View Full Version : Brain Tumor
is forum section probably gets bombarded with the posts/threads about fear of the almighty brain tumor, but i just can't help myself. I'm sorry, but I need some reassurance.
First of all, I'm a hypochondriac, no doubt about that, especially in the last 6 months, i've been suffering from extreme anxiety, mainly focused on my health. But these symptoms that I've been having for the last month or two are really freaking me out:
- deja vu feelings.
- head pressure in the mornings, esp. on right side of head, no HA during day.
- occasional internal tingling, or better vibratine, especially in head/neck/back and chest area.
- once or twice while i was eating, it was like I couldn't swallow for a second. Like I forgot or something.
- disturbed sleep (can't sleep for more than 3-5 hours at once, after I fall asleep again, my sleep is very weak, filled with bad dreams, problems breathing, occasional paralysis, hearing my pulse especially on the right side of my head, unable to get PROPER rest).
- bad memory.
Also, my grandmother died from a brain tumor at a relatively young age (around 50 years old).
Please, can anyone relate? Obviously I won't be able to calm down completely until I get a CT/MRI scan or something, assuring me it's "only" my anxiety, but I'd really appreciate some insight, input, thoughts on the matter.
If you are not having crazy headaches, vision troubles or seizures I would not be thinking brain tumor. I had aids all day today and there is like 0% chance of that. You are experiencing very normal anxiety symptoms! I hope you feel better
Serenity1990
03-03-14, 00:58
None of those things sounds remotely like a brain tumour. All of what you mention (aside from the déjà vu, which by the way everyone gets) is attributable to anxiety. Given this is something you know you have, don't you feel this might be the likely cause?
Aside from this, brain tumours are really incredibly rare.
Best of luck, you'll be fine. :)
I read tons of info on brain tumors, and looks like the general consensus about headaches is, that 50%+ get them, which means there's a wide chance one doesn't get any headaches. Also, I'm worried about the seizures, since i read that they're not so obvious - they can very well manifest themselves like muscle twitches or something. A lot of people didn't even realize that they had them, before they were diagnosed. I guess obviously the only thing that would calm me down is MRI or at least a CT scan, but those take so long to get - my doctor is probably sick of me already, since i've been taking visits to her very frequently in the last months, lol.
NotCool, me and MANY others have this exact same fear, I've yet to hear or see anyone on this forum that actually had one.
I have personally had everyone of your symptoms, as someone's already said, all of them can be attributed to anxiety and stress. I'm also curious to know if you clench/grind your teeth? as that can cause some of your symptoms.
Other than that, stop reading up on something you most likely don't have, I'm sure many people here will tell you that you will end up getting the symptoms you read about.
Have a good day :)
NotCool, me and MANY others have this exact same fear, I've yet to hear or see anyone on this forum that actually had one.
I have personally had everyone of your symptoms, as someone's already said, all of them can be attributed to anxiety and stress. I'm also curious to know if you clench/grind your teeth? as that can cause some of your symptoms.
Other than that, stop reading up on something you most likely don't have, I'm sure many people here will tell you that you will end up getting the symptoms you read about.
Have a good day :)
You don't know how much I'd like to believe you. But my grandmother got sick at around 40-45 years old, then passed I think around 10 years later. I'm 25 at the moment, and lately this FEAR just settled inside of me. I realise that googling about diseases and illnesses is definitely not a good idea, but if you ever had health anxiety, i'm sure you understand the need to find some kind of potential reassurance (which we rarely get). It's just that there's so many physical and mental symptoms that I'm worried about right now, which can easily all be associated with brain cancer.
And to answer your question, I don't grind my teeth/clench my jaw so much that they could manifest in those symptoms, at least I think so. :)
Serenity1990
03-03-14, 19:20
I read tons of info on brain tumors, and looks like the general consensus about headaches is, that 50%+ get them, which means there's a wide chance one doesn't get any headaches. Also, I'm worried about the seizures, since i read that they're not so obvious - they can very well manifest themselves like muscle twitches or something. A lot of people didn't even realize that they had them, before they were diagnosed. I guess obviously the only thing that would calm me down is MRI or at least a CT scan, but those take so long to get - my doctor is probably sick of me already, since i've been taking visits to her very frequently in the last months, lol.
