Palbociclib and Letrozole

sondaniel

Hello. My wife of 77 years has been taking these two drugs for 5.5 years. They have stopped the Cancer returning. Over the last 6/9 months she has developed ‘brain fog’ type symptoms and short term memory loss. Neither are age related. I have discovered that long term use of Letrozole can impair cognitive function and I was wondering if anyone else has experienced similar side effects and what if any action or steps were taken to help.

Thank you

jhl

Hello,

My heart goes out to you in trying to determine if her medications are contributing. You mentioned she is your wife of 77 years so I am guessing she must be close to 90 or so. What makes you feel this would not be related to normal aging? What do her doctors say?

sondaniel

We are waiting for an appointment at the lLocal Authority Memory Service. She has had an assessment and a recent brain MRI scan. Hopefully the appointment will be soon to discuss the findings. Her age could be a factor….

moderators

Hi @sondaniel,

We're just checking in with you to see if you've been to the appointment yet and what they had to say? While yes, age could be a factor for your wife's cognitive decline, breast cancer treatments can also be a contributing factor. We hope things are getting a little better for you and her.

Here's some information you may find helpful:

https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment-side-effects/chemo-brain

https://www.breastcancer.org/podcast/chemobrain-update

Sending hugs, and please update us when you can on how you're both doing!

—The Mods

sondaniel

Thanks for the message. We’ve had a session with Oncology who, to cut a long story short, don’t think my wife’s cognitive symptoms are related to her medication. As they feel these symptoms would have become more evident sooner rather than after 5 years of medication ! We are not convinced.
We have our appointment with a psychiatrist from Bradford Memory service on Tuesday next week to discuss the findings of Lynda’s cognitive assessment and her brain MRI scan. Let’s see what they have to say….we have another Oncology appointment on the 20th of this month. Interestingly, since our last meeting with Oncology 10 days ago they asked Lynda to do a thyroid blood test. I’ll be ringing for the results before we see the Memory Service chap.

It’s all go but worrying.

Regards Jim

tougholdcrow

@sondaniel It's difficult to watch memory loss in a loved one. It can be a lot of things. For example, my husband discovered through blood testing that he has a lingering case of lyme disease, which can cause memory loss. I hope you get answers soon.