Chemo Brain May Last 5 Years or More

I  had never heard of this foggy brain/chemo brain until Scott got cancer and he started experiencing it. No one had mentioned it in any detail that I remember when we were learning about side effects.  But it’s one of those things that once again highlight that even though the cancer is gone, it’s never really gone.  Side effects, physical and mental, remain long after official treatment is done.

“Chemo brain,” the foggy thinking and forgetfulness that cancer patients often complain about after treatment, may last for five years or more for a sizable percentage of patients, new research shows.

The findings, based on a study of 92 cancer patients at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, suggest that the cognitive losses that seem to follow many cancer treatments are far more pronounced and longer-lasting than commonly believed.

The study, published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology, is a vindication of sorts for many cancer patients, whose complaints about thinking and memory problems are often dismissed by doctors who lay blame for the symptoms on normal aging or the fatigue of illness.