You Aren't Just Imagining Chemobrain
Thursday May 3, 2007
You can't quite find your grocery list, you read the same recipe three times over and can't understand it, and you can't decide on brown sock or black ones. That mental fog may be chemobrain, the second most commonly reported symptom associated with chemotherapy. Chemobrain isn't "just in your head," say oncologists and researchers. Read more to find out if you've experienced chemobrain, or chemofog, and to see some coping strategies.
Photo © Lisa F. Young from FOTOLIA
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Chemo Brain in the Chemo
There are a number of theories as to why chemobrain may occur. One is that some types of chemotherapy can cross the blood/brain barrier. Another is that the cognitive problems are created by free radicals, the toxic elements that many types of chemotherapy produce. And yet another is that some people have a genetic background that makes them more susceptible to the effects of chemotherapy. Most likely it is not just one factor but many factors that combine to set the stage for chemobrain to occur.
According to studies by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, even standard-dose chemotherapy can negatively impact the cognitive functioning of cancer survivors up to 10 years after treatment. Reports of depression, anxiety, and fatigue, all of which can affect cognitive functioning, suggests that the differences in performance on cognitive tests were due to the chemotherapy itself, not to greater levels of depression, anxiety, and fatigue in patients who received chemotherapy.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
January 15, 2002