Can radiation and chemo for type 1 Breast C. lead to dementia

Hello, Judith. Thanks for writing.

I've forwarded your question regarding breast cancer treatment(s) and dementia to our expert, Kevin Knopf, M.D. Dr. Knopf is a medical oncologist who might best be able to shed some light on this for you. You'll likely hear from him soon.

Best,

Maria

Judith, I can only share my personal experience as a 48 yr old who went through chemo..

I found that I couldn't remember things the way I could "pre-chemo". Not only did it affect my sense of smell and taste, it also affected my thought process- mostly anything memory-wise. I had to write things down. I couldn't recall names of songs, although they were familiar to me, etc.

Chemo messes with your head in more ways than your hair.

Also, dealing with chemo--heck, dealing with cancer makes people ANGRY. We're supposed to "be strong" while our body fails us through treatment and it's hard. And anger isn't always anger but another emotion expressed as anger (frustration, helplessness, etc).

Sometimes people just need someone to talk with. Family are sometimes too close to the situation at times for the family member to honestly express what it is they're feeling.Perhaps an outsider, or just letting them vent in a journal (IF they will) would help.