I'd love to tell you that you don't have a brain tumour, I can't as anyone could unwittingly be walking around with one, but you're no more likely to have one than anyone else walking around the street.
But put it in perspective. Your probability of developing one in your lifetime is 0.002%. The probability of having one at 25 is far lower than this. The probability of any of your symptoms being explained by a tumour given you have anxiety (which explains every single one of your symptoms) is lower still.
I don't have the data, but the chances of you having a brain tumour given what you've said are so infinitesimally close to zero I'd go as far as to say it's more likely you'll be endangered by a Jumbo Jet inadvertently landing on the roof of your bedroom this evening. Are you worried about that?
Are you worried about that?
He is now!:)
iObviously I won't be able to calm down completely until I get a CT/MRI scan or something, assuring me it's "only" my anxiety, but I'd really appreciate some insight, input, thoughts on the matter.
That's not really obvious at all, though; a lot of people who say that then find out that the scan doesn't calm them down either. Health anxiety isn't fussy about what the facts are--otherwise you wouldn't be so anxious about something so unlikely in the first place.
Your doctor doesn't think you're presenting with symptoms of a brain tumor, and for most people that would be enough. Why not try to make it be enough for you and work on your anxiety rather than pinning "enough" on something that hasn't happened yet?
Here is my story: about a year ago I started passing out randomly. After that came all the other symptoms like blurry vision, huge pupils, throwing up multiple times a day, tingling and numbness on the left side of my body, terrible headache, brain fog, awful pressure on the right side of my head, dizziness etc. I was convinced that I was dying of brain cancer. These symptoms were consistant for 4 whole months and I was in a really bad shape. I even lost my job and just stayed home in bed waiting for my death. Then finally I got an mri done and it was clear. Okay so they did every test and scan possible to find the reason for all of this. Result: anxiety. It was so hard to accept since I didnt feel anxious at all (exept because of my condition of course). So believe when I say this: I know how you feel and it's not anything physical. Some of these symptoms still haunts me, like the brainfog amd tingling amd headaches. And the worst: really vivid dreams/nightmares. But atleast now I can focus on getting over it and not start planning my funeral.
Thank you all for reassuring words. I was calmer for a day, but today, after I woke up again with problems with back of the head/spine tingling/vibrating, and head pressure, sleep disturbances etc. i kind of started getting caught in my thought trap again. However, I also started thinking in another direction. Is it possible it's related to my back/neck posture? I spend most of my day sitting in my chair in not a very normal way of sitting, which is not of very high quality, to say the least, and until now, i've always preferred sleeping on my stomach, with my face facing left side, my right hand under my pillow, and the left hand under my left leg/beside my leg. Can stuff like that cause the kinds of problems/symptoms that i'm experiencing?
"I've read"
That's a recurring theme on the forum. We all know that Google is the nemesis of HA sufferers.
While I'm not a doctor, I can say with a very high amount of assurance that this is anxiety related and not a brain tumor (you are posting on an anxiety forum after all). If you do a search for "brain tumor", you'll find hundreds if not thousands of threads on the subject. In the time I've participated on the forum, not one fear about having a brain tumor was realized. I can go back several years in posts and see the same thing.
Getting help with your anxiety issues is the best way to alleviate the physical symptoms you're feeling.
Positive thoughts
My neck and back tightness does have something to do with it since my symptoms are always the worst when they are hurting/tight. But massage didn't really help, just for that one day :/ try getting your posture better and sit correctly
i appreciate all the posts and recommendations,and i swear im trying to kill or at least cage this beast inside of me, but its damn hard when i keep having these strange symptoms all the time - just now i was lying in bed,drifting, almost falling asleep when i started having that sleep/ wake vision thing, and then a short burst of a deja vu feeling..,if thats not some kind of a seizure, then wth is it? :(
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