Brain tumour fear has taken over my life.

[Allochka]

Hi,
had all your symptoms, all of them (pulsatile tinnitus, twitching, face tingling, persistent headaches) and more. In addition to yours I have auras and uneven pupils, like other posters here, and vertigo. All these symptoms do not point to brain tumor. They point straight to anxiety, probably with combination with some benign minor health issues!

[Jase.]

I'm seeing my GP (my regular who is lovely) tomorrow so we'll see what she says.

Still having the daily headaches. They're really all over the place. Sometimes I'll wake up with them, other days I won't. Today my dull headache started gradually over the course of the afternoon. Yesterday it started last night.

I need to get on top of things. I've been down many rabbit holes with my health anxiety over the years, but this one is pretty brutal. I'm buried right down at the bottom and it's a struggle trying to crawl my way out of it.

[Jase.]

Just got back home from my appointment. Once again, my GP was just lovely. She really is an absolute God send. She sat and talked with me for half an hour and I listed every symptom I had and she explained in detail why a brain tumour wouldn't be causing them. She did say that she'd refer me since I'd been having persistant headaches but she wouldn't be doing it from a clinical standpoint; it would purely be to put my mind at rest because she doesn't believe I have a brain tumour. She informed me she has 3,500 patients and only 2 of them have brain tumours.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; doctors like her are worth their weight in gold.

I'm seeing her in a couple of weeks so she told me to think on the scan and if I decide to go with it, she'll get me referred, but if not, that's fine too. I'm torn. If I have a clear scan, the relief would be out of this world. What scares me is the waiting around and the terrifying wait for results; I know what that will do to me. Got some thinking to do.

[Sparkling_Fairy]

I think if your GP can give you a reason for each symptom why it's not caused by a brain tumour, I'd feel pretty confident that it isn't one.
However if you still believe that it is, I would say get the scan.
Yes, the wait for the procedure and the wait for the results will be terrifying, but short term. Then you'll have relief. If you don't get it, you'll have anxiety over this for probably months to come

[Jase.]

Yes, the wait for the procedure and the wait for the results will be terrifying, but short term. Then you'll have relief. If you don't get it, you'll have anxiety over this for probably months to come

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I'm 95% sure I'll ask to be referred for the scan.

Thanks again to anyone commenting and offering kind words and support. It means a lot.

[Jase.]

So I've found a lump on the top of my head. No idea if it's linked to the headaches. It's not painful. Back to see my doctor again next Friday.

It's never-ending.

[ckelley116]

Fear of a brain tumor is what kicked off my HA and it was not the place to start. I really would've preferred easing myself into it. I went through all the symptoms - dizziness, vision problems, light-headedness, tingling, perceived weakness and shaking - and it turned out to be a combination of allergies and anxiety. The brain tumor hole is a really difficult hole to climb out of, too, so I can totally sympathize.

You don't say that this is what you're thinking, but I know well how irrational we can be when in the depths of an HA episode, so I'm just going to say it - you won't be able to feel a brain tumor with your fingers. It might be a bump you've had all your life (scalps/skulls can have bumps) but never noticed until now, when you're hyper-fixated on the area. It's also probably not the cause of your headaches, unless you banged your head at some point in the recent past.

You know what does cause headaches, especially at the top of the head? Anxiety. The contracting of muscles, which we often don't even realize we're doing, can really hurt after we've been doing it for a while.

You sound like you have a great doctor, and I hope with her help you can pull yourself out of this

[Jase.]

Fear of a brain tumor is what kicked off my HA and it was not the place to start. I really would've preferred easing myself into it. I went through all the symptoms - dizziness, vision problems, light-headedness, tingling, perceived weakness and shaking - and it turned out to be a combination of allergies and anxiety. The brain tumor hole is a really difficult hole to climb out of, too, so I can totally sympathize.

You don't say that this is what you're thinking, but I know well how irrational we can be when in the depths of an HA episode, so I'm just going to say it - you won't be able to feel a brain tumor with your fingers. It might be a bump you've had all your life (scalps/skulls can have bumps) but never noticed until now, when you're hyper-fixated on the area. It's also probably not the cause of your headaches, unless you banged your head at some point in the recent past.

You know what does cause headaches, especially at the top of the head? Anxiety. The contracting of muscles, which we often don't even realize we're doing, can really hurt after we've been doing it for a while.

You sound like you have a great doctor, and I hope with her help you can pull yourself out of this

Fingers crossed that I'll get there! Still crawling around at the very bottom of this rabbit hole but I'm fighting.

[Jase.]

Struggling today. Pain hasn't really been noticeable over the past couple of days but now it's back full force in the right hand side of my head. Short intermittent stabbing/almost like a nerve pain. HA is telling me it's sinister due to it being localized.

See my GP on Friday.

[ckelley116]

Sounds like a run-of-the-mill migraine to me. Mine are always localized, usually on the right side but occasionally on the left.

Stress is also a major migraine trigger.