Thinking and memory – Medicine21™

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Hormone therapy can cause different side effects. This includes problems with concentration, thinking and memory.

Can hormone therapy for prostate cancer affect your memory?

Yes, some people notice changes to how they think and remember after hormone therapy for prostate cancer.

How long will I have memory changes?

The changes are usually subtle and get better after treatment for most people.

What helps with memory changes?

It can help to keep a diary and write down everything you need to do each day.

Some cancer treatments can lower the levels of sex hormones in the body. The sex hormones are oestrogen and progesterone in women, and testosterone in men. The cancer treatments include hormone therapy for prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer needs testosterone to grow. Hormonal therapy aims to:

stop the testicles from making testosterone
stop testosterone from reaching cancer cells

How hormone therapy affects thinking and memory

Memory and the way we process information are called cognition. Cognitive ability describes how well you can remember and concentrate. This includes how you manage to do more than one task at the same time.

Some people notice changes in how they think and remember after hormone treatment for prostate cancer. It may not affect you every day. You may forget a word during a sentence or struggle to remember a shopping list.

Doctors call this mild cognitive impairment. You may hear it described as ‘chemo brain’, or a general ‘fogginess’. It doesn’t only happen after chemotherapy. It can also be a side effect of hormone therapy.

For many people, the changes are very subtle and get better after treatment.

Researchers are still trying to find out more about how hormone treatment affects memory.

Tips to help with changes to thinking and memory

There are things that you can do that may help you cope better with these changes:

Keep a diary or calendar to help you remember what you need to do each day.
Write lists of jobs to do, things to buy or where you keep things you use every day.
Use post-it notes to remind you to do tasks.
Write down people’s names with a description to remember them.
Repeat information back to people to check understanding.
Keep your mind active, you could try crosswords, sudoku or puzzles.
Avoid trying to do too many things at the same time.
Aim to get a good night’s sleep and rest in the day when you need to. Try to avoid becoming overtired.
Try to exercise each day if possible, this can help you to sleep and lift your mood.