"Chemo brain" question.

Calv · New User Joined: 30 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

Hi all,

My name is Calv, first post here and a question about the after effects of my girlfriends treatment for Hodgkins Lymphoma if thats ok.

My GF had chemo and radiotherapy for Hodgkins Lymphoma about a year and a half ago. She has been given the all clear but suffers terribly with many of the symptoms that one associates with the term "chemo brain".

Extreme tiredness, to the point where she has to go sleep at very short notice. Speech problems as in forgetfullness during conversations, sometimes she has no recollections of incidents and this can cause great difficulty in her every day life.

Today she went for the results of a scan which were once again all clear, however when she mentioned the symptoms to her consultant, he just said that it was something that cancer sufferers call chemo brain and it only lasts a month after having chemo. The consultant said that she has not come across one person who still has symptons like this a year after chemo.

No this is where we find it confusing as all over the net there are people saying they have these symptoms even years after treatment.

Can anyone here shed any light on this please? The consultant said my GF should just go back to the doctor.

Thanks for any advice,

Nice to meet you all,

Calv.

Muttsmom · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject: Re: "Chemo brain" question.

Hi,

I was dx with Stage III breast cancer 5 1/2 years ago, and I don't know what kind of chemo your g/f had since it's a different kind of cancer, but I know many ladies who still have "chemo brain" and myself is included. I was told it could last up to 6 months, but they are finally realizing that it can last for years. Do ya'll get the CURE magazine? If you don't, you can get it for free since your g/f has been dx with cancer. Go into search and type in CURE magazine and it will let you print out a form for you to mail in. There is a lot of great info on all kinds of cancer and topics like chemo brain. It's a very upbeat magazine and tells about all the new treatments that have come out, trials being done and really full of hope for all of us.
_________________
Nancy
2/14/02 ILC 43 - 5.5 cm 9+/16 nodes
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kimlk · Regular Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 11

I've read articles too that say chemo brain is real and can continue for up to several years after treatment. I think the severity of it varies however. I know for myself I posted on here about a year after my cancer treatment because I was still having a lot of problems. I had a lot of fatigue and had quite a bit of difficulty concentrating on things & forgetting things that people would tell me, or occassionally even forgetting names of people. My doctor told me that everyone recovers at a different pace & that some folks can take quite a while to get back to feeling "alright"...or as some forums I've visited refer to as "the new normal." My doctor recommended taking good vitamin supplements, making sure I was on a healthy diet, and trying to exercise when I could. It's hard trying to talk yourself into exercise when you feel so tired all the time, but I've been taking baby steps with that and every little bit seems to help. Another thing that helped me, and made me feel a little better about everything was reading a book called "Picking up the Pieces: Moving Forward after Surviving Cancer." It goes over the different things you might feel or be dealing with and it helps to hear all the personal accounts in the book. I think that the most important thing though is time. Your G/F's body has been through a lot with the cancer & it can take some people longer than others to get back to where they were. I don't know if any of this will help you, but if either of you has more questions feel free to ask. That's what we're all here for!

aosmith · New User Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 2

I can say that chemo brain seemd to only follow me for several weeks after i was out of chemo. I have 4b hodgkins 2 x AVBD and 1200 rads...

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