please insist that they read this article, Chemotherapy Fog Is No Longer Ignored as Illusion
Once, women complaining of a constellation of symptoms after undergoing chemotherapy – including short-term memory loss, an inability to concentrate, difficulty retrieving words, trouble with multitasking and an overarching sense that they had lost their mental edge – were often sent home with a patronizing “There, there.”
But attitudes are changing as a result of a flurry of research and new attention to the after-effects of life-saving treatment. There is now widespread acknowledgment that patients with cognitive symptoms are not imagining things, and a growing number of oncologists are rushing to offer remedies, including stimulants commonly used for attention-deficit disorder and acupuncture.
“Until recently, oncologists would discount it, trivialize it, make patients feel it was all in their heads,” said Dr. Daniel Silverman, a cancer researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies the cognitive side effects of chemotherapy. “Now there’s enough literature, even if it’s controversial, that not mentioning it as a possibility is either ignorant or an evasion of professional duty.”
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Fausta, thanks for this article and your post. As a psychotherapist myself and a lung cancer survivor (15 months so far)who survived 6 months of chemo-therapy I can attest that the effects of chemo-brain are real, and not limited to women. There are times when I have to struggle for the right word and my spelling (never great to begin with) ALWAYS needs spell check now. Too, there are times when I have seriously considered asking my oncologist for some ritalin or something because of the inability to follow through at times. Chemo-brain is real, and sometimes so damned difficult you just want to cry.
Thanks again for the heads up.
Thanks, GM.
Two of my friends who are now considered cured from cancer suffered from this and their oncologists kept dismissing their very real problem.
Be well,