Please help me. Please! (about brain tumor possibility) - Brain Tumors Message Board

RM205 · 03-01-2004, 02:41 PM

Hello, thanks for reading. First, I should tell you my symptoms: Almost every single day, I have what is best described as a very, very mild, numbing headache...hardly noticable, but there. an uncomfortable pressure in my head, not really in one particular spot, kind of just all over. Sometimes I will go to bed at night feeling fine, and wake up with a pounding headache the next day, and it will last all day regardless of what meds I take (the meds will kill the pain but the pressure feeling inside my head is ever present). This same pressure I allways feel in my head sometimes intensifies when I stand up suddenly...and will throb like a heartbeat. My doctor said that I should get a scan to make sure, but I don't have insurance and have put it off for over a year now. If I lived in Canada i would have allready had a scan. So does this sound like I might have a tumor?? Also can someone suggest a way for a low-income person to get a scan? it feels humiliating to ask this, but its important. Will my local public hospital be able to get me one at a compassionate price? Do I REALLY need to get one anyway? Thanks for your help.

PS- i also forgot to mention that every now and then I will become very dizzy when I lie down on my back or side (any horizontal position). this isn't too often, but will last anywhere from 24-72 hours.

butterflytrans · 03-01-2004, 03:09 PM

There is one thing in your history that makes it VERY VERY unlikely that you have a brain tumour. I hope this makes you feel better. First of all, though brain tumours can be asymptomatic, a vast majority of them have some type of symptom. If it's a headache, it's a low grumbling headache which slowly gets worse and worse. There are other symptoms too, none of which you've mentioned. However, the most important part of your story is the fact that you said that it has been over a year. The most common malignant brain tumour (which also happens to be the most aggressive one) is glioblastoma multiforme and it is very fast growing and can kill within months. The fact that you're still alive and kicking today is a good indication that it's unlikely that you have a brain tumour.

PLUS, if it was, say, a more slow growing tumour that has been there for over a year, by now, there would be more symptoms than just those that you describe. (I won't name what the other symptoms are so as not to bias you or cause anxiety).

I think what you DO need to do is get your headaches characterized and get those treated.

SamQKitty · 03-01-2004, 07:25 PM

The fact that you mentioned sometimes going to bed feeling fine, but waking with a headache, leads me to wonder...do you drink much caffeine (coffee, tea or cola)? Do you take meds for headaches that include caffeine (such as caffergot or fiorinal)? The reason I ask is that it's possible you've developed something called "rebound headache." This occurs when you ingest caffeine constantly. Caffeine shrinks the small blood vessels in the brain. Then, when you go for a while without it (such as during a night's sleep), the blood vessels swell up again to even more than normal size, and they press on nerves, which causes the headache.

The way to stop this cycle is to not have any caffeine, NONE, for a week or two. You might need to take acetominophen to help deal with the headache for that period of time, but eventually the headache will go away and will not come back! Then, you just have to be very careful to limit your caffeine intake in the future...no more than 1 cup a day, if that. If you've got rebound headaches, this will get rid of them for good.

Ruth

RM205 · 03-01-2004, 07:51 PM

thank you two for your replies. SamQKitty: it is funny you should mention the Caffeine, because I am quite the coca cola drinker, usually 2 or 3 cans per day. wow i didn't realize it but this could be it. i am not drinking any more Coke for 3 weeks and i'm going to see what happens. I'm still quite worried though, especially I've drank caffeine all my life and only recently this has started. One thing I'd like to mention is that, about a year ago, I did go to the doctor and he got me x-rays where i was standing up and i believe they targeted my chest area because I was initially complaining of a tight chest along with my headaches...he also suggested a scan, I believe an MRI, but I could not do it because of the cost. Do you know if those x-rays would have checked my head as well as my chest? He said the x-rays showed no cancer. I would still like to get that scan to err on the side of caution, and would like to find a way that I could get one without paying hundreds or thousands of dollars which me or my family simply do not have. My grandfather is currently dying of lung/heart cancer and I would not like to join him anytime soon being only 27 years old. One final thing, I know that I probably sound like a 'hypochondriac (sp?)' with my post, but I assure you I've allways been the type to avoid the doc. Thanks again for the replies. and God Bless.

jaydees · 03-01-2004, 08:48 PM

An "all over " headache can be a blockage in the eustachian tubes from the throat to the inner ear. They regulate and equalize the pressure on the inside of the ear drum. Infection can cause a swelling that blocks them. This causes headache and sometimes dizziness since the inner ear is the location of our sense of balance organs.

I had this the last time I had influenza and what you describe is very similar.

I would agree that after a year, if it were a tumour then your symtoms would have gotten worse.

A chest X-ray would not show any part of your head. X-rays are not completely harmless and therefore are targeted at the area the doctor wants to examine.

An MRI might be what the doctor was talking about or it might have been a CAT scan.

You might try a free clinic and simply ask about eustachian tube infections just to get that out of the way.

Also, my wife gets a headache if she doesn't have a cup of coffee by 9:00am. With any luck stopping the intake of caffeine will cure you. My wife doesn't want to give up on her coffee.