Scared of Brain tumour

[Emma_student]

Hi! Im a 2nd year undergrad who has been suffering from HA since October. Ive seen about 5 doctors (including two A and E docs) in two locations (i live in London but go to uni elsewhere) And they have all told me that i suffer from anxiety. Ive been getting headaches since year 10 which are the same: a feeling of tenseness in general (like there are knots in my head and neck), most apparent on the right side of my head, fullness in ears (which the doctor has checked and said is not caused by infection or wax) occasional stabbing pains in different parts of head, and i wake up with this tension in my head and go to bed with it.

My biggest fear is a brain tumour although there are no risks in my family, im giving up smoking, i don't overly drink and i don't take drugs apart from medical ones. I also suffer from a constant off balanced feeling which worries me. I have all the typical anxiety symptoms but ive put most fears about them to bed now thanks to CBT. Its the tumour fears i cant seem to shake.


Should i push for a CT or MRI scan? Anyone had similar problems with this. I would really appreciate some advice :)

[Fishmanpa]

Hi! Im a 2nd year undergrad who has been suffering from HA since October. Ive seen about 5 doctors (including two A and E docs) in two locations (i live in London but go to uni elsewhere) And they have all told me that i suffer from anxiety. Ive been getting headaches since year 10 which are the same: a feeling of tenseness in general (like there are knots in my head and neck), most apparent on the right side of my head, fullness in ears (which the doctor has checked and said is not caused by infection or wax) occasional stabbing pains in different parts of head, and i wake up with this tension in my head and go to bed with it.

My biggest fear is a brain tumour although there are no risks in my family, im giving up smoking, i don't overly drink and i don't take drugs apart from medical ones. I also suffer from a constant off balanced feeling which worries me. I have all the typical anxiety symptoms but ive put most fears about them to bed now thanks to CBT. Its the tumour fears i cant seem to shake.


Should i push for a CT or MRI scan? Anyone had similar problems with this. I would really appreciate some advice :)

Hi Emma,

No, don't push for a scan. It will cost a lot of money and they won't find anything. You've been diagnosed with "Anxiety" and that is the illness you must treat.

I've seen literally dozens of similar posts here and not one of them were sinister. Every one was attributed to anxiety and the physical effects it has on a person.

Continue CBT and practice it daily. That's the best way to battle the "dragon" as it's been called ;) Smoking, drinking and anxiety DO NOT MIX so it's very wise and in your best interest not to do either!

Positive thoughts

[Emma_student]

Ok thankyou for your advice Fishmanpa, i feel like ive made more progress than i would have with this 'dragon' with CBT and all WITHOUT meds( which they wanted to put me on but i refused) but my concentration on work is at an all time low because of this constant worrying and checking myself on my symptoms

Has anyone suffered from little to no concentration and it has affected work/ school/uni? How did you get your concentration/study habits back on track?

Also, can anyone who has beaten this monster of a problem, give me some advice and support. I feel like i'm going round in circles

[fedup36]

Hi Emma,

I use to suffer with very similar symptoms and still do infact... I have the headaches, the dizziness, the fullness in my ears...
I ended up having an mri which found nothing relevant what so ever!!

Regarding the concentration this is something I also struggle with and still do from time to time, worrying about my health or when my next symptom will be takes up a lot of my time. What I have found useful is giving myself targets and beating them. So I will write down how many times I goggled on Monday and aim to beat this by 1 on the Tuesday. You will soon realise that it'p goes down giving you more time for things like uni and work. Also another thing is allowing yourself time to relax and take a breather, also going for a walk at work or in the middle of doing work is a great help and can help to clear your mind :)

Hope this helps x

[HoneyLove]

Hi Emma, by any chance do you clench your jaw or grind your teeth?

[LunaLiuna]

Jaw clenching! my brother told me I do it in my sleep, I was soooooo worried at first, I'd even wake up and brush my teeth and find loads of blood! I've just ordered a mouth guard :) hopefully it should help :)

[Emma_student]

Thanks fedup36! I will try and do the relaxation (ive got sooo many deadlines and im quite worried about them) Honeylove, i dont think i clench my jaw, how do you mean 'clench'? i tend to move my jaw a lot to try and relieve some of the pressure in my ears (which doesnt work) but ill look into that.

I had a worrying episode today where i got a feeling of water or tingling on the right side of my head, then i thought water was coming out of my ears and i though my brain was hemorrhaging!

However my panic attack wasnt that bad so after about an hour or so talking through how i felt with someone, they managed to calm me down and reassure me there was nothing wrong (i had all sorts of thoughts going round, tumour, bleed of the brain, stoke..... bloody awful) But im here typing so i dont think i have any thing seriously wrong :P im 19 so its highly unlikely anything like that would happen...

[LunaLiuna]

Look up Bruxism Emma :) don't worry it's nothing bad.

[Fishmanpa]

im 19 so its highly unlikely anything like that would happen...

Exactly!

Positive thoughts

[Emma_student]

Has anyone had the water in the head feeling?

[Fishmanpa]

Has anyone had the water in the head feeling?

I don't suffer from anxiety and I feel that sometimes.... of course my sinuses were fried from radiation ;) Stop seeking reassurance Emma... it won't help you in the long run.

Positive thoughts

[cpe1978]

Reassurance is complete folly! Sorry but it is true and we have to understand that to genuinely overcome HA