Cancer Information Tips :: Brain Tumor Symptoms
Brain Tumor Symptoms: Common Symptoms Associated With a Brain Tumor
Brain tumors and brain tumor symptoms are afflicting more and more people every year. Since most brain tumors exhibit symptoms like seemingly innocent headaches, that are generally caused by less severe disorders, they're often discounted or brushed aside as insignificant.
Consequently, an accurate diagnosis isn't attained until the tumor grows to a size that may make treatment impossible.
Many brain tumors, if detected early on, are treatable. Striking advances in diagnosing and modern treatments, like chemotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy and radioactive knife treatment, are becoming more common and more effective.
Therefore, doctors and patients alike are being recommended to be aware of brain tumor symptoms and to follow up with a proper medical examination when these symptoms occur.
Though brain scans are expensive, they're safe, easy to obtain and may save your life if they detect a tumor early enough that it can be cured. For an overview of symptoms associated with brain tumors and why it's important to watch out for them, keep reading.
Symptoms
Brain tumors need to be detected when they are small and still susceptible to treatment. Symptoms hinge on the size of the tumor and where in the brain it's located. A benign tumor can develop very slowly over several years before it produces a recognizable symptom.
Among the primary symptoms are persistent or relentless headaches, particularly those that happen at night or upon awakening. With children, headaches that occur in conjunction with nausea or vomiting are also an indication.
Other frequent symptoms include personality alterations; sight or speech problems; behavioral issues; fatigue, numbness or paralysis or instability when walking that gets increasingly worse; seizures, and sensory disorders, like the loss of a sense or smelling something that's not there.
Too often, symptoms such as changes in behavior are ascribed to a mental disorder or to the aging process and are not addressed until it's too late to cure.
Why You Should Be Aware of Possible Symptoms
Tumors that develop in the brain are the second most common cancer in young children, happening approximately as often as leukemia. In adults, are also increasing.
Approximately one-half of primary brain tumors are considered benign; meaning they grow slowly, do not infest nearby tissues and can generally be treated successfully. The remainder are malignant: meaning they are aggressive and encroaching but can often be treated, although may remain incurable.
For More Information
For more information on brain tumors and brain tumor symptoms, contact The American Brain Tumor Association. Their phone number is (800) 886-2282, and they can supply information and referrals for patients and their families.
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CancerInfoTips.com :: Brain Tumor Symptoms