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Chemo Fog / Chemo Brain
Chemo fog, or chemo brain, is a cognitive side effect of cancer treatments that some people experience. Chemo fog can rear its ugly head in a variety of ways, but here are some of the most common:
- Memory. You may find yourself losing your car keys more frequently than you did before starting cancer treaments, or you may have short-term memory lapses.
For example, there were two times after chemotherapy treamtents that I found myself driving back to work instead of going home to rest for the remainder of the day. Was I supposed to go back to work? No. But for some reason, I would get almost all the way to work and then would realize that I was supposed to be driving to my house. This was even more strange considering how much I disliked my job at the time.
- Focusing or multi-tasking. You may find it difficult to do more than one thing at a time (like talking on the phone and cooking dinner at the same time). You may also find it hard to focus on your friend's story about her new puppy or on the evening newcast - things that under normal circumstances would easily hold your attention.
- Learning / Processing Speed. If you used to be able to breeze through books or newspaper articles, chemo brain may cause you to read more slowly or to go back and read the same sentence over again.
- Word finding. Chemo fog can cause you to have a hard time finding the right word in mid-conversation. For example, I was talking to a co-worker one day about different kinds of wine, and all of a sudden, mid-sentence, my mind blanked on wine's main ingredient: grapes. For the life of me, I couldn't come up with the word "grapes". Instead, I had to say, "You know, those little fruits that they use to make wine." Talk about embarrassing!
Doctors are not sure what causes chemo fog, but here are some of their guesses:
- Stress. Let's face it - the whole process of being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing cancer treatments is stressful, even for the most laid-back person. When a person is stressed, they tend to have difficulties concentrating because their mind is constantly focused on the source of the stress.
- Medications. Some of the medications that your doctor has you on may contribute to chemo brain. Pain medications and medications to treat nausea often make you drowsy and unable to concentrate in the process - it's the lesser of two evils, right?
- Blood counts. Low blood counts means that your blood doesn't have as much oxygen in it as it should - and less oxygen means less energy and a reduced ability to focus.
- Hormones. Some chemotherapy drugs are intended to cause hormonal changes in a person's body - or if these changes aren't intended, hormonal fluctuations are a known side effect of the drug. Hormonal changes from chemo drugs can result in cognitive issues - similar to PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome)!
- Fatigue. Fatigue is another side effect of cancer treatments, and it can lead to symptoms of chemo brain - no one is on top of their game when they're tired.
The good thing about chemo brain is that it's temporary in almost all cases. You may have your full mind back shortly after finishing chemotherapy treatments, or it may take a year or two - but eventually you'll be back to your normal self. Some doctors recommend exercise as a way to combat chemo fog - there is no scientific evidence it works, but it can't hurt, right?
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