Chemo Brain: How Cancer Treatment Affects You

If you are being treated for cancer, you may notice a decline in your ability to think clearly, stay focused and remember things.

This sort of brain fog is common for people dealing with cancer. It’s often experienced by patients receiving chemotherapy treatment, earning its “chemo brain” nickname. Still, it’s not unusual for people undergoing radiation, immunotherapy, hormonal therapy and other treatments to experience similar side effects.

Researchers still aren’t sure why, exactly, this happens. But chemotherapy and other treatments may affect the circuitry of the brain, altering the way various regions of the brain communicate with each other. This appears to affect areas of the brain associated with language, memory and higher cognitive functions like judgment, perception, risk taking and multi-tasking.

Brain Clouding

At some point during your treatment, you may notice your mind is becoming cloudy or less sharp. This could create a general fatigue similar to what you might experience if you took a long flight across several time zones, or after a sleepless night. You can still function the next day, but you may not be at your best. The impact of chemo brain can be felt in three distinct areas:

• Memory: You may have trouble with short-term memory. Your spouse, for example, may notice that you are asking the same question over and over. Or you may have difficulty remembering dates or names.
• Thinking: It may be more difficult for you to get a handle on new ideas, multitasking (talking on the phone while baking a cake), or execute previously learned tasks (playing the piano, filing taxes, paying bills electronically).
• Focus: It may take more than one attempt for you to understand the news you see on TV, or read on the newspaper, or your doctor’s instructions on how to use a certain medication.

Of course, not all fatigue or cognitive decline is due to chemo brain. If you are feeling off, take a nap to see if your symptoms improve. If you are dealing with general fatigue, you’ll likely feel better after some rest. But if chemo brain is involved, your symptoms will remain even after you have rested.

Speak Up

You don’t have to accept this brain fog as an unavoidable aspect of your treatment. Are you forgetting to pay your bills or shut off the stove? Or Are you having difficulty performing tasks that you could previously master with your eyes closed? Talk to your care team if it starts to interfere with your ability to perform day-to-day activities.

It’s also important to understand the impact this can have on your family and friends. Chemo brain affects not only you, but also the people in your life. If you lose the ability to be independent, work or care for your children, those responsibilities must shift to someone else in your orbit.

If you notice a significant change in your mental capabilities, tell your doctor. It may be possible for the treatment to be adjusted to reduce adverse side effects, while still achieving good results. The sooner you speak up, the easier it will be for your team to make noticeable adjustments.

Coping With Chemo Brain

The impact of chemo brain varies from patient to patient. For example, you may have more difficulty remembering daily chores, but have little trouble completing the tasks you do remember. You may benefit from a neuropsychological evaluation to pinpoint how you are being affected. This can also help your team develop strategies. Among the coping tools that might help:

• Keep a daily planner – on paper or your phone – to help you stay organized.
• Exercise your brain with puzzles, painting, journaling and other tasks.
• Focus on getting enough sleep and avoiding fatigue.
• Enlist the help of family members and friends to help you remember important things.
• Exercise your body with regular physical activity that’s been approved by your doctor.
• Don’t overdo it. Focus on one task at a time, instead of multitasking.
• Follow a daily routine to reduce the number of “extra” events you need to remember.
• Designate a spot in your home to put items – car keys, for example – you tend to lose.
• Save your most difficult tasks for when you have the most energy.

Also keep in mind that these mental changes aren’t permanent. They often fade shortly after your treatment ends – though, in some instances, they may linger for a few months.