chronic chemo brain explained- it IS in (damaged stem cells in) your head. Also, starve a cancer
Chemo-brain has only recently moved from "all in your head, dear" to "Huh, I guess there's something to it, at least in the short term."
A new study from Harvard and Rochester Medical Schools explains why some patients have cognitive problems long after the chemotherapy is done. One drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), damages the neuronal stem cells that are myelin-forming cells.
I hope that patients feel no guilt about sending copies of this to their oncologists IF those oncologists had previously been dismissive of their chemo-brain symptoms, suggested that a round of anti-anxiety medicines would solve it, or etc.
I also think this should give pause (but it won't) to the politicians and others who still try to group mental problems as "not equal to medical problems" for insurance or research.
Other preliminary but important chemo research noted recently: starve a cancer:
UCLA caloric-restriction researchers got some early-but-important results on what might happen if a person fasts before chemotherapy. In short, normal cells react to a fast by going dormant, while cancer cells don't change. This means the normal cells are much less likely to be affected by the chemo, all other things being equal. The mice that fasted had much less damage to normal cells for a given dose of chemo.
"Fasting for two days protects healthy cells against chemotherapy... [normal] starved cells go into a maintenance mode characterized by extreme resistance to stresses. In essence the cells are waiting out the lean period, much like hibernating animals. Tumors by definition disobey orders to stop growing because the same genetic pathways are stuck in an “on” mode."
A new study from Harvard and Rochester Medical Schools explains why some patients have cognitive problems long after the chemotherapy is done. One drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), damages the neuronal stem cells that are myelin-forming cells.
I hope that patients feel no guilt about sending copies of this to their oncologists IF those oncologists had previously been dismissive of their chemo-brain symptoms, suggested that a round of anti-anxiety medicines would solve it, or etc.
I also think this should give pause (but it won't) to the politicians and others who still try to group mental problems as "not equal to medical problems" for insurance or research.
Other preliminary but important chemo research noted recently: starve a cancer:
UCLA caloric-restriction researchers got some early-but-important results on what might happen if a person fasts before chemotherapy. In short, normal cells react to a fast by going dormant, while cancer cells don't change. This means the normal cells are much less likely to be affected by the chemo, all other things being equal. The mice that fasted had much less damage to normal cells for a given dose of chemo.
"Fasting for two days protects healthy cells against chemotherapy... [normal] starved cells go into a maintenance mode characterized by extreme resistance to stresses. In essence the cells are waiting out the lean period, much like hibernating animals. Tumors by definition disobey orders to stop growing because the same genetic pathways are stuck in an “on” mode."