Question about Brain Tumours

[Starburst]

It's been about a year since my son (age 18 ) was diagnosed with epilepsy. It is temporal lobe epilepsy. Until now, he has not had an MRI.

I have some concerns about my son. I keep fearing that perhaps he has a brain tumour. A couple of days ago he was dizzy/vomiting without any obvious cause. His personality has changed a lot over the past year, and there have been some other things that are too complicated to get into here...all brain tumour symptoms but not necessarily...anxiety, lack of focus/concentration/logic... I presume many of these symptoms could also be caused by the medications he is taking or by epilepsy itself.

I was just wondering how other people knew or suspected they had a brain tumour before getting an MRI to confirm it? For example, if vomiting is a symptom, would it be something that happens everyday? Or could it be more sporadic, like every couple of weeks? My son's symptoms are sporadic but there also seems to be a trend. It is something I will discuss with his doctor for sure, but I also wanted to hear people's experiences as well.

 

[Nakamova]

Hi Starburst --

Many -- if not all -- of the anti-seizure meds can also potentially affect mood, balance, appetite, attention, cognitive abilities, etc. So, definitely consider that as one possible factor for your son's issues.

I realize you are asking about individual experiences of brain tumor symptoms, to help put your mind at ease, or point you in one direction or another. But given the wide amount of individual variability, I think your best bet is to talk sooner rather than later with the neurologist about the possibility of scheduling the MRI.

 

[stuartbungle]

hello, In 1994 (i was 12) I suffered a brain tumour (believe it was pilocytic astrocytoma) on the top left side, the main symptom I had was headaches, about 5/6 day or some days just wake up with them and have them all day and it made no difference if i took paracetamol, and over time started to detreriorate, started to walk with a limp, hand writing got worse (writing on lined paper i could not write along the line), balance went, remember I got on my bike and I could not ride it cause really wobbly, there may have been other symptoms, but thats all i can remeber. Got it sorted via gp visit, he could see something behind my eyes, so he sent me to the optician, then eye specialist, once saw eye specialist who suspected it, sent me for an mri, and it was confirmed.
hope this helps

 

[Starburst]

Thanks to those who responded. My son had another severe attack of dizziness/nausea today and is currently in a deep sleep. Is dizziness/nausea something that happens sometimes with epilepsy in general, or does it sound like an odd pattern/symptom? If it is from meds, would it be happening all the time or just sporadically like it is happening with my son? I know no one but the doctor can determine what is going on with him, but I am just interested in knowing people's experiences.

 

[Nakamova]

Dizziness and nausea can be simple partial symptoms, which would tend to make them more likely to be sporadic. Keep in mind though that there are a lot of other general health factors (fatigue, hunger, dehydration, etc.) that can play either a primary or secondary role in triggering those symptoms. I think if they were medication-related side effects, they might occur on a more consistent basis, though again, there are many individual factors that can be relevant here: The medication half-life, the size of the dose, how and when it's taken, individual medication history and level of medication-sensitivity. When I started on Lamictal, I had side effects (restless sleep, mild headaches, hair loss) for the first two to three months that eventually went away. Other side effects have persisted, and some, like a particular kind of dizziness, seem to occur primarily when I am transitioning in dosage, either up or down.