| Help! Frightening symptoms, myoclonus? fear GBM
I have a deathly fear of GBM - glioblastoma multiforme, a Grade IV brain tumor with a horrible prognosis. Now I'm worried that I have it. After waking up from a brief nap, I experienced symptoms that I would describe as stimulus-sensitive hypnopompic negative focal (?) myoclonus. I was reaching for my ringing cell phone with my right arm; however, before I could grasp it, my arm felt as though it was falling limp. This happened twice again in immediate succession. (I didn't experience any other neurological symptoms that I would call abnormal in a hypnopompic state.) No residual symptoms presented. I am extremely worried since I have never experienced this type of symptom to this degree in the past.
I've been having what I believed to be tension headaches on and off during the past couple months. (These usually occur after I bend my neck forward for a long time - several hours...) However. I recently read that the most common presenting symptoms of GBM are headaches indistinguishable from tension headaches and seizures.
I went to the doctor just recently due to a vertigo spell that lasted several days, and no papilledema was found. A neurological examination revealed no deficits. Please help! Is myoclonus of this magnitude not abnormal in a hypnopompic state? Is this a seizure? Is there any way to slow the growth of GBM? Other people are responsible for my health, and I'm worried that they won't believe me if I tell them my symptoms. And I don't want them to pay unnecessarily for expensive CT or MRI tests.
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