A friend of mine is experiencing some very serious brain symptoms lately. She has a tumor in her thyroid, and I was suspecting that these symptoms were a result of a severe thyroid problem, but they appear more severe.

Some of the symptoms include:
Stabbing eye pain coming from the back of the eye. Spot on the eye.
Brain fog.
Can not remember things often times.
Very severe migraine-type headaches.
Has to focus very hard and concentrate to do a lot of things.
Will attempt to do something, but end up doing something else entirely and isn't sure why.
Slow speech, and unable to speak sometimes.
Can answer questions but it takes awhile for her to focus and think of the answer. Even simple questions.
Unable to write, walk, etc. Loses coordination and control of body.
Can not read out loud or translate visual images into verbal. (ie. remembers a sign name and can see it in her mind but can't tell me the name)
Sometimes legs just give out.
Can not make eye contact with someone.
Body just doesn't do what she's telling it to do.
Nausea and vomitting.
Chest pain, neck pain, ear pain (likely neck and ear pain are result of the thyroid tumor...)
Very cold sensitive.

MOST SYMPTOMS ARE CYLCICAL. By that I mean they come and go. Sometimes she is nearly fine and able to "fight it off" as she describes. Can walk and talk and function nearly normal although she says there is still a headache nonstop, and she feels weird. The symptoms come and go from hour to hour...sometimes bad for a few hours, then it will clear up, etc.

There are other symptoms, but those are the major ones. Essentially, she is having severe problems with her head. She complains of very weird feelings in her head, and often times a burning sensation in her head as well. She explains that something is blocking her from doing things when her head gets in the way. She uses the phrase "I dont know" a lot and gets aggrivated easily.

She's been to the ER and her CT scan and MRI have come up clean. There were some abnormalities reported, and I believe a possibility of some type of hemorrhage, but none of the doctors mentioned that to her really. She obtained the copy of her CT scan and read that herself.

My question is....if she has a brain tumor of some kind is it possible that her CT and MRI scan missed it? Is it possible that the scans missed it while her symptoms are this severe? Do those afflicted with a brain tumor have symptoms that come and go this fast (sometimes shes OK and can communicate, but a few hours later it will get bad again for awhile)?

Also, has anyone else had similar symptoms or heard of similar stories? Her doctor is setting her up with an appointment to hook her up to some machine where they put stickers on her head and electricically hook her up to read her brain pulses or something like that. I'm not familiar with it or its exact function, but I'm sure others here are. If anyone can tell me the name of that procedure I'd appreciate it. The doctors are taking their sweet time in figuring out what's wrong with her, and don't seem very concerned so I am trying to figure out if she should go to several doctors individually and get more CT and MRI scans or what. Basically, I'm just trying to see if anyone has any insight, help, knowledge, familiar stories, etc that can open my eyes to what may be wrong with her. Hope someone can help!

If there were abnormalities reported in her CT or MRI,well,they did not come up clean,there was something that was picked up on.if she has these reports could you please possibly write here just what the summarys consisted of and exactly what was ment by "hemorrhage"? this may be part of the problem.also,some MRIs wont always pick up everything or even some vascular malformations such as aneurysm or AVMs(arteriovenous malformation).she ahould have an MRA this articular scan only highlights the actual arterial structures within the brain itself,without the soft tissue structures that usually will show on an MRI.inother words,there would be nothing in the way or blocking a possible view of an aneurysm or some other malformation.her symptoms do really sound rather ominous and should be further evaluated.does she normally get migrane headaches?i am only asking as some of the symptoms really do seem to correlate with those.

i have been getting migranes for years and have had some where i could look at something,read it totally,but i could not actually verbalize what it said to someone else,or actually repeat what i was reading at all.it was like it just wouldn't come out of my mouth.very very scarey one that was thats for sure.

but you need to look into the bleed that is mentioned and just exactly what that was all about and most defitinelt obtain that MRA.my aneurysm did NOT show up on my MRI at all,only the MRA.mine was at a bend in the artery and very close to a junction with another artery so it was much much harder to detect.not til the MRA was done which removed the other crap from the picture did it show itself.all the MRA films look like is a bunch of various sized squiggles.just the arterys themselves.this just would let her know one way or the other with pretty good certainty whether or not her arterys may have formed something that shouldn't be there.

i can tell you from my personal experience,the only real symptoms of my aneurysm even being there were more just plain strange head crap.no real headaches,just ahot flash up the backof my neck from time to time,and other odd stuff that would pop into my head from time to time,but honestly,nothing like i would have expected with having an aneurysm.

she HAS to make sure to gather up ALL and any medical reports,lab reports ER visit reports and all docs clinic notes andf go thru all of this stuff and keep obtaining any new stuff.she should also be seeing a good neurosurgeon who can help her make much more sense out of everything she is going thru here as far as symptoms and combined with all her reports.believe me,her reports,if they stated something about a hemorrhage,were not normal and definitely not clear by any means.she needs to know where the bleed came from.iof she was not told by the ER doc as to the reason,this doc was very much negligent by not informing her completely about a major medical finding inside her brain.good luck and make sure she gets that MRA.it is really really important in her case.please keep me posted on how things go.Marcia

I appreciate the help a lot! I am out of state and unable to be at her side very often so it is difficult for me to get information, but I agree with the specifics needing to be found. It's difficult though to get her to read it all to me many times.

The CT scan mentioned something about cisterns and sulci being abnormal for her age with evidence of an acute something hemorrhage. Those were reports from the ER scans, and when she was referred to another doctor he has the reports but didn't seem too concerned about the report when talking with her. I'll find out details and try to maintain a copy though.

She has had many headaches and stuff in the past and 4-5 years ago saw several doctors, but apparently they couldn't come up with any reason. Then lately these serious pains and symptoms began.

Did you get your headaches throughout the day? Some lasting an hour or so, some less, and some much longer? I'm most concerned about a brain tumor, but I am hoping that since the CT and MRI scans from the emergency room came up clear she will be in the clear with such severe symptoms. However, I'm starting to wonder lately if they just missed it and she should insist another MRI and CT scan be done with a neurologist looking at it (though I assume the neurologist from the ER was the one who looked at it the first time?).

As for gathering the information, I'm going to suggest that, but it's really difficult for her to do so with her symptoms sometimes. Can she obtain physical copies of her MRI and CT (not just the write-up results?) from the hospital if she goes in and asks? And can she obtain all doctor notes just by asking? I've never been through serious health problems so I'm not sure of the protocol with a lot of doctors and hospitals.

You might want to recommend a opthamologist. I had some odd symptoms
with no answers for years and all it took was to get my eyes dialated and examined by a optomotrist to inform me I should see a specialist because she can see pressure build up behind my optic nerves which is fluid on the brain.