Chemo Brain Tips from a Five-Time Cancer Survivor
I began struggling with my ability to think clearly immediately after being diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time in 2020. The incredible emotional, physical, financial, and mental stress from a cancer diagnosis makes it hard for cancer patients to think clearly before treatment even starts.
From losing my keys to forgetting names to getting lost driving to struggling with basic math to mood swings – all of this happened to me before my chemotherapy started. Once the treatments started, my cognitive and emotional issues only increased. The exhaustion and stress, the infusions and steroids, the pain meds, anti-nausea pills, and even immunotherapy drugs combined to cause – for me – a 15% decline in my brain’s ability to think and handle my emotions. These symptoms during and after cancer treatment are broadly called “chemo brain.”
For cancer patients who get chemo brain, it can last months or years. Mine went away two years after my last chemotherapy treatment. Chemo brain ranks as one of cancer’s most frustrating and unpredictable side effects. You will know it if you have it.
Here are five tips for dealing with chemo brain, gained from my own personal experiences:
1) Give yourself grace for having it.
Understand it is just one more aspect of your cancer journey. Don’t get angry when it happens– just smile and tell yourself (and others) – “I have chemo brain.” Getting stressed about it only makes it worse.
2) Tell your Care Team if you have it and discuss ways to reduce it.
My Care Team cut back on the quantity of steroids I received (about halfway through my cancer treatment) specifically to help me with my chemo brain. But your Care Team can’t help you if they don’t know about it (or any side effect, for that matter) – so bring it up!
3) Listen more and talk a lot less. Enough said!
4) Lean on others and develop “cheats.”
My wife did a lot of thinking for me – reminding me to take meds, whispering the names of friends in my ear, answering questions for me when she knew I would struggle with the answer. My “cheats” included keeping notes on my I-Phone, practicing math before meetings, visualizing people and their names before I met with them, and even the heavy use of a calendar to keep me aware of my schedule.
5) Stay hydrated and eat a healthier diet.
It took me until my fifth cancer to finally figure out that drinking water and eating well can help me with chemo brain, as well as some other side effects. Dehydration on its own can reduce mental acuity and inhibit healing, so I now carry a water bottle with me to remind me to drink. Nausea and a changed sense of taste during my chemotherapy made eating daunting. But, with the help of a dietician, I was able to eat healthier during and after cancer treatments. I limit dairy, processed sugars, processed carbs, red meat, and alcohol (no alcohol during treatment). I now eat lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and lean white meat.
Fighting cancer is hard. Fighting it with chemo brain makes it harder. While you cannot control getting chemo brain, the tips I have learned through experience should help you manage some of the challenges it brings. My lymphoma will come back, so I will be utilizing these tips again. Like you, though, I will continue to fight, own my cancer journey, advocate for myself and try to inspire others in my battle.
Bill Potts is a Five-Time Cancer Survivor and Author of the book “Up for the Fight. How to Advocate For Yourself as You Battle Cancer.” Available wherever books are sold.