Help! I have a symptom I haven't really experienced before, a kind of pressure in my brain, behind my nose/eyes but further back... it's in the area of the brain you can feel when you yawn. I'm worried I have a brain tumor... This newest one has kept me up all night....

I have been experiencing some scary symptoms for several weeks now. I've seen two different doctors, the first one twice a week apart. The first gave me Ativan for managing anxiety. The second has gone along with that original diagnosis and also said that my symptoms could be from allergies, recommending Claritin in the morning and Zantac and Benadryl at night to deal with my sleeping disturbances. In addition, if these didn't work, he gave me Lexapro to deal with anxiety.

On to the symptoms:

It all started with a feeling of dizziness, almost lightheadedness. It wasn't the kind of dizziness that would make me fall; it was maybe more like disorientation.

Anyway, it has progressed. This original symptoms continued when I tried to sleep. I would have a hard time falling asleep and then would wake up several times in the night, sometimes panicked. Also, sometimes as I was falling asleep, I would jerk and wake myself up; I would also be scared because this seemed like something that shouldn't happen. It would take me a long time to get back to sleep when I woke up in the middle of the night.

New symptoms include feeling drowsy during the day, like the feeling one gets when just waking up except for a long time. This was sometimes accompanied by some big amounts of yawning. Also, this drowsiness combined with/caused a kind of brain fog, a feeling of detachment from everything around me that made it hard to focus.

Sometimes it feels like there's pressure in my sinuses, sometimes in the top of my head; sometimes the pressure is on the left or right side of my head, sort of a headache.

Finally, sometimes I shake, sometimes different muscles scattered around my body twitch a little (fasciculations).

I'm worried that this could be a brain tumor, though everyone around me insists it's just anxiety (mixed with allergies?) I'm scared and I don't feel good at all. What should I do?

just to ease your mind a bit here,the chances are much more likely that this is some other thing besides a brain tumor.most brain tumors would present with a more consistant type of headache pain than the symptoms you are actually describing.i think your best bet here at this point would be just to obtain an MRI with contrast and see a good neurologist to have your symptoms much more fully evaluated.this is what i would do in your posistion anyway.but honestly,i really doubt that what your describing would realistically be related to an actual brain tumor.it does appear tho from reading alot of posts on this thread that anytime someone has any "head' symptoms,brain tumor seems to be the first thing they think of.i guess its just a fear of type of thing.thinking the worst case scenerio type thing?

while this could be a sinus thing or some other neuro type issue,i don't think it would actually be what you are fearing most.but nothing is ever certain til you have the area looked at and evaluated.the chances that this is anything else BUT a tumor are much higher thats all.just get that MRI with contrast done and it could show some other abnormality or a nerve issue within your actual c spine too.the c spine and the head are very much intertwined within each other,so it is possible to have a nerve problem within the c spine that could trigger head symptoms.i have that too.just get this looked at more closely and go from there.try not to worry over this too much,your symptoms could indicate so many other less severe issues.please keep me posted on just what you find out,K?just keep a little list of your ongoing symptoms and what you were doing when they set in.this would really help the neuro when you see him or her.take care,Marcia

I always think like that to. I've been having headaches all the time lately and I think its a brain tumor. Most times tumors do present more symptoms than just headaches. Seizures, mental changes, eye problems, stuff like that. What i would do is ask for a CT or MRI. I had a CT done Friday to see what is causing my headaches and most importanty to me to rule out a brain tumor.To ease ur mind ask for a CT or MRI scan.

Ok thank you both for your input. I know for a fact that anxiety is involved, but I wasn't sure what originally started these symptoms. As I said, both doctors seemed to think allergies. This makes me lean towards allergy-related sinus problems. However, my allergies haven't been normal this year... i haven't had a stuffy or runny nose, really. That's why I started looking for other causes. To be honest, though, my sinuses often feel like they're affected. I'm not sure where to go from here, though. Allegra, Claritin and Claritin-D have all failed to remove symptoms. Benadryl also seems to have no effect. I was hoping the pseudoephedrine in Claritin-D would fix these problems, as it was one of the earliest things I tried, but it seemed to make no difference. Also, I was advised at my most recent doctor visit to avoid pseudoephedrine because it could contribute to anxiety and insomnia.

What to do...

C man,are you seeing just your primary doc for this or have you ever actually consulted with an ENT doc?an ear nose and throat doc would probably be able to help you much more if this IS indeed a heavy duty type sinus issue,they just do this stuff everyday and have many more little "tools" up their sleeves to try and help with your types of symptoms.just a thought.but obtaining that MRI,really,it would be the best way to go for now.it would give a much more detailed look inside the sinuses and the brain,and would rule out or in any abnormailities that could be causing your symptoms,thats all.

n9ne,please keep me posted on what you find out too,K? Marcia

I continue to have problems. I saw my GP again today, haven't yet seen an ENT because I'm not sure about going about getting one. He didn't seem too certain of anything but gave me antibiotics for a possible sinus infection.

