So I'm worried about a Brain Tumour again

[phil06]

I have started to worry about this again. I just can't accept it's anxiety..I have more questions:

*How long can a brain tumour go undiagnosed?
*How likely will others notice if you had one?
*Would you feel yourself you had one?
*How much anxiety would you have in general?

I had googled it a few days ago again and spoke to someone on a social networking site who had once by chance so here's my worry back again.

My main worry has been my brain/going mad since May this year. I had to the doctors a few times got Diazepam for panic, been getting alot of panic, worry, sleepless nights and IBS. I feel at the moment going to a doctor and being tested will worry me more anyway if it is just anxiety..but I also still worry on here too so I just wish the worry would go away.

My symptoms are:

Headaches for a few months: They vary from a tense forehead to each side of my head being sore and feeling the two veins pumping.

Weakness...if I sit I worry I can't breathe, it use to be if I stood i'd be off balance..when I don't worry usually I don't get this symptom.

Slow: Right now I feel very slow, very nervous, so nervous I startle with words, I avoid people in case I go crazy...

Panic: Heart beat going slow, feeling I can't breathe, fatigue.

My latest symptom is I remain focused on one thing..worry I can't look at my phone and PC and stare into space worrying.

Depersonalization: My main symptom so much so I convinced myself I had a seizure..feeling so unreal, brain not working, alien and so on.

*Note I only get 3 or 4 of these symptoms at any one time..so these are over the space of months.

If you read my posts you will see my worry.

I've felt so absorbed by the physical symptoms since May I now no longer believe it's anxiety. :ohmy::lac:Even if it was anxiety I need some help as it can't go on like this. :unsure:

[scotty8]

hello phil, dont panic my friend ive had headaches for months too, range from niggels to making me bed bound and angry. my main symptom is my neck is so stiff and sore when i tilt my head back a pain in the back of my head is horrid the pain is unbearable. dont panic because i think you have answerd your own question its panic. mind over matter. your mind is the most powerfull thing, if that gets pressure you will feel it. please dont worry you will be fine. take care lad

[Blueeyed87]

I was worried about anerysms and tumors too, I had the tests and all come back negatieve and I had your symptoms. also headache linked to brain tumors rarely
throb.. they are a constant sharp migraine pain.
also I know what you mean when you say about wondering if you had a seisure etc etc depersonaltion is just about the worse! It makes me fear I got epilpesy or I'm gonna throw a huge fit.

hope you get healthier feeling soon:)

[Andromeda]

you sound like me.

go to your GP and tell him of your worries, demand you are checked out and don't leave until he agrees to go ahead with scans.

i warn you though, it's not going to reassure you. your anxiety will just manifest itself in either another part of your body / worry or you wouldn't accept that you don't have a tumor, the fears will come back when you get your next set of symptoms and you will then convince yourself it will have developed after you had your scans.

The best thing you can do is get counselling / CBT to dig to the root of the problem, just talking it through helps so much.

If you had a brain tumor, you would be SERIOUSLY ill, i mean, not even able to function ill. And your symptoms would get progressively worse. They would not come and go whenever they please!

Someone once said to me, if you have to stop and ask 'do i have a brain tumor?' then you definitely don't have one!

[phil06]

you sound like me.

go to your GP and tell him of your worries, demand you are checked out and don't leave until he agrees to go ahead with scans.

i warn you though, it's not going to reassure you. your anxiety will just manifest itself in either another part of your body / worry or you wouldn't accept that you don't have a tumor, the fears will come back when you get your next set of symptoms and you will then convince yourself it will have developed after you had your scans.

The best thing you can do is get counselling / CBT to dig to the root of the problem, just talking it through helps so much.

If you had a brain tumor, you would be SERIOUSLY ill, i mean, not even able to function ill. And your symptoms would get progressively worse. They would not come and go whenever they please!

Someone once said to me, if you have to stop and ask 'do i have a brain tumor?' then you definitely don't have one!

Thanks for the reply I guess going asking for scans won't help my anxiety.

Well I do feel my anxiety is worse every time..but like I do tasks but feel very unreal and depersonalized. I guess it maybe feels worse than it is?

If this anxiety would lift..and I could feel normal again I'd be less concerned about my health. What is not helping is my extreme worry all the time so maybe counselling will help.

I just worry incase I am not well and nobody knows. It's also annoying as I can feel anxious all day, unwell all day, worried all day ect..

[Andromeda]

I really do know exactly how you feel.

My derealisation/depersonalisation used to be so bad i didn't leave my bed for days, out of fear that i wasn't real.
My family and my home felt unrecognisable around me and i felt completely isolated from everything/everyone i loved.

You have to learn to distract yourself. These are merely thoughts and although it doesn't feel like it, you absolutely 100% control these thoughts, you bring them on and you have the power to make them go away again!

