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Chemobrain


Is "chemobrain" real?


Yes, yes it is. And the research? Well, there's the thing. But first, what is chemobrain? Cancer patients who have had chemotherapy often report mental fog, inability to think, difficulty focusing and generally increased forgetfulness - cognitive impairment.

For a long time, doctors treated patients' claims about chemobrain as a temporary thing, brought on by the stress of cancer diagnosis and treatment. Now, there is growing recognition that the toxicity of chemo drugs may actually cause damage to the brain (of course survivors have known all along we were not crazy).

And I'm only now blogging about this?

I've taken you into the infusion room, and showed my baldness, but there is a reason I have not blogged about chemobrain before in these past 5 years - I continued to work. I could not have said to my colleagues "Hold on, my brain's not working right. Give me a moment or two or twelve." 


Brain on chemo


I could not hold as many details in my head as I used to, I had poor recall, I needed extra tools and time to work at my "pre-chemo" level, as everything took longer. It was as struggle for me to make up for my deficits, but, I'd like to think that while I continued to work, none of my colleagues noticed any degradation in my work performance.

And now?

At this 5-year mark I feel it has taken me all this time to forge new pathways in my brain and be fully "me"  mentally again - but still different.  It has helped that I continued to work, I feel the mental stimulation was very instrumental in my recuperation, and I continued to prioritize healthy eating and exercise.

My survivor sisters and I joke about "chemobrain" when we cannot remember something that we ought to, or make a silly illogical statement, but thankfully that is infrequent, although I still have trouble remembering names - so please forgive me for that!


For more info: MD Anderson Understanding Chemobrain

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