One of my most worrying stymptoms, which I am experiencing right now, is waking up after being asleep for an hour or two and feeling like my brain has "heaviness"... it's like being tired, but I feel very odd when I try to sleep. I feel kind of detached from my movement, like I'm slowed down and looking at myself through water. It's hard to explain but kind of frightening. I've not found anyone else who has this, perhaps because I'm not sure how to articulate it.

I recently saw my Dad go through a brain tumor. What you're describing is different from what he went through. Here are my 2 cents: First, suspect side effects from medications; they can cause really weird sensations, and taking a few new medications at the same time can really complicate things. Second, anxiety produces really strange sensations too. In Lucinda Bassett's anxiety course, she says to suspect anxiety when you're symptoms are weird. Finally, relieve your mind and get an MRI. Tell your doc you want one, period. This will help your anxiety over the thought of having a brain tumor and rule out the remote possibility that it would be one. They may want to do a cat scan first, whatever, insist on getting the brain tumor definatively ruled out -- get a new doc even. There's no reason to torment over something that you can rule out.

The doc says that if it hasn't cleared up in a week from when I saw him (yesterday), then he'll schedule a CT. He said that he didn't have any reason to suspect the need for CT, and the insurance company needs him to give a reason. I certainly hope that everything clears up, but the unusual and unfamiliar symptoms I have and the time this has lasted (4 or 5 weeks now?) are what have worried me.

My Dad's brain tumor caused him to have loss of balance, visual hallucinations, headaches, confusion of speech, among other things. He did not have brain fog but he did have anxiety. He also had chronic sinusitis, and the brain tumor diagnosis was delayed because his headaches were attributed to that. From what I understand, headaches and loss of balance are classic for brain tumors, although most people who have these symptoms will not have a brain tumor. For myself, I've seen a lot of medical errors in my lifetime. If I'm concerned about something and my doctor doesn't address the issue to my satisfaction, I find another. That said, I really don't think you have a brain tumor, but I sympathize with the torment you're going through. For peace of mind, I would get it ruled out.

My prayers are with you and your family.

As for me, I have headaches, many of which seem to originate from the sinus area but also across the top of my head and the back of my skull. I also have scattered odd muscle twitching. No balance problems per se, but an odd sort of disequilibrium. The physician performed his basic neurological test, whether I could stand with my eyes closed, stand on one food, hold my arms out in front of me, checking my optic nerve, etc. I am on day three of antibiotics for a possible sinus infection, not a lot of noticable improvement just yet.

Chesteadman, I am going through the exact same thing right now. A couple of months ago my ear "popped" and suddenly I felt disconnected, delayed senses, etc. I thought maybe I was having a stroke but a little research let me know that was not the case. For two months now disorientation, fighting panic attacks, weird twitches all over my body. My doctor told me to try Clariton D and recomended me to a ENT doctor sometime next week.

Just so everyone isn't confused, I am chesteadman... it seems I had already created an account on here earlier which my computer automatically logs onto.

I see your doctor also thought it might be allergies. It seems reasonable to me, my symptoms started around the start of allergy season this spring. But the allergy medications to this point haven't worked. I guess at the very latest I'll find out at the end of allergy season :)

Anyway colo, I'd be interested to hear what the ENT has to say. Keep in touch.

Something I've noticed -- I have trouble looking at things. As in... I can see clearly, my vision is neither blurred nor doubled. However, something is off in the way that I focus on things. It's how my vision gets when I'm tired, but lately it hasn't been going away. Perhaps that is at the heart of this matter.

My Dad had vision problems but they were more like hallucinations. He'd see a car or a person that wasn't there -- then they'd disappear. As things progressed, it got worse -- he was seeing all sorts of things that weren't there. But these symptoms only manifested after the tumor was very large. His early symptoms were really just headaches and a slight loss of balance. His doctor blew it off as chronic sinusitis, gave him antibiotics, etc.. I can't help but wonder how different things might have been had he had a correct diagnosis early on. And the day before he had the MRI which finally diagnosed it, the ER sent him home saying he was having "anxiety attacks"! Again, the odds are that you don't have a brain tumor, but a definite diagnosis wouldn't hurt.

I have read that pretty much all brain tumors are initially misdiagnosed, due to their rarity and probably the doctors' wanting to avoid making their patients panic unnecessarily. I've seen 3 different physicians over a period of a month and a half and none seem too concerned. Most recently, last Friday, my doctor wasn't worried but said that he would schedule a brain scan for me. Also, he suggested an eye exam. I guess I will find out soon enough.

