"chemo brain"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 00:09:20 -0500, Mullins, Bill wrote:

>My father recently started chemotherapy.  In some of the free
>literature they gave him, a mental fogginess called "chemo brain" was
>mentioned (oddly enough, this condition was in a flyer for medicine
>designed to combat "chemo brain"  . . . )
>
>chemo brain is not in the OED, but gets over 20,000 Google hits.
>
>"Support and humor help most women endure breast cancer," by Torri
>Minton, California | Placerville | Mountain Democrat | 1991-11-01,
>p. xx col 2.
>"I often wanted to record the meetings, but my chemo-brain wouldn't
>allow me to be that organized."

Slightly earlier on Nexis/Factiva...

-----
San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 25, 1991, p. B3
In the groups, the women also learn about such things as "chemo-brain."
Chemotherapy so disorganizes your mind, they say, that it's amazing they
can even remember the jokes: "Who has this uncontrollable urge to get
lymphoma? ... A lymphomaniac."
Cancer humor is a very freeing experience, says Martin, who lost both
breasts. "You don't care what anybody thinks anymore. It's too bad you
have to have cancer to learn that lesson. I often wanted to record the
meetings, but my chemo-brain wouldn't allow me to be that organized."
-----

Other names for the condition are "chemo-fog", "chemo-head", and
"chemonesia".


--Ben Zimmer