Chemo Brain

Incha1 said:

Cecum & ileum removed & ascending colon & cholestyramin

Finished my Chemo Feb.17, 2015. Due to the cecum,ileum removal I have had diarrhea. I am now on cholestyramine 4grams 2 time a day & amitryptoline 10mg. at dinner. I feel so full after each time I take it. Then bloated. Next day normal stool but again in evening a mushy stool & my gut is sore. Has anyone experienced this.???

I can relate to the chemo brain thing. I hate grasping for words and I'm very picky about spelling and hate it when I can't figure out how to spell a word I should know how to spell. Or I do spell it right but it doesn't look right to me. My memory is even worse than it was before and it wasn't great then.

I can't relate to the bowel issues, though, I have an illeostomy. Which I'm hesitating to get reversed because my surgeon said my IBS will be even worse afterwards. It was horrible before and has been my whole adult life.

I am two years out from treatment, and I definitely have Chemo Brain. 

I wish I could post videos here. Just recently, I was recording a video blog. I started the video saying 'Today I am....' and then my brain went blank (which is how my Chemo barin affects me). I then said....right there on the video 'Am I 25 or 26?'.  Then a pause, and thats when it hit me, I'm FIFTY SEVEN AND A HALF.

At first I found it very disturbing but now I am getting used to it. 

How it affects me, as I said, is that I go blank. I forget words, and I find I look into the air or stare. I do warn people that this happens, but of course, there are others around me who don't know the problem, and just think I'm losing it. 

Maybe I am losing it. 

I did have one lady say to me 'Do you blame everything on the Chemo?'. I confess, I was somewhat hurt and a little offended. 

A hearty welcome to the forum. Stay around, we can help you through this, and we're always up for new friends, though we wish folks didn't have to join our little club.

Sue - Trubrit

to chime in here.  My wife was diagnosed with CRC at the ripe ole age of 45.  About 2 1/2 years out of treatment. 

Chemo brain.... Yes.  I've noticed a change in her ability to "pick" a word out she would like to use.  Or... forgetting something... Although it doesn't affect her everyday ability to function at all.  Even she says she has chemo brain too.  She has always been the intelligent one out of the two of us.  Hell, still is.  After this journey we went through together... yes, I believe chemo brain is real.  I have no clinical study to back it up, just our experience together. 

Bowel movements... Boy that is a whole other subject. 

I experienced chemo brain through both my treatments. I was working full time the first time around and found it very challenging at times to be facilitating a meeting and all of a sudden lost a word or even the whole subject. I got really good at going into a situation with everything written down so I could find myself again if necessary. It did get better a few months after treatment. The 2nd time around, it happened again, this time I was retired so while I didn't have the work related issue, it was still upsetting. So my husband and I started playing scrabble. Lots and lots of scrabble. We kept a game going all the time and it became a challenge to come up with new and bigger words. I think it helped. I also made sure to read a lot and get some exercise every day. It seemed to help. Now a year after completing my last treatment, I am finding my difficulties are fewer and fewer and honestly am not sure it is left over chemo brain or just nearing 60. People laugh at chemo brain, but it is very real and should be considered as part of the treatment, along with your emotional health and well being as you deal with cancer, treatment and everything that goes along with it. I found seeing a counselor helped and a year later still is helping. 

Hang in there, if it gets too difficult, be sure to tell your Dr. Do anything you can to keep your mind working and recognize that cancer treatment is hard on the body. I think emotionally it takes on a life of its own. Take it a minute, hour and day at a time. 

As to the other part, I have no idea about that other then to make sure you and your Dr are commuicating about it. I was fortunate not have had any diarrhea issues. Even through chemo I had very little trouble in that area, usually one day during the 3 day infiusion). But that said, I am a vegetarian, live on all natural goods and eat nothing processed, no artificial sweetners, etc. I try to stay away from any refined sugars or flours. I started this eating pattern after my first bowel surgery (they removed 8 1/2 inches of colon) and have never gone back. I think it helped. My Dr seems to think it helped keep my immune system stable and my blood work up during treatment. 14 months of chemo (8 months the first time, 6 the 2nd) and only 1 blood work delay during the first 8 months, none duing the 2nd 6 months. 

Good luck to you. Hope you find what you need to get through treatment with the least side effects possible. Keep your commuication with your Dr going, he/she can't help you if you don't tell them what you are experiencing. 

Blessings...

MAlice

This round seems to have really kicked in.  I feel I am repeating myself and without a doubt forgetting words and people's names.  The other day I was discussing baseball, and I stopped when I could not get the player's name out before remembering, felt liked I paused for hours.  We were discussing Hall Of Fame players and different things and I forgot Ted William's name.  Next thing I will be looking at my driver's license for my name  Also seems to be worse if I am tired.  The other day I know I had conversations and thought I was making sense, but I have a feeling things just kept on coming out wrong.  For me it is more verbal and conversation, typing has not hit me quite as bad.

Coming out of the last round, meaning about 6 days out of disconnect and feeling better today finally.  

John212 said:

The Splendid Splinter

I've had numerous episodes of Chemo Brain over the last year or so since I started chemo. It will be one year from my last treatment by the end of this week, and I'm still getting foggy moments, even foggy days occasionally. I am also finding that I am forgetful in other ways besides being unable to quickly retrieve just the exact word, and I'd just as soon blame that on the Chemo Brain as on anything else.

Couldn't help but think though, in reading your post, that only a Yankees or Mets fan would ever forget the name of the greatest baseball player to ever live. :GRIN: Even better than DiMaggio - and I know those are likely fighting words.

 

I had several brain lapses today, at work. 

It was awful! It was as though I could see the word, bouncing in front of my eyes, but I could not grasp it with my mouth. My poor boss! He was so patient with me. I hope it doesn't wear thin. 

Sue - Trubrit

whether to blame  my memory lapses on chemo brain or old age. Frankly, I like  being able to blame them on chemo instead of admitting  to "senior moments."  It's as though my  brain has turned into Swiss cheese lately; words and names  sometimes seem to slip though  holes in my brain and float around in space, sometimes returning, sometimes lost  forever. Then  there are the times, like yesterday,  when I  glanced down at my feet while waiting for  my Neupogen shot in the clininc waiting room, and saw that I was wearing  odd shoes- one black clog and one brown sandal. Chemo brain had struck again!