omega iii
Omega 3 Fatty Acids Essential for Heart, Brain Health





Short term memory problems after Brain Cancer Treatments can you help?

TUMOR: anaplastic olligo astrocitoma III…
TREATMENTS: 2 craniotomies, 7 weeks of radiation, and 1 year (oral) chemo.
Now after 3 years of all the treatments, my husband is having a lot of short-term memory issues and cognitive problems…and it looks like is getting worst. Is there anything that he could take to help with these problems? He takes omega 3 but is not helping that much… A friend told me that taking 400 mg Magnesium a day might help… However, I am not sure if that would make the cancer cells to reoccur faster.
Please help!

I have several comments about your husband.

First, I’m not a doctor. I’m the mother of a 13-year old boy who was diagnosed at the age of 9 with a supratentorial PNET and who has had radiation to his whole brain and spine, followed by 4 stem cell transplants.

I also have a niece who passed away from an inoperable anaplastic astrocytoma on her brainstem at the age of 4.

So as a concerned mother I do a lot of reading.

The first thing is, has your husband had an MRA to look at the blood vessels in his brain? I don’t know where his tumor was, but my personal belief is that most of the cognitive deterioration that kids and others experience after radiation is due to radiation-induced hardening of the arteries and consequently, decreased blood flow to those areas of the brain. If this is the cause, supplements won’t help, however there are surgeries that can improve blood flow to the affected areas.

http://radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=angiomr

Also after radiation, there are white matter changes in many people, and these white matter changes can be indicative of cognitive problems. A functional MRI is usually used to monitor white matter changes.

So if your husband hasn’t had these tests, I’d ask your doctor about them, maybe get another opinion elsewhere.

Ruling out the blood vessel changes, in terms of supplements, I’d suggest gingko biloboa if you haven’t already tried that.

There are also two drug routes you can go, both of these drugs have been demonstrated to help with cognition and fatigue in brain tumor patients. The drugs are methylphenidate (Ritalin/Concerta) and donepezil (Aricept).

I have always been against what I believe is the over-prescription of stimulants for children with ADD, but post-treatment my son is now taking concerta with measurably positive results, it’s a way to give him a boost in an area where he’s suffering treatment-related deficits.

Here are a couple of articles about donepezil (Aricept) and methylphenidate (ritalin / Concerta):

http://jco.ascopubs.org/cgi/content/full/24/9/1415

http://jco.ascopubs.org/cgi/content/abstract/16/7/2522

Lastly, I’d like to refer you to an online group that deals specifically with the use of supplements for brain tumors:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/btsupplements

I wish you the best.

Easy Solution for a Complex Problem

Patients’ complaints of burning, dry and red eyes are often passed off as either nothing significant or a side bar of dry eyes. Many eye doctors simply recommend artificial tears and hope for the best. When these same individuals return with contact lens discomfort and related symptoms, they are more difficult to deal with.

While dry eyes are in many cases the etiology of the symptoms, the cure is more complex. The underlying reason for the dry eye condition must be determined in order to fully correct the problem. An often overlooked cause is Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD). The Meibomian gland is responsible for secreting a very important component of the human tear, the oil component. Oil protects the tears from immediately evaporating. Without this important component, the tears would evaporate immediately, and the eye would be painfully dry. Therefore, in order to relieve an individual’s symptoms and, in some cases increase contact lens comfort and wear, this lid condition must be remediated.

The first step is to clean off the lids. This is best done by aggressive lid hygiene using diluted baby shampoo and a Q tip to perform lids scrubs on a regular basis. This should be followed by warm compresses and lid massage to express collected and trapped mucous and debris in the glands. Following the lids scrubs Azasite, a prescription medication, should be instilled as this new antibiotic performs two functions. The first is bactericidal and the second is anti-inflammatory. It rehabilitates the lid margins. Additionally, omega III supplements should be taken as they will increase tear production. The patient must be told that this effect will take 2-3 months to begin and they must take the omega III regularly. Artificial tears should also be used on a regular basis as these will bridge the gap until the other therapies take hold. Finally, Restasis can be prescribed in certain cases to further increase the tear production. As with other medications, proper instructions must be given.

Avoiding contact lens wear during the initial phases of this therapy is recommended and can be modified on case by case basis. Of course, proper lens fit, hygiene and wearing schedules are a must.

Since MGD is a chronic condition, regular follow ups are recommended and regimen modification may occur.