Mentally Overwhelmed During Chemo?

AnnTX

I just finished week 4 of Taxol and my most alarming side effect is how quickly I get mentally overwhelmed. For example, if I'm engaged in one task and someone starts talking to me, I feel mentally overwhelmed and stressed. I can't handle a task and conversation at the same time. It's much much harder to multi-task. I have tried to work a few hours a few days a week and find that within a few hours, work activities that would have been minimal before chemo exhaust me in 3 hours. Did anyone else feel like this?

If you did, how do you handle the people around you? It's very hard to make others not going through this understand how something that you know should be easy and quick to do is suddenly very hard.

At this point, I just don't want to feel alone in this. Thanks, everyone.

tangandchris

Hi Ann

This is called Chemo Brain....and it happens to many of us. You are not alone in this and my experience is that it takes time to get better. I'm a year out and its better, but I still have times when I feel easily overwhelmed mentally and get overstimulated easily. I still have a hard time with noisy places and people talking to me at the same time. Sometimes I just shut down and pull back from the situation.

((hugs))

Spookiesmom

Agree with Tang, it's chemo brain. It's annoying but does get better. Hang in there!!!!

I'd be talking, then completely loose my thought train. I'd just giggle, snort, spit out chemo brain, and resume when I could.

December

Ann, I start treatment 5 (out of 6) Tuesday - With each additional treatment, I find it more and more difficult to do, as you mentioned, the easiest of tasks. Just looking at the computer overwhelms me and I have so much to do. I don't even look at the housework anymore. And I'm so tired and sleepy all the time - even if I find the motivation to work on something - I get so sleepy, I know that I just can't do it. I just wonder how long it takes after the treatments stop, to get back to some sort of normal - to have some energy again. Good luck, Blessings!