Chemo-Brain

amyanne67

Wow, it's like a breath of fresh air!! To feel like you're the only one out there that's going through all this and then discover that there is someone else.. not only one, but a community, of people to share this with!! I too am a 4yr. cancer survivor and struggle with this daily. I have read some articles on it and also agree that this is an issue, but that the medical world is on a whole is not aware of it. My own onco. basically rolled her eyes at me. We as a community need to stick together and share everything we can, because even our own Dr.'s don't know a lot of what to expect.. cancer pt.'s are living longer now due to medical advancements..Praise God!! But with that comes the side effects that even they don't know what to expect down the road..

shadow01

Chemobrain (etc.)

After leaving this site a long time ago (I don't remember much, except that I was going through low-testosterone/low-thyroid/low-B-12 induced depression (yes, all three were hitting me at one time), and I'm guessing that either I reacted badly to something, or I said something way outside of who I am), I came back today, and yeah, I know exatly what you're talking about.  I was reading all kinds of posts writing about my history after cancer #1, and many of them were writing about it four years or more before it happened.  Ok, so it was their history, not mine, but it was exactly what I would have written in most cases.  And I'm including stuff that I'd never thought had anything to do with cancer #1, until today.  Wow.

SpTeach

Duration

Good Morning.  My wife completed treatment this past June for breast cancer.  She still suffers from memory loss, forgetting what she was doing.  She'll leave stove on or she'll put things away where they don't belong, like dry pasta in the freezer.  I try to assure her that she'll get better it's just going to take time.  sometimes I don't tell her when I find things where they shouldn't be, or I act like I haven't answered her question 10 times.  If she finds out that I haven't told her she gets angry, if I do mention it she gets angry.  Any suggestions on how I can help her without hurting her feelings or making her feel like she's not capable?  I have suggested she play games on line that make her concentrate (she loves Candy Crush, she just passed level 505), have looked up memory exercise to help, I just don't know what else to do.

 

Thank You,

 

Doug

NoTimeForCancer

SpTeach said:

Duration

Good Morning.  My wife completed treatment this past June for breast cancer.  She still suffers from memory loss, forgetting what she was doing.  She'll leave stove on or she'll put things away where they don't belong, like dry pasta in the freezer.  I try to assure her that she'll get better it's just going to take time.  sometimes I don't tell her when I find things where they shouldn't be, or I act like I haven't answered her question 10 times.  If she finds out that I haven't told her she gets angry, if I do mention it she gets angry.  Any suggestions on how I can help her without hurting her feelings or making her feel like she's not capable?  I have suggested she play games on line that make her concentrate (she loves Candy Crush, she just passed level 505), have looked up memory exercise to help, I just don't know what else to do.

 

Thank You,

 

Doug

Doug, I have a very good

Doug, I have a very good friend who's wife had triple negative breast cancer and the very agressive treatment therapy because of it.  He has shared that he is terrified by her driving because she has completely gotten lost, run through stop signs, etc...he is at his wits end as well on what can he do?  

I haven't spoke with him lately but if he has come with anything I will pass it along.  You are not alone.  (as far as Candy Crush, I am stuck on level 125)

lindary

SpTeach said:

Duration

Good Morning.  My wife completed treatment this past June for breast cancer.  She still suffers from memory loss, forgetting what she was doing.  She'll leave stove on or she'll put things away where they don't belong, like dry pasta in the freezer.  I try to assure her that she'll get better it's just going to take time.  sometimes I don't tell her when I find things where they shouldn't be, or I act like I haven't answered her question 10 times.  If she finds out that I haven't told her she gets angry, if I do mention it she gets angry.  Any suggestions on how I can help her without hurting her feelings or making her feel like she's not capable?  I have suggested she play games on line that make her concentrate (she loves Candy Crush, she just passed level 505), have looked up memory exercise to help, I just don't know what else to do.

 

Thank You,

 

Doug

Chemo brain

My family, friends and co-workers have been learning about chemo brain thanks to me. When I had 6 rounds of R-Chop it wasn't too bad. Then I had 3 rounds of RICE and boy, that first week after was hard. I am so grateful for Outlook doing spelling and grammer checks. It usually takes a few weeks for it to go away, just about the time I went in for another treatment. I've used games like Candy Crush and Candy Crush Soda to help me focus. I also play Criminal Case which is a picture search game. Each case has a total of 9 different pictures that the player needs to find objects in. The game requires switching from one to another to get points. The quicker you play the more points you get so you have to remember where objects are in each picture. I find it does help with memory. There are a number of picture search games besides this one, each wit there own theme.