Cognitive changes after chemo

Good morning, @rhongirl Rest assured you’re not losing your mind. ☺️. It’s called brain fog and it’s a real thing. Most of us who have gone through rigorous chemo experience the side effect of cognitive impairment and find ourselves searching for words, staying focused, being forgetful, etc.

There’s a discussion related to brain fog in our forum. Here’s the link where you’ll meet others such as @roch, @auntieoakley, @gingerw and many other members who’ve dealt with this.

Cancer Related Brain Fog: How do you cope with it?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cancer-related-brain-fog/

When if first happened to me, I had no idea it was ‘normal’ either. It really caught me off guard when I wouldn’t be able to find simple words, little things like that. My daughter was the one who told me about Brain fog. She’d been talking with her friends after they’d asked how I was fairing with the leukemia. One of her friends is a doctor and asked how I was managing with Brain Fog? That was such a relief to know this is pretty common. Made it a lot easier to brush off those ‘senior moments’ that I wasn’t ready to have yet! 😅 Three years later, I’d like to say I’m 100% improved but I still have little moments of searching for the right word, but then, I’m no longer a spring chicken, as my husband tells me.

How long ago was your chemo?

rhongirl @rhongirl
As other mentioned, you are not alone. My cognitive issues were worse while taking the AI drugs to suppress estrogen after all other treatments were done. I was post menopausal , had a total hysterotomy early in life for non-cancerous reasons. The lack of estrogen in my system definitely added to my problems.

When you can not do things you use to be able to do, your anxiety goes up. It is reassuring to know that Chemo fog or what ever you want to call it is a real thing and you are not losing your mind.

Once off the AIs, I returned to near normal cognitive levels, now I just blame it on aging.

Do not be afraid to mention it to your care team.
Laurie

@rhongirl Oh, you're not alone in this boat! While our bodies are playing hardball, handling surgeries, medications, chemo, tests, and whatall, our brains are trying to keep up. And sometimes, something has to give!

I had to learn to be gentle on myself. Started writing lists or notes. Forgiving myself for stopping mid-sentence with a loss for words. Relaxing and trying to not become too stressed when I couldn't recall why I was doing something. Am I thrilled to be in this position? Well, no. But understanding I am doing the best I can, helps. My ongoing chemo for a blood cancer sometimes gives me varying degrees of "fog" that may combine with other health issues. I am being as proactive as I can to stay as on top of things as possible. Slow down and be gentle on yourself!
Ginger

Yes to your question. Somewhere around a year after the main round of chemo, I began to notice small memory lapses. I asked a nurse about it if that is a side effect and is it a temporary thing. She said oh it's a fact that people get "chemo brain". I had a great memory and people's names, phone numbers, etc. Now since I am older I know folks assume you have slight dementia because you have some trouble with words. I search sometimes for the correct word and not all the time but anytime is to much for me. I work on my memory and do my best to keep up. I do believe it is true so be aware and stay alert and maybe do some memory games and keep the brain busy.

Hi Rhongirl!
My husband has lung cancer. He had a small amount of chemotherapy but then they gave him Keytruda which is a version of chemotherapy. The Keytruda nearly killed him but with the excellent care of our primary care doctor my husband recovered. That was four years ago and he's doing fine. However, he feels his memory isn't as good as it used to be. I did some research and found the following foods that help your memory:

Foods good for memory: (Source: Mayo Clinic website.)
• Broccoli
• Turmeric
• Fish
• Green vegetables
• Mushrooms
• Coffee
• V-8 and Tomato Juice
• Almonds
• Apples
• Blueberries
• Salmon
• Sweet Potatoes
• Swiss Chard, Spinach
• Oatmeal
We were eating most of these anyway but now we are eating more of them and remaining active and drinking lots of water. My husband feels this has helped his memory.
Good Luck!
PML

@rhongirl - I had chemo 30 years ago and experienced brain fog. It’s still there, but I manage it better now- it doesn’t bother me so much. I forget words, names but I also know I’ll remember them in a while. 2015 I was taking immunosuppressive drug for 7 months for an autoimmune illness. I was sick a lot those months with various infections and I was quite worn out at the end. I definitely had cognitive difficulties then. Strange things. I started doing crossword puzzles daily and that helped.
What I don’t understand is how it could affect physical activities. I have played tennis for years but when I returned to the game I had lost all feeling for it- how to hit the balls correctly. It should not have happened- we have muscle memory at least. It has taken time to get back to it.
I also had difficulty parking the car in a parking spot. I would park it on an angle instead of straight forward. I practiced a lot. However, these things worried me, surprised me, unexpected. I’m back to normal now, just older.

Yes chemo brain is real and doctors know about as well as most of us. It is not just you and it is very hard to work around. Especially if one was high functioning BC.

YES!! I also have brain fog. It isn't too severe but I am forgetful and have a hard time concentrating.

It’s unnerving, isn’t it? I found doing crossword puzzles, Sudoku, Quordle (wordle, but with 4 games at one time) matching games, anything that takes some concentration or creativity, to be really helpful regaining focus. Ha, that and a LOT of post-it notes!!

I read in one of your replies that you’re starting another round of chemo November 7th. I’m sorry you have to go through that again. Wishing you all the best with your treatments. Not something to look forward to but if you’re like me it meant moving forward so…we do what we have to do, right?

There is also brain fog from from the estrogen blocking drugs we need to take following breast cancer treatment. Anastrozole was the worst for me! Lowering our estrogen to prevent breast cancer recurrence, is similar to going through menopause! Brain fog is one of the symptoms of of natural menopause; so of course, lowering our estrogen levels with cancer drugs is going to cause discomforts and side effects similar to those of natural menopause.

I started on Anastrozole, and after a few months, my son took me to lunch one day to ‘break it to me gently’ that I had Alzheimer’s because the brain fog was so bad. I talked to my doctor about the brain fog and she gave me a three month break from medication. I felt fine again. But the brain fog came right back when I went back on cancer meds. My doctor then switched me to Exemestane.

I have taken my breast cancer meds faithfully for 4 years. At my last appointment with my doctor about a month ago; she said that I can now safely go off Exemestane! I’m finishing up the last of my 90 day prescription and then I’M DONE with the meds.!! I still need to have a breast MRI every 6 months for the next two years to be sure there isn’t any recurrence. But I’m thrilled that everything seems fine to stop these dreadful medications!