Forgetfulness

yasminv1, I am in the same boat. Was trying to balance my check book this month and realized I forgot to pay my cable bill. I have a check off list for my bills. The cable bill was checked off and written down in my check register BUT I did not pay it electronically as normal.

At work I have sticky notes everywhere as reminders for important tasks that I CAN'T forget. Also notes at home.

I blame it on Tamoxifen.

Karen

I am having major problems with memory, concentration, focus, and even my math skills. I needed all of the above for my profession. I can no longer perform the tasks necessary to work. Thankfully, I guess, I have physical SEs from the chemo that prevent me from working also, since mental issues are hard to define and use to defend disability.

I have kept a ledger for the last 18 years of all of my expenses and income. There is a large gap in the ledger now during the time that I started treatment and until a few months ago. I stopped chemo last June due to SEs.  I still have trouble remembering bills to pay. I have had problems with interest rates being hiked because I was late on a payment. I have missed many months of utility bills. I have been aghast when I got a statement for two months instead of one, because I missed a payment. My credit rating went downhill fast. It was around 900 now it is so bad that I refuse to check it anymore.

I live alone, so there is no one else to help me remember these things either. I forget Dr appts, too.

I also used to love reading and read technical journals as well as fiction. Now my retention is terrible. I cannot read a book without having to reread nearly every paragraph. It has gotten so frustrating that I have almost quit completely. 

What really pissed me off, is that as well documented as chemo brain is, when I mentioned the problems to my oncologist, she suggested that I get a brain scan. Sher said she had never heard of it. WTF!!!!

C

I finished chemo in sept 08...and i am still having mental issues....lol  seriously tho, my concentration sucks, my words get mixed up, forget lots of stuff, and confused often...it is not any better nearly a year later.  at my 6 mo follow up, i mentioned all this to the onco....who ordered a brain scan which came out normal....my friends and dh notice it!!!!  I think its one of those things the drs dont like to talk about or warn us that it may not ever go away.  I am going to my primary care dr next week and want to talk to him about this.  I have read that some women get ritalin for it.  I was laid off and now worry about being able to hold a job in the future.  There is more to it than just stress, I just wish the medical community would deal with the chemo aftermath better.....

hugs to all, Karen

I think stress has a great deal with this, but is not the only thing. There have been studies, although it is only recently that "chemo brain" has been officially recognized. And they are finding that it is not just "chemo" brain , but also rads, surgey, hormonal, targeted therapy "brain". It seems common sense to me that once some one starts playing around with these chemicals, which screw with the normal balance and flow of things...that stuff happens like this. We all know it, why doesn't the medical community?

I have experienced chemo brain x2--first time after CMF in 1995, now following a T/C chemo regimen that ended in May. I remember the frustration I felt in '96 and later when my onc insisted that there is no such thing as chemobrain, and I am glad for the relief in knowing that research has shown that chemo can have short--long term impact on cognitive status, more so for some than for others. I think that chemofog, other consequences of cancer treatment, aging (although I am only 52!), decreased energy, stress and multiple other things contribute to my forgetfulness. I hate those lapses in remembering but I also hate those times when I feel like I can't solve problems effectively or quickly, or when I feel like my mind is "a blank"! I am hopeful that I will recover again, although I know last time it took me a while (more than 2 years). I also use lists but sometimes I am just too tired to make another list or note!