Testing for "Chemo Brain" as a Disability

[You may have seen my recent interview with Joanna Morales of the Cancer Legal Resource Center.  Joanna very kindly answered my questions about workplace protections for people with "chemo brain" and she did a fabulous job (See October 4, 2010).

In this week's post, prominent clinical psychologist Robert Ferguson, PhD, discusses how difficult it has been for scientists in general to define cognitive "disability."  He zooms in a bit on one of his case studies.

Cognitive Changes After Treatment

In this video, the director of the Lance Armstrong Foundation Adult Survivorship Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute interviews psychologist Mary-Ellen Meadows about "chemo brain." Dr. Meadows also works at Dana-Farber. You'll find some basic but good information here, much of it covered in Your Brain After Chemo.

A Misleading Headline About Chemo Brain?

Okay, maybe it's just me but a headline from last week's story in the New York Times about "chemo brain," left me baffled and concerned enough about accuracy that I posted a comment stating as much on the New York Times Well blog.

A Book for Young Adults With Cancer

I just finished reading a book that I'd like to recommend called, "Everything Changes: The Insider's Guide to Cancer in Your 20s and 30s" by Kairol Rosenthal.

A Guide to the New Health Care Reform Law From the Author of a Guide to Cancer

By Kairol Rosenthal

Guest Blogger

Brain fog is hard enough without the dizzying language of health insurance red tape.  But, it's well worth cutting through the haze to understand these new benefits.

Chemotherapy Alters Brain Tissue in Breast Cancer Patients, Say Indiana University Researchers

Dear Readers, 

Before you read the press release below, I'd like you to know that the concept of using brain scans to connect the dots between chemotherapy and cognitive dysfunction is not new.  

What is new is that this study was "prospective," meaning "over time."  Whereas in other studies the participants had already been through some amount of chemotherapy or had completed treatment years prior, Dr. Saykin and his team did a "before" and "after." They scanned patients prior to undergoing chemo or radiation and then at two points after going through chemo. So they had some good data comparing the changes in brain tissue.

5 Ways to Self-Empower Even the Foggiest Recovery

By Michele Rosenthal

Guest Blogger

The most difficult part of being sick - and recovering afterward - is the cognitive impairment we experience during that time. Whether due to drugs, medications, stress or just plain exhaustion it can be so difficult to keep our heads clear, our minds exact, and our thoughts congruent. After fifteen years of being a chronic, sleep-deprived, malnourished and overly stressed patient with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), however, I discovered that there are definitely some self-empowered ways to gain control during that fuzzy-brained period.

Hypogonadism (Decreased Hormones) in Male Lymphoma Patients After Chemo

From "J"

One lymphoma-related male issue is that of hypogonadism, where the testes produce decreased or no hormones.

In a paper in the British Journal of Cancer (2009), a group in Norway found (I'm trusting my memory here so be warned the details may not be exact but the principle is) that about 40% of men over 50 treated for lymphoma were hypogonadal. This can be a late side-effect. They compared patients with and without radiation.

I had been having hot flashes and fatigue and thought my thyroid was messed up. My primary care physician is an endocrinologist and correctly identified the problem. Testosterone levels were running on fumes. Admittedly the seminal article (pun intended) from Norway which had large numbers had just been published. I hope oncologists are checking testosterone levels in men post chemo for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma. If you are only borderline low you'll have to fight with your insurance company but citing the BJC article may help. -- "J", non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

_______________

A Response From

Dr. Dan Silverman

Thanks for shining a light on the problem of endocrine hypogonadism that is, unfortunately, not uncommon among men who have been treated for lymphoma.
As you have indicated, men who are over 50 years old are especially vulnerable to it, suffering from this condition about five times more

Stand Up 2 Cancer AND "Chemo Brain"

From

Marcia Cohee

Saw the Stand Up 2 Cancer program last week, and just bawled, terrified. It broke down all those little defenses that say "Oh, cancer wasn't so bad." It was. And is. Chemotherapy has taken my concentration, my ability to write and my energy to crawl to poetry readings. The greatest tragedy is not that I am sick, but that I am one of millions of cancer "survivors" who are now sick and disabled.

Marcia Cohee is the author of four collections of poems which she wrote prior to experiencing"chemo brain."  Her collection, "Story," is available through Amazon and her publisher.  She will be reading at the Ugly Mug Cafe in Orange, CA on November 3, 2010.

What was your reaction to Stand Up 2 Cancer's telethon? Click on the COMMENTS box below and let us know.