IS PERMANENT IF I REMEMBER RIGHT. I LOST MY SHORT TERM MEMORY I'M TOLD BUT SINCE I DON'T REMEMBER WHAT I DON'T REMEMBER IT IS HARD FOR ME TO VERIFY. BUT SOME THINGS I FIGURE ARE BEST FORGOTTEN ANYHOW. I'M ALWAYS SAYING STUFF I REGRET BUT NOW I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT I SAID SO I AM A LOT HAPPIER. HOPE YOU WILL BE TOO. NOW WHERE ARE THE CAR KEYS???
HUGS, lOLA

You can type chemo brain and get info off the internet. It does kill brain cells and its differnt with each one. I am sure how much we have makes a difference. I am very concern about this but its out of my control. Will have to deal with it as it happens. Hugs, Sandy

There is a good posting about this on Susan Love's home page (www.susanlovemd.com) with references. As they point out, there is so much going on in one's life during cancer treatment, that it is difficult to pin it (chemobrain) on any one factor.

I had read that chemo brain could last as long as 10 years after chemo. I told my friend that since this is my third type of chemo that I thought I was intialed to 30 years. She says I'm just getting old like the rest of them but if I will promise to stay around for 30 years, she will give them to me. LOL Patty H

I had chemo from March to July last year, & I can't remember anything! I am constantly looking for things, and forgetting what I am doing! Don't send me to the store without a list!(although then I get what I THINK I need!) I am homeschooling my grandson & we are both learning! Yes, its driving me crazy, but my husband says I have been there forever-so....
:}.

You can listen to a taped interview about this subject on the cancercare website as well.

I was chemophobic prior to having CAF, not because of losing my hair or being sick or the typical reasons, but because I was so concerned with the question of what does chemo do to the brain? (Particularly Adriamycin, since it is so hard on the heart.) My internist didn't have the answer and suggested that I could see a psychiatrist and perhaps be tested prior to chemo and after. When I asked my onc, he shrugged it off, saying that in his entire career of 30 years he had only seen maybe 5 or 6 who had severe brain effects. My first thought was, well, how many had maybe not-quite-so-severe brain effects???

I paid $250 to have a private psychiatrist do the best she could to test some cognitive functions. I could not afford to have the tests done again after chemo and basically was told that as a 51-year-old there was nothing that those results could really be compared to since "as we age we all have more memory problems, etc."

I know chemo may be welcome in some circumstances, but as a stage 1 survivor who should have been given more information and who might have chosen not to take chemo, I think it is professionally irresponsible that it is taking so long to acknowledge the concerns that patients have about this. Why does it take so long to listen to complaints that are SO common....