Many times brain problems come from an injury of some sort, but studies show chemotherapy can cause problems as well. It doesn’t matter what type of cancer you are being treated for, if you use chemotherapy, you might find you have memory loss, difficulty learning, and difficulty managing daily activities.
If you experience any of these problems, you may have chemobrain. This is also known as cognitive deficit. Health care providers define cognitive as thought and deficit as falling short of. So in other words cognitive deficit means falling short of thought.
Unfortunately the exact cause is unknown. Studies are underway to find ways to prevent it from happening and to treat it if it has already occurred.
These problems improve or disappear after a year. For some people while for others they may experience problems for many years after the completion of treatment.
The long term effects of chemobrain are unknown at this time, but what they do know is there are several treatable factors that may cause similar problems that are temporary. People that are receiving chemotherapy treatments may have hormonal changes, stress, sleep disturbances, and a few others.
If you have any of these problems or anything else that’s going on, you need to talk to your doctor right away. Many of these can be fixed with medication and can or will help elevate chemobrain. If you are currently taking medication for problems due to your treatment, you need to talk to your doctor because you may need to have your medication doses changed or you may need to change your medications all together.
If you experienced memory problems during your treatment you need to communicate with your doctor regarding these problems.
You may also consider using the CancerCare’s fact sheet “Combating Chemobrain: Keeping your Memory Sharp”. If these tips don’t help you need to go back to your doctor for further evaluations.
You’ll want to talk to a Neuropsychologist. A Neuropsychologist is a psychologist that specializes in training that helps people in areas like memory, organizing, attention, and learning.
Depending on the outcome of the evaluation, your doctor may recommend cognitive rehabilitation or remediation. Your doctor will explain how the process will work and what the outcome will be based on the decision. A plan will be set into place and your doctor will manage it with you.
You should also contact a social worker that specializes in cancer issues. Your oncologist should be able to help you find someone that will be able to help you cope with these problems. They will also be able to help you find support groups and specialists that can help you deal with what you’re going through.
If you’re experiencing problems with the chemotherapy treatment you’re currently going through or a treatment you went through in the past, you need to set an appointment with your doctor right away. Memory loss is not good and the quicker you get it under control, the easier it will be to correct the problem.
The great news is that research is showing us that brain training is helping to combat the effects of chemotherapy. Programs like Fast ForWord, BrainSkills and BrainWare Safari are all potential programs that can be used to improve cognitive issues from your treatment.
