chronic chemo brain explained- it IS in (damaged stem cells in) your head. Also, starve a cancer

[kathryn_ironic]

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

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I'm positive that

[dragonet2]

Robin would have told Dr. DeWolf about that. during the cure for his non-hodgkins lymphoma, they took him to the brink of death.

fortunately he's well past the 'cure' period with no problems.

My partner, rohanna, has been diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, she's scheduled for surgery this Friday, then whatever will happen will happen (if there are no bad lymph nodes she's getting a special kind of radiation where they implant a tube, then twice a day for five days put in a pellet of radiation.

We're hopeful. It's a very small tumor, in fact to do a biopsy they had to do the mammeogram again and plant a wire to point it out.

[lexica510]

Intriguing stuff.

I think it's interesting how ideas of what's "all in your head" have changed and continue to change. Looking at one aspect, there's the shift from using the term "psychosomatic" to using "psychogenic", because "psychosomatic" has the connotation of "you're a hypochondriac, you're malingering, you're making things up where none exist". "Psychogenic" seems not to have picked up that baggage (yet), and is more likely to be correctly understood as meaning "a physical ailment caused by the brain".

And looking at another aspect, we're realizing that there's more to psychology and mind than just the brain - I find what we're learning about the enteric nervous system very interesting.

And examples like "chemo brain" not being something the patients are imagining, and that "pregnancy brain" not only isn't imaginary, its effects on the brain can be measured as it's happening.

Suspended animation

[brad_templeton]

I wonder what would happen to cancer cells if you put the body into the suspended animation that reportedly happens with the right dose of hydrogen sulfide. Yes, we don't really know how to do that yet, but if you could put a body into a suspended state except for the cancers, then zap the cancers, it might be useful.

[starcat_jewel]

That fasting thing is interesting, but there's no way I could do it. I'm borderline hypoglycemic, and not getting food regularly does Bad Things to my system.

[kathryn_ironic]

I'd bet--this is entirely my own speculation-- that caloric restriction could cause a similar effect, and that the research might lead to CR as part of the chemo treatment, vs.complete fasting.

That is, one could eat some % less calories (10%-30%) and have some change in normal cells vs. cancer cells. In that case, perhaps those Bad Things that still happen could be planned for / alleviated.