Hey there viewers! Brain tumors come in all shapes and sizes, and so do their symptoms.
The key to a tumor's symptoms really depends on its location. For example,
if you have a tumor near the part of your brain that controls your
arm or your eyesight, your symptoms may include limb weakness or blurry vision.
When you consider that every cell in your brain can form a tumor,
and that your brain controls or interprets information from every
part of your body—the list of possible tumor symptoms can be almost anything imaginable.
Still, some signs and symptoms are more common than others. And in today’s video,
we will tell you what they are. From recurring headaches, communication issues, sickness,
muscle weakness to focal deficit and more, watch till the end to learn about all of them.
Recurring Headaches: Although not always the first feature of a brain tumour, headaches are a
well-known symptom. While headaches can have many familiar causes such as migraine, stress, sleep
loss, stopping certain medication, and weather changes, it’s the first sign of possible issues.
Brain tumour patients tend to have a severe headache in the morning. They worsen with time,
and can become more frequent. The pain is often severe when you exercise,
cough or change the position of your head.
What’s the most common reason for your headaches? Is it heat? Stress?
Or something else? Tell us quickly down below in the comments section.
Seizures: A seizure is a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain.
The nature of seizures can vary depending on the part of the brain that it affects.
Some may be hardly noticeable, while others can be extremely draining. Also commonly known as
convulsions or epilepsy, it’s one of the most common brain tumor symptoms. It is common in 20
to 40% of patients, while a further 20-45% may experience it during the course of the disease.
If the seizures get worse or if they happen more often this could mean the
tumor is becoming more aggressive. There are also different classifications of
seizures based on where in the brain the seizure begins, a person’s level
of awareness during a seizure and whether or not the body moves while going through one.
Communication Issues: A part of your brain is responsible for processing both speech and vision.
However, if a tumor affects their function, it can really mess with the way you communicate.
This is one of the most common symptoms of a brain tumor and can cause: language impairment,
speech difficulties and loss of memory resulting in loss of words and poor recall.
Inability to describe an object, only being able to say a few words,
inability to produce meaningful language and not understanding what others are saying are
some of the other symptoms noted. It can also cause emotional problems leading to depression.
Clumsiness And Numbness:
Are you having trouble with your mobility, getting across the room, dexterity troubles like
getting your key in the lock, or balance? These problems could be connected to a brain tumor.
You also might have difficulty with simple tasks like facial expressions, or even swallowing. You
may also lose feeling either in your face or somewhere else. Clumsiness and numbness often
indicate that the tumor is on the brain stem, the place where the spinal cord and brain meet.
Feeling sick: Nausea can be more extreme in the morning,
or if you suddenly change from sitting down to standing up. If you’re also confused and
sick this could point to increased pressure in your head. In medical terms this is known as
raised intracranial pressure. This increased pressure can be caused by a brain tumour.
Personality changes: This might be the strangest symptom of all,
brain tumours can cause personality changes. It could be from the actual tumor itself or just
the emotional toll of having a brain tumour and everything that follows.
Being aggressive or irritable, confused, depressed and mood swings,
are all common parts of personality changes. Someone with a brain tumour
may also lose their inhibitions and behave inappropriately in public.
Focal Deficit: Focal what?? Focal deficit is when there’s a problem with the nerves, brain or
spinal cord. They typically affect a specific location, such as the left side, right leg,
or ear. This can mean that an arm or leg can go limp, or someone could become unaware of a
part of their body. Swallowing difficulties, poor gag reflex, and frequent choking can also occur.
Muscle Weakness: A tumor that pushes on or moves delicate tissues in the brain can lead
to loss of strength or even paralysis. If you have weakness or numbness in your arms,
legs, or face and it didn’t just fall asleep from sitting in a weird
position and doesn't go away after a few minutes, head to Emergency immediately.
Sleep Problems: We all know we need our beauty sleep, but unfortunately one of the
most severe and common symptoms of a brain tumour is the lack of a good nights sleep.
The decline in cognition and fatigue could be one of the reasons for this.
Brain inflammation might also play a role in not allowing you to get your zz’s.
This usually surfaces with difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep once you finally get
there. It can also mean waking up too early and feeling un-refreshed or tired all day.
Apart from a brain tumour, there can be other reasons for losing sleep.
Solve your sleeping woes by watching this video “10 Life Hacks To Get A Good Night's Sleep”
Now back to Unexpected Brain Tumour Symptoms
Hearing And Vision Problems:
Sometimes, brain tumours can cause hearing loss, impairment or ringing.
It can be gradual or sudden. If the tumor keeps growing you can also experience vertigo, dizziness
and balance issues. In some cases, the pressure from the tumor can cause facial pain or weakness.
If the tumor is in the region affecting vision or the optic nerve, that could mean blurred,
double and foggy vision. It may also lead to partial or total blindness,
color blindness and loss of peripheral vision.
This all sounds really scary, let’s talk about treatment
Surgery: Surgery to remove the tumor is usually the first step. Often,
it’s the only treatment needed for a low-grade brain tumour.
But, if it cannot be removed without damaging brain tissue,
then they will remove the tumour partially to ease symptoms. Removing it can improve
neurological symptoms, provide tissue for diagnosis and help with further treatment.
Radiation Therapy: Radiation therapy uses high energy beams to shrink and destroy tumours.
X-rays, gamma rays, electron beams, and photon beam therapy are common
in radiation therapy. Kind of sounds like a star trek episode.
Radiation therapy may be delivered either externally or internally. In external radiation,
high-intensity beams are delivered at the site of the tumour. With internal therapy,
the radiation source is placed inside the body near the tumour to deliver a
high dose of rays without damaging the surrounding cells. Common side
effects of radiation therapy include fatigue, headaches, memory loss and scalp irritation.
Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to destroy tumour cells, or stop it from growing.
This type of treatment is typically given after surgery or radiation therapy,
particularly if the tumour has come back. Common side
effects of chemotherapy include nausea, vomiting and hair loss.
Targeted therapy: In addition to standard chemotherapy, targeted therapy hits the
tumour’s specific genes, protein, or environment that allows the tumour’s survival. This type of
treatment blocks the growth and spread of tumour cells while limiting the damage to healthy cells.
Not all tumours have the same targets, and some may have more than one. To find the
most effective treatment, tests to identify the genes, proteins, and other factors are required.
Radiosurgery: Radiosurgery is not a form of surgery in the traditional sense. Instead,
it uses multiple beams of radiation to give a highly focused treatment to kill the tumor cells
in a very small area. Each beam of radiation isn't particularly powerful, but the point where all the
beams meet — at the brain tumor — receives a very large dose of radiation to kill it.
There are different types of technology used in radiosurgery to deliver radiation
to treat brain tumors. Radiosurgery is typically done in one treatment,
and in most cases you can go home the same day.
While these symptoms can help detect a brain tumour at an early stage, there are certain
things you can eat and drink that boost brain health. You can learn more about them by:
Watching Brain Boosting Drinks You Need To Know About
Or
Learning about The Best Foods To Boost Your Brain Function And Memory
These 2 videos will definitely help you boost brain health and avoid disease.
So go ahead and watch one or both!
How do you keep your brain healthy? The food you eat?
Maybe you do brain puzzles? Let us know in the comments section below!