Does this sound like a brain tumor?

Does this sound like a brain tumor?

23f. I’ve struggled a lot with health anxiety my whole life & I started worrying about a brain tumor a month ago when i fainted/seized from smoking tobacco.

Here are my symptoms:

- memory issues

- random small body jerks in my arms and legs

- was dropping things a lot at work yesterday

- confusion with reading/talking, feeling as though I’m going to forget my entire vocabulary when I talk (i realistically only forget a few words now and then)

- spelling has gotten worse like when i type or write its more confusing than it previously was

- dizzy spells/moments of intense anxiety that make it feel like i might faint/seize again (these pass fairly quickly but my brain feels weird after- i’m worried these are temporal lobe seizures)

- feeling of head pressure after i fainted/seized that was on and off (dr said this was likely tension headaches from anxiety but it didn’t feel painful, just pressure-like)

i go in for an MRI next week but i feel like i’m going out of my mind with anxiety right now. I’ve gotten 2 neuro exams by my GP and they were both normal, plus a normal fundoscopy to check my optic nerve for swelling.

I don’t know that I’d jump straight to a brain tumor just based off your symptoms. Many of those symptoms could be anxiety related due to the experience you had with the seizure. Kind of like anticipatory anxiety, waiting for it to happen again - so your anxiety creates symptoms.

that being said, I think it’s a great idea to pursue the MRI, only because I don’t think seizures can be attributed to anxiety - so it’s a good idea to get to the bottom of those. My mom suffered occasional seizures when she was much younger - high school age. They never found anything wrong with her and she kind of outgrew them. So it’s very possible what you’re dealing with is something benign. Good idea to get it checked out though.

Yeah, the doctor said he wasn’t sure if it was pre-fainting or a seizure but said since it was circumstantial from smoking too much too early without eating anything, he didn’t find it necessary to send me to a neurologist. He only scheduled the MRI after I kept making dr appts about the head pressure I was experiencing.

I often get the head pressure thing. I have suffered from anxiety and especially HA for many years.
I've found that the anxiety is the main culprit of many of my symptoms. Dizziness, forgetfulness, confusion. And many more.
I did decide some years back that I could have a brain tumour (after reading about it) and because I had head pressure I convinced myself I was doomed. The more I worried the worse I got. Eventually a Dr explained that all the excess adrenaline from my anxiety was causing inflammation in my body and in this instance it had attacked my sinuses which explained the head pressure. I still get it but now I treat it as normal sinusitis and it clears up.
Try treating your anxiety and hopefully your symptoms will clear up

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Originally Posted by Beckybecks

I often get the head pressure thing. I have suffered from anxiety and especially HA for many years.
I've found that the anxiety is the main culprit of many of my symptoms. Dizziness, forgetfulness, confusion. And many more.
I did decide some years back that I could have a brain tumour (after reading about it) and because I had head pressure I convinced myself I was doomed. The more I worried the worse I got. Eventually a Dr explained that all the excess adrenaline from my anxiety was causing inflammation in my body and in this instance it had attacked my sinuses which explained the head pressure. I still get it but now I treat it as normal sinusitis and it clears up.
Try treating your anxiety and hopefully your symptoms will clear up

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hiya, when you had these symptoms @beckybecks , did if effect your vision or make you wobbly on your feet a bit?

Yes I felt dizzy and off balance. That was either due to extreme anxiety which always causes me to feel light headed and wobbly, or of course, sinusitis will give the same symptom.
Vision? I get a lot of "floaters" in my vision, like little black spots which I've heard is a fairly common symptom of anxiety

This sounds very similar to what I have going on. I’ve had health anxiety for almost a decade now, maybe more. Over the last few months I’ve had this one floater in my left eye only. VERY frustrating! I’ve been to 2 different eye doctors where they did FULL checkups and found nothing wrong. They also explained where the floaters come from and that they are NOT neurological. But of course like all of us, that’s just not enough for me. Couple the floaters with a lot of time just feeling “off”. Very hard to explain the feeling. Slightly dizzy, no balance issues but the feeling still seems to be there (if that makes sense). As mentioned it’s hard to explain but it’s something. Just a feeling of slight lightheaded, dizzy etc but not like where the room is spinning. Just a an off feeling. Sometimes it’s worse then others. I’m smart enough to attribute it to anxiety but not smart enough at the same time to not think the worst! (Brain tumor is the thought at the moment)

Because of these issues I have an appt with a neurologist next week. I’m sure they will do a bunch of tests and maybe even an MRI (which is freaking me out). Obviously getting the test is important but I’m always scared of what “might be” when I get the results!! As I’m sure is a common symptom of all HA sufferers.

Thought I’d share since I was looking up brain tumors and saw this post was fairly new. Feel free to give insight as you see fit, it always helps.

Patroclus never posted again - I hope she's ok.

Primary brain tumors are pretty rare. The warning signs are age over 50, sudden severe headache, and seizures. Anything else is likely explained by other conditions or anxiety. Headache alone is almost never a brain tumor and floaters have nothing to do with brain tumors. BUT, people tend to notice floaters more often when they have heightened awareness caused by anxiety.

OP's history shows that they can be sporadic with their posting.

This person clearly has HA and I suspect that they'll be back at some point with a new disease..