Where did my mind go? Chemo Brain and the "Ooh-shiny's"

Chemo Brain.

Have you heard of it?  That awful loss of your mind that happens when you've had chemo.  Did you know that even cancer patients who've had surgery, but not chemo, get it?  Yep.

Sucks, doesn't it?

Some things aren't mentioned to patients (or the general public) about chemotherapy.  Or any cancer treatments, for that matter.

"Your short term memory will be affected."  This they tell you.
It kind of makes sense, because the chemo is killing the little grey cells.  But it happens to people who've had their cancer treated via just surgery as well.  That part doesn't get shared so much.

"You get distracted more easily."  Some patients are told this, some not.  Some researchers I worked with called it the "Ooooh shiny! Effect" or, the "Ooh-shiny's" for short.

What is it like?  Well, bloody annoying for the person who has it.  I'm sure some folks who work or live with the person don't enjoy it either.  Some of the survivors I've spoken to were afraid to even mention this to their care givers.  They were (almost unanimously) terrified it was a symptom of something else.  Like metastases to the brain.  Or some form of dementia. 

You are trying to have a conversation with someone about something, like a book you've been reading, and all of a sudden, something grabs your attention.  Something you only partially saw, maybe.  Out of the corner of your eye.

And WHAM!

Your train of thought has been completely derailed.
Poof!  Right in the middle of your sentence.

And it happens again and again.  You keep going off on a tangent.  Or you completely forgot what you were saying.  Or what the person you were talking to was saying.

Now, everyone has this at one time in their life.  But with someone who has been (or is being) treated for cancer, it happens a lot more.

Does it go away?
Yes.

When?
It depends.  (Do you hate that answer as much as I do?)

Most people see the effects gradually diminish following the end of chemo.  If you've never had chemo, but still got the Ooh-shiny's, things will (probably) be totally back to normal after 36 months.  If you had many rounds of chemo, it could take as long as 10 years.


Want to know more?
Check out the links below.

Memory Loss In Cancer Survivors Not Always Due To Chemotherapy 

Chemobrain Is Real but May Need New Name

Canadian Cancer Society - Changes in memory and concentration 

Central Neurotoxicity, Memory Loss, and Their Relationship to Chemotherapy