If “Supplements for chemo brain” is your search query۔ I sympathize with you۔ I will try my best to be as helpful as possible. By providing you with every possible information regarding the chemo brain. Let us explore each and every aspect of the Chemo Brain.
What is Chemo Brain
Chemo Brain is the problem that occurred with the brain of the cancer patient. This problem is the result of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer patients. What happened is that the victim started to experience remembering things and he or she cannot concentrate. So basically there are two types of problems
- Problems Associated with the Memory
- The Problems occurred due to Lack of Concentration.
The Reasons for the Chemo Brain
1. Health Conditions
Cancer is the major cause the most lethal one is the brain tumor. Cancer is not the only disease that can cause the problem of chemo brain fog. The other diseases are high blood pressure and diabetes.
2. Drug Use
Different drugs also cause this situation. The top of the list is the chemotherapy medicine. Other medicines that cause the health condition of the chemo brain fog include pain medicines, anti-nausea, and steroids.
3. Life Fatigue Problem
Life is full of activities. Some activities may cause fatigue. If you cannot get time for the proper rest this may cause the problem of the chemo brain fog. The symptoms for these include the body aches due to the tiredness and sleep pattern problems.
4. Increasing Age
This is natural for the different body parts to experience the decay in their functionality. The brain is not any exception to this fact. Increasing age will decrease the functionality of the brain. This may lead to the chemo brain fog.
5. Hormonal Changes
Hormonal changes, especially in females, cause chemo Brain problems. Sometimes the problem is not the issue but actually this is the treatment that causes the issue. So both the health condition and the treatment may cause the chemo brain.
6. Addictive Substances
All the addictive substances that can cause the addiction can cause chemo Brain Problem. These substances include Cigarettes, Alcoholic drinks, Heroine, and substances like that.
7. The Food
The deficiency of the food or taking unhealthy food for a longer period of time may cause this problem.
8. Other Causes
The other reasons for the Chemo Brain problem include surgery and infections.
Before we move on towards the treatment of the chemo brain it is better to look at its symptoms first.
The Symptoms of the Chemo Brain
Another terminology alternatively used is the chemo brain fog. You should know that both the Chemo brain and the chemo brain fog is the same condition. 11 different chemo brain symptoms are
- Difficulty in arranging things – Disorganized
- Lack of Understanding – Confusion
- Cannot Focus Thoughts – Concentrating Difficulty
- Speaking Disorientation – Right words Lost while Speaking
- Learning Difficulty – New Skills Can be learned
- Difficulty in Switching Focus – Multitasking is difficult
- No Mental clearness – The Brain Remains in the Foggy State
- Attention Span is very short – Cannot do work for a longer period of time
- Routine Tasks are no more in routine – Difficulty arises even in the completion of routine work
- Difficulty in understanding the conversation – Verbal memory decreases
- Cannot remember the familiar images – Can’t remember the faces, visuals words and etc..
Life Adjustments to tackle the Chemo Brain Issue
Chemo Brain disability is a condition This can easily be managed. We will look at the chemo brain treatment in a while. But first, let’s learn some techniques. These techniques can help you manage the issues in different real-life situations due to the Chemo Brain disability.
1. Working Schedule Arrangement
This is important to schedule the daily routine work for everyone. But if someone is suffering from a medical condition like the chemo brain. He or she has to manage the working schedule intelligently. Prioritize your work as the most important task first when you are full of energy and then the tasks with lesser importance to follow. This will benefit you in two ways.
First, the important tasks will be completed with the maximum energy and in the most delightful manner. Secondly once the task of the maximum importance will be finished. Your mind will be at ease.
2. Brain Exercise
Engage your brain in challenging activities. These include puzzles solving small mathematical problems and riddles. Some more activities like this can be a part of this. But be sure that these all activities should be pleasing.
No activities that are part of this should be teasing otherwise this may cause opposite results.
3. Rest and Sleeping Patterns
Be sure to grab the sleep of the 10 hours. This is necessary to make your body and mind able to fight with this problem otherwise your body and mind will not be in the position to fight with this problem.
Your sleep is the time when your body actually heals itself. Try to stick with the sleeping schedule.it means that the time to sleep and get up should be according to a schedule and followed strictly. The unorganized patterns of sleep will not help you to tackle this problem. Sometimes this routine may increase in the sufferings
4. Managing Meetings with Chemo Brain
If you are a listener. Learn to make smart notes during the meeting. After the meeting read your notes immediately and discuss it with one or more colleagues. Arrange the notes carefully and as soon as the meeting is over.
