Have you ever experienced chemo brain?

     In the nine years I have been a moderator at Cancer Chat, I have often seen multiple mentions on the forum of this curious 'chemo brain' phenomenon which many people with cancer who have had chemotherapy treatment seem to experience. It’s not clear how many people this affects and studies looking at this have reported a wide range of different figures. As mentioned on our website in our page about chemo brain, it can range from 17 out of 100 people (17%) to 50 in 100 people (50%). For those of you who are only too familiar with what is often known as the ‘chemo fog’, this can be difficult to manage on a daily basis and can be very disruptive on a personal level. I remember reading this story on the forum of a single mother who was having to juggle everything work, children and life whilst at the same time struggling greatly with ‘chemo brain’. It must have been really hard for her as I am sure it is tough for so many of you who are going through this at the moment.

     On a lighter note, I thought I would introduce you to [@zuzanka]‍ who put orange juice in her coffee instead of milk – and no it didn’t taste nice! Although these anecdotes will inevitably make you smile, unfortunately when you are experiencing this cognitive impairment repeatedly, the impact this ‘chemo brain’ can have on your everyday life and the disruption it may cause at work or at home can be huge. Multi-tasking for example can become very difficult and it can be so frustrating to those who experience it.

     Is this something you can relate to? We’d love to hear your own chemo brain stories and if you have any tips to share to help the fog lift even temporarily, I am sure our members would appreciate to hear your suggestions. We have some tips on our website to help you cope with chemo brain which you can read here.  Let us know if these have been tried and tested by you or if there are others that worked for you which you would like to share with our community.

 

We'd love to hear your stories and personal anecdotes on this subject! 

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

Parents
  • My last chemo for BC was end of May 2019. During chemo I felt half drunk (in an unpleasant way) for most of the time - I didn't trust myself to drive for about 2 weeks after each treatment - and also had the strangest dreams and middle of the night delusions, for example, that my stomach was actually a large wooden plant pot full of soil with a tall growing out of it up into my oesophagus or that my brain was made of sugar and that everytime I went to the loo (about 10 times a night!) it was leaking out with my urine! All of that stopped when chemo stopped.

    BUT after chemo, I have noticed other ongoing issues. Before chemo I had a good memory for small details, seldom made spelling mistakes, had no problem picking up new information, could work very quickly and efficiently and was good at thinking on my feet. I now have a problem with all of those things. I have always been somewhat disorganised. Now I am SUPER disorganised and lose track of time easily. I forget to do the small but improtant things, I make mistakes without realising it - I think I have done well on a task at work, even after checking over it straight afterwards, but when I check over it on another day, I discover that it is full of mistakes!?? Don't understand that one.

    Not to mention the tiredness - At the end of every week (sometimes sooner) I feel like I very occasioanlly used to, right at the end of a whole busy term, that had involved lots of late night marking, after school meetings and parents evenings. I am also a teacher - in a secondary school. All of the above gets worse when I am tired. I don't trust anything I try to do on Friday afternoons.

    Almost all of the information I have read, the back-to-work guidelines, etc, seems to advise that "it can take up to six months to return to normal." Ha ha. It is now well into March, 9 months later and not much has improved. My workload is now heavier - my colleagues were very sympathetic when I first returned to work gradually in September, after my last round of surgery but I was expected to be back on my full schedule in January and I don't feel that I can ride the "chemo effects" excuse any more, even though the problems are very real, which worries me. We are all under a lot of pressure and I hate the though of adding to my colleagues' workload. I joke about my lack of organisation although it really frustrates me and seldom mention my tiredness (when I do, the response is usually  "Oh my, Yes, I feel the same!") I wish I could swop brains with some of my colleagues for just a few minutes so that they can get an idea of how I really feel.  

    Oh and I still occasionally have word lapses, for example a lorry becomes a "trolley" for almost a whole day without me realising it! :D

Reply
  • My last chemo for BC was end of May 2019. During chemo I felt half drunk (in an unpleasant way) for most of the time - I didn't trust myself to drive for about 2 weeks after each treatment - and also had the strangest dreams and middle of the night delusions, for example, that my stomach was actually a large wooden plant pot full of soil with a tall growing out of it up into my oesophagus or that my brain was made of sugar and that everytime I went to the loo (about 10 times a night!) it was leaking out with my urine! All of that stopped when chemo stopped.

    BUT after chemo, I have noticed other ongoing issues. Before chemo I had a good memory for small details, seldom made spelling mistakes, had no problem picking up new information, could work very quickly and efficiently and was good at thinking on my feet. I now have a problem with all of those things. I have always been somewhat disorganised. Now I am SUPER disorganised and lose track of time easily. I forget to do the small but improtant things, I make mistakes without realising it - I think I have done well on a task at work, even after checking over it straight afterwards, but when I check over it on another day, I discover that it is full of mistakes!?? Don't understand that one.

    Not to mention the tiredness - At the end of every week (sometimes sooner) I feel like I very occasioanlly used to, right at the end of a whole busy term, that had involved lots of late night marking, after school meetings and parents evenings. I am also a teacher - in a secondary school. All of the above gets worse when I am tired. I don't trust anything I try to do on Friday afternoons.

    Almost all of the information I have read, the back-to-work guidelines, etc, seems to advise that "it can take up to six months to return to normal." Ha ha. It is now well into March, 9 months later and not much has improved. My workload is now heavier - my colleagues were very sympathetic when I first returned to work gradually in September, after my last round of surgery but I was expected to be back on my full schedule in January and I don't feel that I can ride the "chemo effects" excuse any more, even though the problems are very real, which worries me. We are all under a lot of pressure and I hate the though of adding to my colleagues' workload. I joke about my lack of organisation although it really frustrates me and seldom mention my tiredness (when I do, the response is usually  "Oh my, Yes, I feel the same!") I wish I could swop brains with some of my colleagues for just a few minutes so that they can get an idea of how I really feel.  

    Oh and I still occasionally have word lapses, for example a lorry becomes a "trolley" for almost a whole day without me realising it! :D

Children
  • Hi, hope you realise today is Friday 13th.

    Sometimes I'm talking about something specific and the wrong word comes out, as soon as I've said it i know but keep getting it wrong nomatter how many times i try. 

    Also noticed my hands don't always work right I'll pick something up and just drop it even it it's something light my hand just seems to open on its own. And shake when I'm trying to do something delicate or just trying to cut my nails. Anyway good luck to anyone having or had cemotherapy and cemo prain(brain) wants to be registered (very lucky for spell check just then) that word would have taken ages.

    Good luck to all and best wishes for the future.. 

    Billy

    P.s I've been over 4 years now no improvement hurrah for spell check again.!!