Chemo and Breast Cancer

Hi Leia,

So glad to see you posting here again of your fine diet and the terrible hazards of chemo!  How's the smoking coming along?  Still puffing away?  

Here's an article (just one of many in the scientific literature) that shows that smoking significantly lowers a user's brain functioning:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061128140728.htm 

So, instead of spending your time warning women of the supposed hazards of chemo, why don't you work on your own smoking first? 

Leia~

I do not understand why you must continuously post these comments against chemo?

I realize this is the Alternative thread but I do read it for healthy eating tips etc. and the chemo bashing is getting annoying. 

I thought the Alternative area was to discuss Alternative Medicine?

Digger, you crack me up.  

After all that has been posted about the king of quacks Mike Adams and naturalnews.com, it is a mystery to me why women with breast cancer are still getting medical advice from  that site. This guy is a buffoon trying to make money off of scared sick people.  There is a reason that he lives in south america and not the states.  Think about it.

I just read the article. What I found interesting was that the study showed, "the damage caused by chemotherapy was more likely to be increased in older women and those with less education, too." So perhaps your high IQ may be playing a big role Susie? (It's just a thought.)

According to the American Cancer Society, medicine is trying to find ways to not only treat chemo brain, but also prevent it. Apparently, there are studies under way to establish which patients are most likely to be chemo brain sufferers. To do this, people's mental abilities are measured before treatment, then after treatment, and then compared. Those results should be interesting. 

white rabbit:  Good post....I agree....the choice to do chemo is ours alone.  While it's nice to have our doctor's good advice, we must also keep in mind that he is governed by a set a guidelines put in place by the AMA.  We need to be our own advoctes and research our type of bc, along with our age, and other statistics, and then make an informed choice.  We should also make sure we ask for the oncotype testing so we can find out if chemo will even benefit our cancer.

I'm just beginning this journey, having just been dx with IDC grade 1 stage 1.  I will definitely be doing surgery, and based on that outcome, will consider all of my options for treatment.  I will give serious consideration to anything my doctor advises me, but the final choices will be mine. 

Here's another article on the same study from Huff post

Brain Changes Seen In Breast-Cancer Survivors

Huff Post

Many cancer survivors report feeling they've lost some mental sharpness following treatment. This common phenomenon has come to be known as "chemo brain" or "chemo fog," which is somewhat misleading because it also occurs in people who have not undergone chemotherapy.

Although recent studies have shown that up to 75 percent of cancer survivors do indeed experience altered mental function -- and that these changes can last for five years or longer -- doctors often downplay complaints about chemo fog, says Shelli R. Kesler, PhD, of the Stanford Cancer Center, in Palo Alto, Calif.

"[Patients] often are told it's not real, they're imagining it, it's just due to stress," she says.

In a new study published this week in the Archives of Neurology, Kesler and her colleagues provide more evidence that the phenomenon is real. Using brain scans, the researchers found that breast-cancer survivors show changes in key aspects of mental function that can translate to real-world difficulties. And these changes were particularly marked in women who had undergone chemotherapy....It's not clear that chemotherapy is directly to blame, however. More than half of the patients in both breast-cancer groups took tamoxifen, an estrogen-blocking drug that also has been linked to cognitive impairment, and most of the women in both groups also underwent radiation therapy. Either treatment could affect the brain, Kesler says. Even surgery could be a contributing factor, because general anesthesia can have lasting effects on mental function...

ETA: You'll have to click on  the title to read the entire article.

My own oncologist told me that the significant cognitive decline I am experiencing on a day to day basis is due to chemo and for that reason has referred me to a neurologist. I cannot function without the med he has prescribed.

However, I really have to question the conclusions of this study, as I would like to think that I am neither "old" nor have "a lower educational level". 

Looking forward to a more serious study on the subject.

ETA: The chemo cut my blood cell counts by half.  I had to inject Neupogen for 10 days after infusions and nearly 18 months post chemo my WBC is still not back to normal.  I therefore have to conclude either that chemo permanently "damaged my immune system" to a point or that it is still causing decreased bone marrow function.  Neither conclusion is very appealing.

"Myelosuppression - Causing the blood marrow to slow production of blood cells. This results in fewer red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets available to perform their normal functions in the body"

http://www.neulasta.com/patient/glossary/chemotherapy-glossary.html

P.S. Perhaps, the company meant to say "bone" marrow, as opposed to "blood" marrow.....

thats-life-

What bothers me are those that put down chemotherapy when they have never had it.

It makes sense that I would defend chemo as I believe without it I would not be enjoying my life right now...

If that is what this forum is for - why do we keep reading posts that attack chemo - how about not even talking about it - that would work. It annoys me that most (not all) of the people that bag chemo are not HER2+ve and have no understanding of just how serious this type of bc is. People that refuse treatment that may help them have blinkers on.

So are you the topic police? Do you make it your mission to monitor what is discussed here? Why come here at all if you do not agree with the discussion or topics? Why not stay in the other forums and contribute your opinions to those to whom it might matter. Why come here to the ONE forum created for those ladies that may not necessarily be interested in your conventional treatments. Stay out of this forum if the topics upset you so much. There are so many others here in which to share your vast wisdom.

Indeed.

It says 'Chemo and Breast Cancer' ... it's on Active Topics.  Just an innocent clicky and here I am. 

Do you by chance have a list I could refer to of when and where I am allowed to post?  Or should I check with you each time and find out if you are willing to grant me the right to contribute to a subject I might have some experience with? 

One more time ... I do not care what treatment Leia (just for example since this is her thread) has or does not have.  I am not going to argue with her or anybody else about what treatment they choose for themselves.

My only concern is with misinformation that - left unchallenged - might have an adverse effect on somebody else reading the thread.   I think we would all agree that having heard both sides of the issue anybody and everybody is free to make their own choices. 

That's probably why I've never participated in the board before and only have 4 posts. 

Unbelievable.