Article - Memory loss following breast cancer treatment

Giovanna_BCNA

Hello everyone,
See recent article attached below titled 'A study of memory and attention dysfunction following breast cancer treatment' by Gaby Bolton and Anton Isaacs, Monash University School of Rural Health.

wendy55

I knew it wasnt just me!!!

Ellamary98

I feel validated! That was an interesting read. I'm tired of being told that it is just a menopause symptom.

LMK74

Interesting read. Since treatment my memory is mush. I go to do something and my mind goes totally blank and I wonder what I'm doing. My oncologist seems unsympathetic and says everyone has some memory problems. I wasn't like this before treatment. I feel vague all the time . Maybe I will show her this.

Zoffiel

Well, it's finally a 'thing' though those who don't want to believe it will pooh-pooh the size of the study and the other issues such as the time between diagnosis and the study being conducted. We all know it's a thing, I'm forwarding this to my oncologist.

Sister

It does worry me how I will manage back at work as I'm struggling to find words and can't remember any organisational details.

kezmusc

Wow.  I think I may have said that before.It's not just the chemo either  I didn't read it all because I couldn't be bothered. I've read it all before.  Nobody believes it unless it's on the listed page of side effects.

Lets put up the shitty brain side effects of HT as well, How can you be perfectly fine in the 13 weeks between chemo and HT then have a brain like mush after 5 weeks on HT?  Coincidence? Twice is a coincidence.  Four times is not. Apologies, my brain started malfunctioning again the last 3 days and I am pissed. FFS!!!!!! You would not believe what I have done today.  

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/3935/mental-fog-with-tamoxifen-is-real-scientists-find-possible-antidote.aspx.  This is only one article. on one drug. There are many many more.

Zoffiel

What? What did you do? I managed to wreck 4mtrs of architrave--kept cutting it too short. So I gave up in disgust and tried tiling instead. What a cock up. I started out with enough tiles but between cutting several back-the-front and breaking 4, yes 4, trying to cut the hole for the shower outlet I don't now. WTF is the matter with me. I'm completely addled.

Sister

One of the kids had an information session after school.  I checked the date maybe half a dozen times. Thought it was tonight (Thursday) until I got the email yesterday to report on the session - held the night before.

kezmusc

Hmmm...What didn't I do?  It started Monday at work.  It was hell busy as the Friday lady had called in sick and there was not enough staff to replace her.  The Saturday lady called in sick so three days no admin staff. Monday was tragic.  My brain clapped it at about lunch time.  I could feel it coming.  HIgh stress=No brain. Zero multi tasking skills.
I answered the phone by a company name that I hadn't worked for in 17 years. It's like the body is in auto drive but the brain is not in gear.

In the meantime I have been speaking with a gorgeous lady who wants to use the scalp cooler and is having a really hard time coming to terms with everything that is happening to her.  So (at the request of the BCN's( I have high tailed it down to outpatients to see if I can help her.  i really wanted to stay with her and her husband but just didn't have the time. That really upset me.  I have asked her to join here and am so hoping she does.

Wednesday.  Brought the washing in.  Went looking for something I knew I had washed that morning.  I am looking in a set of drawers right next to the washing basket it was in. There are multiple other small things in amongst this.

Today.  Had to go to Bunnings.  Ended up at work (I don't work today) because I didn't turn off at the right intersection.
Skipped a red light because the arrow turned green and I thought I could go. 

The piece de resistance.  Two hours ago I called my husband (we have been together 13 years) by my ex husbands name..
I am now not very popular.  

There are not enough swear words for me to use. FTS. 

Kiwi Angel

@kezmusc oh no -I hope hubby gets over it soon and realises it’s not your fault xoxo

kmakm

@kezmusc    So sorry.

My husband called me by his first wife's name during a rather terse discussion five years into our marriage. No, I wasn't happy either! K xox

Ellamary98

Oh, I hear you. Walking in and out of rooms, trying to recall what the hell I was doing/thinking 30 seconds earlier. Completely forgetting critical conversations I've had with friends, or that I have already introduced myself to people. Calling my husband by my brother's name, repeatedly. I often cannot keep up with fast-paced conversations, which is awful at work. My onc kept telling me it was largely menopausal, but I took a few weeks' break from Tamoxifen and hey-ho, much of the fog lifted!

kezmusc

He's alright now we had a good talk and I had rung him through the day to say I was getting lost again.  I feel like shit though.  

Bullshit @Ellamary98 its just the menopause.  When the fog lifts and your brain kicks back in in a week or so off the the drugs and all the side effects disappear it's not hard to work out.  The word swing, the loss of what you were going to say. The having to think about what you want to get out of your mouth, the brain is thinking one thing but it's coming out backwards. There are some days I cannot follow a conversation and look like a complete space cadet.  

I said I will give it my best shot and I will.  But Faaarrrkkkk.  

arpie

OMG @kezmusc  ..... What a shit week!    

I hope you've been forgiven already!  My husband called me by his ex's name once ...... JUST THE ONCE ... LOL ... I got over it! I hope your hubby gets over it quickly, too .... xxxx

@Sister  .... BUGGER!!!

@Zoffiel  ..... DOUBLE bugger!    

@wendy55  & @Ellamary98 - you are NOT ALONE!!

My brain's been fried pretty well since the diagnosis confirmation ..... but more so since radiation & tablets~!   If anyone wants me to do anything for them -  I tell them to email or SMS me!  If it is in writing, there is a possible chance that I may 'do it'!  If it is only spoken ..... there is every chance it WILL NOT be done!!

I have messages on my steps, in date order, as my 'every day brain'!!!  (BIG rolling of eyes!!   )   LOL

kmakm

What an interesting study and congratulations to all who took part.

I have noticed that during and since chemo I repeat myself more often. This usually take the form of asking the same question several times over a period of days or weeks. When confronted about it by annoyed children, I have absolutely zero memory of asking or receiving an answer. My husband and friends have noticed too, and also that I repeat stories or give them the same information several times. I see a patient look come into their eyes and I say "Have I told you this before?" "Yes, but that's OK" "Chemo brain" "It's OK, we understand".

I know we all repeat stuff from time to time, you forget who you've told stories to, but I've never done it like this before.

I also do struggle to find words, particularly if I'm stressed, even a little bit. And I do that thing where I'll check the time or date of something and have to do it repeatedly as the info just won't stick.

The combined effect of this is I'm not as socially confident as I was before. I hesitate to speak sometimes, doubting myself. At first I thought it was because my mind was too full with the thoughts and anxiety of breast cancer, but as time goes on I think it may be the effect of the treatment. I don't feel massively impaired, but I'm not working at the moment. It could also have something to do with my lack of sleep. Which is because of breast cancer treatment... Not sure one thing ends and another one starts. I just wish I could go back to the way my brain worked before.