Brain Tumor fears after my Grandfather passed away

[Alowen]

A few weeks ago my grandfather passed away of a Glioblastoma brain tumor and since then I've been picking up on strange symptoms that have me convinced I have it myself. I have had a headache for about 2 weeks and have been experiencing dizziness along with it. I did the test where you close your eyes and march on the spot and I end up going forward every time and I'm really scared that it really is something bad. I did go to my GP but he said that there wasn't any need for testing as he believed that I didn't have it but I didn't have the dizziness back then.

[Nathd1991]

Hey there, I can unequivocally guarantee you don't have a brain tumour. It's simply a physiological reaction to a psychological worry. I'll tell you how I know and hopefully deter you from going down this path to nowhere. My aunt had two glioblastoma brain tumours and also unfortunately died. About 3 years ago, I started getting shooting pains in my head during a pretty stressful time. I then began to really take note of these pains and automatically associated them to my Auntie. End result? A tumultuous 3 year affair with health anxiety. During this time I had chronic headaches everyday to every other day behind my right eye. I was consistently dizzy, always felt slightly drunk. I used to have these crazy vertigo attacks out of nowhere. Got eye floaters, occasional double vision, random pins and needles, deja vu, brain zaps and even nosebleeds I was so stressed out. It totally consumed me, and there was rarely a minute of the day I wasn't obsessing. I finally had enough and begged to be referred to a neuro. She was excellent and I felt better after the initial appointment. She said to be safe we'd do an MRI and also did a CT with and without contrast. As soon as a few days after the scan had passed and they hadn't rang me in hysterics telling me to come in the symptoms largely disappeared. That was a couple of months ago . Now I get a headache once in a while and I don't even think twice about it. The dizziness completely went, my nosebleeds stopped and my mind was a lot lighter I'll tell you. 3 years of my life wasted because of this. 3 whole years. Just listen to your doctor my friend. Unless you're having a full on seizure try to relax. Anxiety is the ultimate mimic and it's so convincing. Try to go for an eye test as opticians can see evidence of a tumour due to the raised pressure in your head warping the optical nerve at the back of your eye (Papilledema). I know it's scary but it will help rest your mind a little. Don't worry though I can honestly say I don't think you've got a tumour. This is one of those worries that every anxiety sufferer goes through I think.

[Ellient]

Hello, sorry to hear about the loss of your grandad also in such tragic circumstances.

I had a grandmother who had lymphoma quite advanced, visiting her and talking to her I was sure I had all the symptoms she had, she had the lumps in her back and she couldn't feel them, she had backache and I actually got backache because I convinced myself so much I had this. I then noticed she had a lump the size off a egg in her neck area, I felt the same area and felt a small pea size not realising it was normal I was sure I had it, as soon as I saw her getting better all my worries went away. I realised I had no symptoms and it left me with a small amount of anxiety (I wasn't saying this to scare you if you have health anxiety) but when your family member dies or has a disease it's normal to think the same will happen to you.

I would suggest maybe going to your GP about your fears and maybe they can help you.




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[Andy699]

Hiya, I'm so sorry to hear about your grandfather but I completely agree with Nathd1991. Once a neighbour of mine passed away from Leukaemia and I started to notice bruising and was convinced I had Leukaemia but I didn't. Unfortunately, I few months later my next door neighbour died from Esophageal cancer, after that I was convinced I had difficulty swallowing but I didn't. Honestly, please try not to worry, I know what you're going through. Every time someone I know dies from something, I always start to think I have that exact same thing...

Sending positive vibes

x

[Alowen]

Thanks for all of the replies they definitely put my mind at ease and even stopped the majority of the head pain. I guess thats proof 90% of it was in my mind, haha. But the lightheadedness still remains which freaks me out but it only occurs when it starts getting dark oddly enough. I am going for another visit to my gp because of this but im avoiding looking up my symptoms because that could send me down another rabbit hole of anxiety which I'm sure most of you are familiar with. I guess im still a little nervous about it being a brain tumor due to my eye pain and random head pain but I'm a lot more confident that its just my anxiety playing up. Hopefully thats all this dizziness is too.

[Nathd1991]

The dizziness will fade in time Alowen I promise you, as long as you let it. Give it it's space and think 'yeah you can hang around for now but I'm not scared of you' and really accept it as just another pesky but harmless symptom. It was probably my most upsetting symptom going through this in all honesty. Every single minute it was there. I could hardly even walk in a straight line. Also going in supermarkets and crowed areas made it much worse. Then on top of that I had the vertigo attacks which were terrifying because I physically couldn't stand up I was so dizzy. I can still get dizzy occasionally now every so often but it really doesn't bother me and only happens when I'm stressed, such as going up to collect my psychology degree last week in front of several hundred people. At one time I'd have never been able to do that but you just end up adopting a 'no biggie' attitude.