Eye exams showed i need a new, stronger prescription of glasses/contacts, also that i have the bumps on the inside of my eyelid caused by allergies (giant papillary conjunctivitis?). I am approved for an MRI but haven't scheduled one yet. Symptoms continue.

Is it possible my symptoms have arisen from a neck problem? Compression of the spine? Bad flow of blood/oxygen to the brain?

I'm wondering if allergies might be responsible for many of your symptoms. I have multiple allergies and chronic sinus problems and it seems like from the neck up, there's always lots of things going on.

Do you have good doctors? I live in an area that would make any medically educated person run for their lives (the doctors are notoriously horrible). Traveling to nearby cities, I am amazed, shocked really, at the difference a good doctor makes.

Have you been given an explanation for the shaking you described in an earlier post?

You sound like a highly sensitive person -- very aware of the sensations and variations in your experience. Sometimes, doctors, rather than making use of a person's keen perceptive abilities, will write them off as a hypochondriac, neurotic, etc.. Elaine Aron, in her classic book on highly sensitive people, talks about the difficulty highly sensitive people often have with the medical establishment.

Again, your symptoms don't sound like anything serious is going on, troublesome as they are. But something is causing them and it is your doctor's job to find out what that is.

I recall reading something about arthritis in the neck causing headaches. Do you have arthritis in your neck? Keep us posted.

I think that the doctors in this area are good. We have never had a complaint with our GP before, though he may lack the expertise needed to help me. His wife had a brain tumor, so he has some personal experience with that. I feel bad even mentioning worries about brain tumors both here and to him, because it seems pretty inconsiderate especially if I'm just a hypochondriac. As you say, I'm very sensitive to changes in my body.

I do indeed have seasonal allergies and I had prescriptions for Zyrtec and then Allegra a few years ago. The doctors have suggested allergies to be the cause but allergy medications have had no noticeable effect. I'm currently using an allergy nasal spray. I also took a 10-day course of antibiotics for a possible sinus infection, and I feel that I've felt a little better. I'm not sure if that's because the antibiotics worked or because I started coming off the Lexapro.

Being a college student, and specifically a student majoring in writing and journalism, I spend a lot of time at the computer. Since these symptoms started, I've spent time at the computer even during the summer. That's why I was thinking that neck problems could be the cause of this.

My MRI is on Friday. I have never spent much time in a hospital before, and I'm kind of apprehensive. What should I expect? Will there be an injection or not?

Yes. When I had an MRI, there was an injection. It's fluid they use so the equipment can see inside you.

Alrighty, injections aren't my fave but I can deal. How long before i can expect to get the results?

I had my MRI on Friday, with and without contrast. It is now Tuesday. Upon calling the doctor's office, I was informed that the radiologist wanted to check with another radiologist about something before getting back to me. This, I must admit, does not make me feel good. Also, since I've had a long time to worry about the MRI, I spent some time looking at the films. I've noticed what look like abnormal white masses in what I believe to be my sinuses, one on the left side in the maxillary sinus, and one further back in my head, which may be another sinus. I'm obviously not trained to read MRI films, but this scares the crap out of me.

The doctor says the radiologists who read my MRIs are unsure of what exactly I have. Apparently, it is a 3cm mass. I was given no specifics as to where. Doctor says there is no mass effect. From looking at the MRI films myself, I thought I saw something in the sinus area or so, but I'm not expert. Looking now for a neurosurgeon to more accurately diagnose me.

I wish you luck with your results. Don't get too worried, they seem to find abnormalities a lot in head scans. My friend had one, she had it biopsied and it was a benign calcium deposit or something.
I am still experiencing the same symptoms as you, even after going to the ENS doctor(said it was probably allergies) and being diagnosed with anxiety by my general practitioner. I check your thread regularly.

Thanks for your support, colo. I wish you health as well. If you haven't had an MRI already, maybe you should... it seems that mine was delayed much longer than it should've been.

I hope you're right about it being nothing serious. I wish they would've told me where it was, at least. I feel like i'm left out of the loop, and it's my own health.

Hello,
forgive as I am new to this....Does anyone have info on being diagnosed with a Brain Aneurysm....I am terrifed and info would help..


Britty

Please let me know how this turns out! I'll be praying for you! Best of luck!

Digitalbooty, thanks!

And brittylyn, you might have more success if you started a new thread. I unfortunately know very little about brain aneurysms.

Well, the suspicious spot on the MRI in the bone of my skull base, near the center (the clivus?). More scans need to be done to determine the true nature of the spot.

As a question... can increased ICP present with a symptom of actually feeling like pressure in the head? Or does it have to be pain (headache)?

