Certain therapies and cures, such as chemotherapy, has been well known to treat patients with cancer. There had been multiple stories of success over the past decades. However, it is quite well known as well that the side effects of chemotherapy are almost as bad, or sometimes worse, than the symptoms of having cancer. Through the years, there had been an increasing number of new side effects reported by patients undergoing chemotherapy. One of the common side effects is known as 'chemo brain'.
According to a report from Medical News Today, one out of every three individuals who are undergoing chemotherapy will suffer from what is known as 'chemo brain'. This is a known side effect of the treatment wherein patients will suffer from partial to severe cognitive impairment.
As discussed in the study, it seems that the primary causes of this are the way chemotherapy affects the production of dopamine and serotonin in the brain. It seems that chemotherapy destroys or damages the neurotransmitters required to produce the two substances.
Based on an article from the American Cancer Society, symptoms of 'chemo brain' are numerous and often times involve difficulties in doing normal tasks that can be done by healthy individuals. For instance, a person suffering from this side effect often feels a severe difficulty remembering details such as names, places, dates, common words and more. On top of that, they have difficulty performing tasks that involve processing information and organization.
This particular side effect of cancer, although quite unavoidable, can be treated further or prevented. New researchers have helped scientists discover ways on how to prevent an individual from suffering from 'chemo brain'.
As scientists now know what has caused this chemo brain which alters cognitive abilities of cancer patients, they can finally pioneer research on how to prevent this from happening. With this knowledge, newer and more improved treatments can be provided for individuals with cancer that will not produce the same side effects.