In case if you are a presenter at the meeting. Write the smart tags that can move you with the direction of the meeting. Write all the facts and figures. Do not try to remember the figures Just try to remember the flow of the meeting.
5. Telephonic Conversation with Chemo Brain
Try to take the smart notes to have a writing pad or a digital diary with you. Remember your own phone number in pairs like instead of remembering this + 1 2 3 7 9 6 3 4 6 2. Try to remember it like that twelve, thirty-seven, ninety-six, thirty-four, and sixty-two. Write your phone number on a small strip of paper. Put it in your pocket. Whenever someone asks for your number just look at the strip of the paper and tell them your number.
6. Reading Difficulty with Chemo Brain
If you experience reading difficulty, try to break the lines. Divide the matter in chunks. These chunks will help you understand the matter in pieces. Give a name to every piece. This will make things easy for you.
7. Routine Home Tasks With Chemo Brain
Divide the tasks into small steps. Write an SOP for every task. This will help you to be on the track and you will be able to complete your task hassle-free.
Don’t be discouraged at all. Some food supplements and the small changes in your food can help to make things better for you.
The Scientific Reasoning of the Chemo Brain
Different studies have been conducted to find out the reasons for the Chemo Brain. Unfortunately, we are still unaware of the real reason responsible for the condition of the brain. In an effort to understand the Chemo Brain at the Medicine School of Virginia University.
The pattern of absorption of the glucose inside the brain was studied. This time the way to study was not the popular choice of the MRI. PET scans in combination with CT scans were adopted to understand the absorption of the glucose in different parts of the brain. This absorption indicates that this particular part is utilizing glucose.
The brain utilizes maximum glucose in the body. In fact, glucose acts as the fuel for the brain in order to perform its functionality. The logic behind to study the glucose absorption in the brain was that which particular part is consuming the glucose that is working.
The parts related to decision making and planning showed the least glucose absorption in the chemo brain. This is the reason that the people with the chemo brain feel the problem relegated to memory and concentration.
The parts related to decision making and planning showed the least glucose absorption in the chemo brain. This is the reason that the people with the chemo brain feel the problem relegated to memory and concentration.
Chemo brain treatment
Logically thinking if the supply of the glucose towards that particular region of the brain in particular and towards the brain in general increases this problem can be tackled to some extent.
Till now this is not possible to increase the sugar supply towards a particular region of the brain can be increased. To obtain this purpose we need to increase the supply of the glucose generally towards the brain. Multiple things can be helpful in chemo brain treatment.
1. Rehabilitation
If you are undergoing cancer treatment then you require rehabilitation. This rehabilitation is for the complete body and all the body functions. As far as the treatment of the chemo brain is concerned what you need is Cognitive rehabilitation.
- This may be or may not a part of the cancer rehab. The “Rehab” is the word used for rehabilitation.
- This will consist of activities related to brain function improvement.
For this, you need to understand yourself. That’s how your brain works. If you have a good understanding of the working of your brain, its learning activities, the pattern it stores, and deal with the information.
This will be easy for you to get the maximum benefit for this rehab. You can yourself or our partner even design some of the activities for you. Some activities are even machine in this article too
2. Exercise Routine
This is a scientifically proven fact that exercise increases the absorption of glucose in the body. Thirty minutes of exercise daily will significantly improve the absorption of the sugar in the body. This will also increase the sugar intake in the brain too.
3. The Food
Try to make your food as colorful as possible. Multiple fruits and vegetables should be part of the food. The dry fruits are highly recommended. But It is highly recommended to talk to your doctor first before making any change in your food. Especially if you have other health conditions like diabetes and heart problems.
Supplements for Chemo Brain
Multiple supplements in the market are available. These supplements have the claim to be effective in chemo brain treatment. A well-known supplement that can be helpful in this problem is FWGE. The FWGE is the abbreviation of Fermented Wheat Germ Extract (FWGE).
This organic compound is an extract related to the seed. It has been extracted from the wheat seed embryo. Albert Szent-Györgyi was a Hungarian biochemist who discovered its effectiveness in treating different conditions in the 1970s.
This substance was first discovered in the 1950s but it took 40 years for these substances to be part of the people’s life as a dietary supplement. It was 1990 when it was first launched in the market.
This stimulates the antioxidant effect and boosts the immune system this also reduces the cancer cells’ growth. This is full of useful protective substances like potassium, and zinc. Other than this is also rich in proteins. Full of vitamins, and minerals this particularly posses the iron with vitamin B&E
These Supplements for chemo brain should not be taken without the doctor consultation.
The exact chemo brain treatment can only be told by your doctor. We just recommend some small tasks that can be helpful in chemo brain treatment.