When you start feeling weird/unreal distract your mind immediately, yes it will feel uncomfortable and will be tough but the more you do it, the more control you'll have over those feelings!
If you're out and about and get these thoughts, read car reg plates (this always works for me!) After all, you couldn't possibly have imagined all of them so quickly, therefore it must be real!

Get CBT therapy sorted, keep pushing yourself to do the things you don't want to and stay focused on getting better!

[phil06]

I really do know exactly how you feel.

My derealisation/depersonalisation used to be so bad i didn't leave my bed for days, out of fear that i wasn't real.
My family and my home felt unrecognisable around me and i felt completely isolated from everything/everyone i loved.

You have to learn to distract yourself. These are merely thoughts and although it doesn't feel like it, you absolutely 100% control these thoughts, you bring them on and you have the power to make them go away again!

When you start feeling weird/unreal distract your mind immediately, yes it will feel uncomfortable and will be tough but the more you do it, the more control you'll have over those feelings!
If you're out and about and get these thoughts, read car reg plates (this always works for me!) After all, you couldn't possibly have imagined all of them so quickly, therefore it must be real!

Get CBT therapy sorted, keep pushing yourself to do the things you don't want to and stay focused on getting better!

I read there's a difference between derealization and depersonalization. But I've had people looking strangers usually when the levels of anxiety are lower. My symptoms of it lately is more I feel I am living my life in a video game, or a movie. I'm doing tasks but feel very distant from my body..I feel very alien, very strange. I had a driving lesson today and felt very distant rather than thinking about the driving which made me anxious. I feel a stranger in my own body...I walk around feeling I'm not quite part of the world..just not quite alert and clear as I usually feel...and this can last days on end at a high intensity. I seen a clip which said there was a difference between these two though. I feel I am floating through tasks and I can't make much conversation and feel not quite sharp at my tasks or not feeling I am actually doing it?

I'm genuinely bricking it in fear with these symptoms hence why I fear this.

It's the most unpleasant symptom as it makes me worry, lack sleep, stops me going out I've also been bed ridden due to it and I fear I'm slipping back to my worse ways. I just feel it can be so overwhelming and I can't cope...it's very hard to understand the feeling...a week ago all I worried about was going mad and since today it's been this and I've not felt mad but Health anxiety. :blush:

[blueangel]

Hi Phil

I've had loads of worries about things being wrong with my head (other than just being a nutbar :wacko:). Mine were triggered by two things; my dad having MS when I was a child, and my mother having a brain haemorrhage when I was 21. I had a particularly bad period of HA after my mother got ill, and it went on for months.

During this time, I convinced myself that I was either going to have a stroke, had a brain tumour or had MS. As a result of this, I got blinding headaches, migraines, dizziness/loss of balance, depersonalisation, panic attacks, sometimes couldn't speak properly, numb patches on my head, face and other parts of my body. In short, I was a complete mess for about 8 months before I managed to get it under control reasonably. I've had other spells of HA about other things, but this was probably the worst one.

I do still worry about stroke from time to time, but unlike my mother, I've never smoked (she used to smoke 40-60 a day) and my blood pressure is fine. I do get in a real panic when I get a migraine though, as I always manage to assume that I'm having a stroke when I get one.

From what I've read in the past about brain tumours, the symptoms tend to be rather more extreme than the ones that anxiety causes. They can cause sudden loss of a sense (e.g. going deaf suddenly, large blind spots in vision), major problems with the body's balance mechanisms, or motor functions. Oddly enough, they often don't seem to cause headaches as a common first symptom, which is where us anxiety sufferers go wrong in our assumptions.

I absolutely agree with Andromeda, distraction is the way forward. It's one of the techniques that I have found to work best.

[mrsf]

Hi Phil,

I have been worrying about having a brain tumour for years and years. I take Migralieve for a really bad episode and they work really well for me.
I reassure myself that, if I haven't had a brain tumour after all these years, then I am probably worrying too much.

Stay strong.:)

[phil06]

I can't stay off google for this one..

I heard only 14% of people survive.

If undetected you are pretty much stuffed.

Since knowing every symptom I am worrying more and getting these so called feelings.. other quotes I read in Yahoo answers "you know something is not right" "dropping stuff" now I've started dropping things...

I have been getting dizzy attacks but I do suffer depersonalization and a search found me here: http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12758 seeminly it can be anxiety...

you can't go years without knowing seemingly so since I am convinced since my panic blip I'm ill...I'll have to hold out a while to accept it's anxiety but then I'll prob be worried it's something else.

Oh and people say you know for sure but I read some have no symptoms atall..so I worry more and more..

Just wondered anybody whos googled this sort of thing how many symptoms did they get from doing so? Did they become chronic and ill from it worrying too?:blush: