Has anyone had stuttering as a side effect of platinum based chemo?

[cari559]

My mom began stuttering after she completed platinum based-chemo. She's never had a speech impediment prior to this. Has anyone experienced this? If so, what was done to regain normal speech? She's seen a neurologist, had a mri of her brain done, along with blood work. Nothing is popping up out of the ordinary. She's going to UCSF soon to someone there and will start speech therapy, but wanted to reach out and see what anyone else has experienced.

[BetsyL]

I don’t stutter, but I have a hard time finding my words. I spend a lot of time looking like a deer in headlights while I try to remember the right words. I can see how this could turn into a stutter. My care team and I talked about speech therapy, but decided against it. I have a friend who is a speech pathologist and she also said it could be a good tool to deal with chemo brain.

If she’s nervous or stressed about it, meditation might help. I was told that trying too hard makes my issue worse! That might be the same with stuttering.

I wish you and your mom the best!

Stay strong!

[Lobster2]

I have had carboplatin for 2 different rounds of treatment. When I was on it 18 weeks I suffered from terrible chemo-brain but it eventually went away (took a few months). It sounds like your mom's chemo-brain is resulting in the stuttering. It should improve over time. What did her oncologist say about the stuttering?

[cari559 in reply to Lobster2]

No one knows where this is stemming from. Everyone is kinda baffled. The oncologist seems to think it doesn't have anything to do with chemo, but we read studies that show there could be a correlation with platinum-based chemo, although it was a rare side-effect. Then again, we had 4 doctors that were certain she hadn't gone into remission, just to find out, the chemo caused her liver to go into cirrhosis and was causing her issues, which were similar to those of the cancer. Long story short, they don't know everything and I have to keep challenging them. I will continue to do so with this new issue.

[BetsyL in reply to cari559]

It’s chemo brain. Listen to those of us who live it, not those who treat it! 😉

[Lou53]

I have had side effects from the anti nausea meds including extreme confusion and inability to string a sentence together, tremor and inability to walk. This came pretty quickly after infusion. The team have managed to isolate the drug that was causing this and removed it from the mix. They have linked my ' unusual' side effects to the fact I have suffered from migraine (which is a neurological condition) all my life. We all respond differently and some side effects are quite distressing. I hope the team are able to work with you and your mum to come up with a solution and eliminate those drugs which are causing this. It may not be the chemo and 'chemo brain', it may be the additional drugs given for side effects. I am much better now with the adjustments that have been made. Just awake too much on steroids!

Good luck to you and your mum,

Louise

[TeriDavisNewman]

Chemo causes brain damage. It's horrendously toxic and damages your brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, bowel, bone marrow and lymphatic system. It's like burning down your house to kill some termites. I'm 3 years post diagnosis (BRCA1+ high-grade serous carcinoma) no chemo no radiation. It was unacceptably toxic to me and I refused it. They told me I'd die in 6 months without chemo. That was 3 years ago.

[quan2 in reply to TeriDavisNewman]

Hope you are ok now. Take care

[LillyFlower7]

I gained a stutter alongside difficulty getting what I am thinking from my brain to my mouth along with balance issues and brain fog.

My chemo was FEC not platinium. Not constant and worse if tired or stressed. MRI also clear. The Dr's seem to think not a chemo side effect but never had before so just left me feeling like a freak.

I reduced then stopped the chemo back in November as would like some brain left and is now much better but not gone. Did your mom's speech return to normal?

[Eva_E]

I did, this week.I just started stuttering and it lasted about 2 hours.

My second chemo treatment was 11 days before that happened.

Stroke test, MRI, cat scan and everything else came back negative and good.