Possible acoustic neuroma or other tumor

Hi there. My name is Noel and I'm a 29-year-old female. For the past year I have been experiencing headaches multiple times per week.  These have increased to daily over the past few months.  I also have intense pressure on my right temporal lobe and pressure/fullness in my right ear. I have mild hearing loss in my right ear and very mild tinnitus. I have numbness on the right side of my face and fatigue/numbness in my jaws.  My cheeks and lips feel slightly numb and tingly. My right eye feels slightly week and and there is some mild pressure behind it. These symptoms seem to be intensifying each week.

Additional considerations:
I have been under tremendous stress for the past few years and also have symptoms of a hormonal imbalance. I was pregnant in 2009 and quickly lost all my pregnancy weight, but within three months after that I quickly gained 45 pounds and developed large red/purple stretch marks. I also suffer from extreme fatigue and difficulty losing weight, even when on a very healthy diet. I am currently breastfeeding my daughter as well.

I went to my doctor concerning these symptoms. My doctor did not take me seriously. I believe this is because of my age. My doctor believes all my symptoms are stress related but she did order an open MRI without contrast just in case.  I am supposed to have this done this week. Is this the correct test and should I be seeing an ENT? I am concerned that the MRI without contrast will not pickup a small acoustic neuroma or pituitary tumor. I am not sure how I should proceed from here. My fear is that what is wrong will not show up unless I have a closed MRI with contrast.

I would appreciate any advice.

Noel

[Daniel M Prevedello, MD]

Hi Noel! Did you have your MRI? An MRI without contrast is not ideal, but it can detect a lot of abnormalities, since you are breastfeeding, it is the way to go at this point. It can always be repeated in the future.

[pamsr]

Hello,
The doctors probably don't want to use dye when your breast feeding. Ask your doctor, if you pumped and saved your milk for a while, then maybe they could use the dye, and just not breast feed until it's out of your system.
I don't want to scare you, but your symptoms do point to a brain tumor. Because when I was diagnosed the doctor asked me about numbness. Now, that I've had the Gamma knife, I do have facial numbness 1/2 of my face is numb pretty much all the time and food doesn't taste the same.
Well, good luck and let us know what you find out