I'm still wondering about this, anyone who has experienced this, please let me know... I have a feeling of pressure in my head. Is this just a presentation of a headache? Maybe I don't know what a headache is.

Hello,

many people suffer from headache or head pressure. There are a lot of possible things, which can cause symptoms like this. It doesn't make sense to speculate on the internet.

Moreover ICP is very rare in men.

What is important, is to find out what the mass is.


regards

Gerrit from Germany ;)

Read up on a condition known as sinus thrombosis, it is a mass, most often a blood clot in the sinus veins, there are multiple types, im not any kind of medical professional, just a hypochondriac with a lot of time to read.

http://www.emedicine.com/radio/topic105.htm

also look into cerebral venous thrombosis

let me know if any of your findings help narrow down what you think you may have, i alo am having strange head pains and am going in to see the doctor tomorrow.

Hey all. Just checking in. I'm still kicking, I don't know if I ever mentioned it on this thread but when I posted that there was a mass in the clival region of my skull base, I had been told that it could be a chordoma. That put me through two weeks or so of hell. The new MRI and CT ordered by my neurosurgeon at UPMC gave him enough information to identify the mass as fibrous dysplasia. I will be having follow up scans in November to ensure that the mass isn't changing, which doesn't especially ease my mind. I still have the symptoms I mentioned at the beginning of this thread. I have been to an otoneurologist, who checked my hearing and balance... everything was normal there, he seemed to think my symptoms were psychosomatic and gave me a prescription for Klonopin. He could be right. Anyway, a few weeks later I went to see a sinus doctor... he looked at my MRIs, put an endoscope into my sinuses and told me I should have a sinus CT and a biopsy of the mass he saw in my maxillary sinus. I have however declined to get either the CT or the biopsy. I go back to my college, 3 hours away, tomorrow... there wasn't time for any more hospital visits at home. I'll just go off the recommendation of at least two radiologists and a neurosurgeon who all said that the sinus problem was a retention cyst, asymptomatic and fairly common. I don't believe it's causing my problems, I hate to leave it unchecked but I balk at the idea of surgery and it simply wouldn't work with my schedule.

That's it for now. I always appreciate suggestions and advice about feeling better; my mind is more at ease than it has been since this started, but I still feel unhealthy and I'd like to go back to my old self.

A repeat of my symptoms, most of which are on and off:

- Extreme fatigue feeling in my lower neck, especially when I wake up... this is new since I first posted
- A feeling of pressure on the bridge of my nose and sometimes on the inside top of my skull
- Feeling dazed, eyes glaze over when looking at things
- Muscle fasciculations, occasional foot or hand twitches
- Lump feeling in throat, especially in the area below Adam's apple; also feels like something behind my throat sometimes

Still no idea what these could be. I'm just dumbfounded this even happened to me.

I doubt we're crazy, lots of people have described these symptoms or similar to them. Please keep me updated on how the ENT visit goes, since you seem to have a sinus finding very similar to mine... I wish you luck :)

Do CT scans detect brain tumors?

I have had two craniotomies for brain tumors in the past 10 years.
My last one was 1-1/2 years ago. Before my 1st tumor was diagnosed I had a dull headache most of the day...but who would'nt with two little ones and a full time job! One morning I woke up with a splitting headache, my stomach hurt and I was nauseated. I work at a surgery center and one of the doc's gave me some meds to mellow out my stomach. I ended up going home..my neck was sore and stiff. I was so sensitive to light, and could not stop vomiting. I headed to Urgent Care. The doc checked me out gave me some pain meds and sent me home with the diagnosis of migranes. The meds were not helping..thankfully, my primary doc was able to see me. She took a look at my pupils..which one was dialated and sent me for a CT. I had a tumor the size of a walnut in my sagittal sinus. I went in for surgery the next day. The most important bit of advice I can pass on to you: You know your body better then anyone else. Go to a physician to check out your symptoms...then get a second opinion. If I had not done that...I would not be here today.

To n9ne: I think CT scans are better at looking at bone. I've heard MRI is the preferred method of imaging for tissue.

dvweez, i'm glad to hear you caught it in time. I have indeed visited many doctors. I'm fairly confident there is no brain tumor, due to 2 head MRIs as well as a CT and NUMEROUS neurological tests. I'm actually leaning towards allergies/anxiety as my problem. As much as I hate to admit that my symptoms are somewhat psychosomatic, I can think of no other explanation for why Klonopin seems to make me feel better.

I had a crainiotomy for a brain tumor called a meningioma 5 yrs ago. I was lucky my doctor found it because I had virtually no symptoms other than a vague pressure over my sinuses. It was very slow growing and didnt get noticed until it got larger. I recommend that anyone that has concerns get a mri mainly to put their minds at ease if nothing else.