Cognitive problems

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/neuroscientist-discovers-potential-treatment-for-chemo-brain

Sounds interesting, @Afraser

Here's another one that also ties 'chemo brain' in to those women who don't do chemo but DO have Tamoxifen & other Hormone Tablets
http://theconversation.com/chemo-brain-and-cognitive-decline-after-cancer-13199

Fascinating

Fascinating also about how some women on those medications don't get it!! I can understand why the components may have that effect, but wonder what, if anything, stops that effect happening in some users? 

@Afraser The mysteries of breast cancer...

Hmmm, sounds familiar.  RANT WARNING.  Scroll past if you are sick of hearing me whinge about this subject. :smile:


What really is annoying is that it has taken so long to do anything about it. There is plenty of info dating back 5-10yrs regarding this subject and that's just on a quick search.

 Chemo has been around for a long time and so has Tamoxifen.  Not sure about Letrozole but I think it has been about 15-20 yrs.  Surely lots of people have complained about this throughout that amount of time. You'd think drugs that make your brain have issues would be worth studying as soon as they started appearing. Not the "Oh  that's just chemo brain dear" it will wear off.  Or gee, that's quite extreme.....next subject. I gave up with the doctors after 4 months of being shoved off.


Doubly annoying is that we have to muddle through and do our own research as to what can help.  The lady I had met on the UK forum put me on to the Ginko, Brahmi, vitamin B tablets.  @Socoda I believe told me about the brain training games (Elevate) over a year ago and I worked out on my own that crosswords and findawords are far more beneficial when you put a timer on them to make yourself think faster.

Triply annoying is that we are blindly taking these things that really have no long term research done as to how it is going to effect us with no gurantee that it's even going to work. It's going to be fantastic if the drugs keep us alive long enough to forget who we are.

Excerpt from one of the articles I have read recently.

Exactly why the tamoxifen users fared worse is not known, Schilder said. "The mechanisms of action of tamoxifen on the brain are hardly known yet," she said, adding that one possibility is that tamoxifen might counteract possible beneficial action of estrogen on the brain.

Dr. Victor G. Vogel, vice president of research for the American Cancer Society, said the results were not surprising. And though the reason women on tamoxifen had more cognitive decline isn't known, he said a logical though unproven explanation is that "it may just not be good for your brain not to have estrogen."

https://www.news-medical.net/health/Estradiol-and-the-Brain.aspx

I'll stop now. Sorry.

xoxox

Hmm, that's interesting. In spite of menopause years before I got cancer, my estrogen levels were still high before starting letrozole. So presumably are the levels of premenopausal women and probably fluctuating. I could understand it if a gradual reduction in estrogen provided protection from cognitive reduction, but it still looks as if a sudden shutdown has an effect on some and not on others. Mysteries of cancer indeed! 

@kezmusc (Repetition warning...) I also think that it has something to do with the inherent sexism of medicine. Women's pain does not get treated as seriously as men's. Women's illnesses are more likely to be attributed to emotional causes. And so forth.

I'd like to know if men on Tamoxifen experience the same kinds of side effects in the same numbers, or is there less oestrogen in their brains and so there is less effect?

I think it is true re sexism in medicine some bright bod did a study on it recently

when I was having chemo I liked to play all sorts of games on my iPad or phone - sudoku, matching games word finds etc and a number of my nurses asked if it was something I did regularly as they thought it helped people retain function 

If a man rants he is just asserting himself - if a woman does it, she is hysterical.  It shouldn't be after all these years, but it is.  I remember my sister talking about the action for equal pay for women back in the day.  I couldn't understand it as I didn't get why women would be paid less (she was 17 and I was 7).  I'm at the point where my kids (boy, too) are just finding out that sexism is real and so insidious.

@kmakm  - one of my buddies who sadly has mets from prostate cancer is on hormone tablets (not sure which one) and he has become VERY emotional - he cries readily and says that he is now in touch with his 'female side' much more than ever before - so I believe the effect if very similar on men, if not the same.

Yes, gotta agree with that @sister! (And congrats on your 3000th post!!)  

If a man rants he is just asserting himself - if a woman does it, she is hysterical.

If a woman asserts herself in a job (particularly if she has men working under her) she is also considered a bitch or 'having her monthly' & out of control!    Whilst a man is considered authoritative & in control.  :( 

Re equal pay for women ...... back in the late 70s, the Gov put an advert in the paper for someone to run the 'Equal Opportunities for Men & Women Commission'   Wages:   Men $30,000, Women $25,000!!   DEAD SET!  it happened!