MY LIFE Matters: TNBC Patient Voices Issue 2022 - 16

Conversation CHEMO BRAIN
next challenging situation surfaces,
remembering what helped you navigate
the previous challenges can
be helpful. There are also specific
strategies that can help you navigate
the tough feelings, sensations, and
thoughts that come up during difficult
times. With practice, mind-body
interventions, including meditation
and qigong, and mindfulness-based
cancer recovery programs, have been
shown to help with brain fog and
support emotional resilience.
HOW TO NAVIGATE BRAIN
FOG IN YOUR DAILY LIFE
Brain fog creates new challenges in
day-to-day living as you attempt to
manage roles, responsibilities, and relationships.
Remember to have grace for
what you are feeling and tell yourself that
your cognitive changes are a normal part
of having cancer. Following strategies can
support success in your daily life despite
experiencing cognitive challenges.
* Use external aids. Use high-tech and
low-tech devices to organize, remind,
and track important information instead
of relying on your brain. Smartphones,
computers, tablets, post-it
notes, pillboxes, calendars, or centralized
noticeboards can help you keep
track of your appointments, finances,
medications, lists, and track your
diet or exercise. Electronic trackers
can help prevent losing things such
as keys or phones.
* Establish a set routine. Routines create
order in your life and reduce the
amount of information your brain has
to keep up with. Schedule appointments
on the same day or at the same
time when possible, keep important
items in the same location, and pair
new tasks with autonomic tasks, like
meals or bedtime.
* Engage in challenging activities.
Solving crossword puzzles, visiting
museums, reading, playing a musical
instrument, creating art, or taking a
course, challenges your brain and helps
create new neuronal connections.
* Be your own coach! When performing
a new or complicated task, say the
steps out loud to keep you on track.
Having a simple script can help you
prepare, stay on track, and evaluate
your progress with the task. Eventually,
your brain may not need the
support of the script.
* Request workplace accommodations.
If you are struggling at work,
speak to your HR department and
direct supervisor to discuss changes
that support you being the best
employee possible. Examples include
extended time to complete
assignments, a redesign of your environment
or schedule, or adjusting
responsibilities.
* Seek support from trusted friends
and family members. Being socially
engaged with family and friends can
help regulate your nervous system
and put your brain in a state where
it can be more receptive to learning.
Brain fog is real. Brain fog is common. Brain
fog can get better. The strategies above can
help you manage the impact that brain fog
has on your life. Research is underway to
better understand the causes of brain fog,
how to prevent it, and how to treat it. The
Inova Schar Cancer Institute and Life with
Cancer opened a study this summer to
test new ways for measuring brain fog that
can lead to more individualized treatment
approaches. l
tinyurl.com/Inova-Brain-Fog-Study
Click on the QR code to learn more about the research Inova
and UT Dallas Center for Brain Health are doing to measure
brain fog. With better tests for brain fog, further research into
the causes and treatments for brain fog will be more streamlined
and effective. With better research, medical providers
can make more specific efforts to prevent or treat brain fog.
16
MY LIFE MATTERS
TNBC PATIENT VOICES ISSUE 2022
ADAM L. COHEN, MD, MS
CO-DIRECTOR OF NEUROONCOLOGY
INOVA
SCHAR CANCER
INSTITUTE
All the Authors work for Inova, but Life with
Cancer is a distinct organization/program
within the Inova Schar Cancer Institute.
TYLER PUDLEINER, MS
ONCOLOGY CLINICAL
THERAPIST
INOVA LIFE WITH CANCER,
INOVA SCHAR CANCER
INSTITUTE
AUTHORS:
MICHELLE FERRETTI, LCSW,
OSW-C
INTEGRATIVE PSYCHOONCOLOGY
PROGRAM,
RESEARCH & TRAINING
INOVA LIFE WITH CANCER,
INOVA SCHAR CANCER
INSTITUTE
https://tinyurl.com/Inova-Brain-Fog-Study https://tinyurl.com/Inova-Brain-Fog-Study
MY LIFE Matters: TNBC Patient Voices Issue 2022

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