Can a brain tumor cause extreme personality or behavioral changes?

[Hityty]

My 50 yo sister-in-law was diagnosed w/a pituitary brain tumor 7 yrs ago. She began extensive natural therapies, she's been healthy & happy since w/no more symps of BT. But this last yr her personality has changed significantly. She has turned on her entire family: husband, 3 bro’s, mother, father, daughter, son, & all friends. There is no reasoning w/her, she says VERY strange things, often contradicting herself. Ex: she claims that she has miraculously healed herself & wants to cure the world through her anointed gift from God, then next day she denies ever saying this & insists she is ill w/BT as cause. She wants to divorce husband of 30 yrs; sometimes suicidal; lost all concern for family, home, pets, etc. She was a very devout Christian her whole life, never before wavering in her beliefs until now. Recently she speaks critically against it & any one involved & wants to start her own religion. Its so obvious that she has lost control. No one has been able to reason w/her, she doesn’t want to talk to us & when she does, its usually to argue about her healing powers or religion. She was so healthy for last several yrs that no one even considered her BT until she brought it up in a bad argument w/daughter. I’ve tried researching behavioral changes w/tumors, but found nothing to this extreme. No one knows what to do or how to help her. From an outsiders view, she looks great & though slightly eccentric, people usually find her pleasant as she has kept most of her strange behavior hidden from the gen’ public.
Any similar experiences?
Any advice on finding her help?

[kitlyn]

Hi Im not a  DR . but if this was not the norm for her before the tumor i am sure it could be the case now. Yes Brain tumors can cause some personality deficits from what i have read. Has she had any surgery? Again i am just a froum patient. I am very sorry to hear of her illness. Take care Kit

[Hityty]

Thank you Kitlyn, No, she has had no surgery for the BT. They told her (when she was Dx'd) that it was in her pituitary gland, and situated in a very hard spot to reach, so they didn't want to do surgery.

[Karenk3]

My daughter had a pituitary tumor removed.  If she went to a Neurosurgeon they have several means to remove these safely.  My daughter's was removed through a surgery via her nostrils.  She has had similar issues with her temperment and going against God.  She was a Christian previously.  Her Endochronologist tested her hormones and most recently.. months after the surgery, they were fine.  I am now concerned about her adrenals as her father.. whom I divorced over his horrible temper outbursts and weird behavior and one of her brothers, have had strange hair trigger tempers.. now at 18 she is behaving the same.. it's heartbreaking.  I think she has intermittent cushings or an adrenal problem but she is so frustrated with being told she was fine while feeling horrible that she says she won't see another doctor.
It's all exasperating!

[LLWB]

My husband had cancerous tumors on both sides of his head. They were inoperable. These tumors, at the end of his life, caused severe personality changes, causing, along with the morphine, him to hallucinate, see things that weren't there, and accuse both his children and me of trying to do"do away with him. When I would ask him why, he said I was giving him pills, (I was), trying to poison him...there were just too many coincidences.....as you can imagine, this was very painful to all the family. Brain tumors can certainly cause personality changes, disturbances. She needs to be evaluated by a neurologist asap... I know how sad you must feel, I know your pain first hand. Prayers..

[brainpain]

how your sister in law is acting is normal.i had a pituitary tumor about 2 yrs ago.i acted the same way.and still do.you start feeling like no one understands what you are going threw.i would go off on anything and everthing around me.dident even realise what i would say or do .the more my neo would say wait &see would make me feel helpless.i felt like they was waiting for me to die.i would take it out on my husband.she cant help what she does.i felt traped and no way out.no one understands how scared and helpless you feel.i felt desprait looking for anything or anyone that would help me.i gave up on my doctors and got scared to go.she cant help how she is acting.i would try but had so much going on you dont care any more.she wants to know you care about her and realise she has a tumor .if her family isent behind her and doctors dont help she will get worse.my dr ignored my tumor till it got 22mm and in my optic nerve.she is having so many hormone surges and gave up hope .it makes you crazy.praying for a cure and it going un anwserd it takes alot out of her.she is desprait and feels even GOD has gave up to.talk to her about whats shes going threw &how she feels.she probley feels like i did shes going to die.my tumor was in a bad spot and i findly had a crainotmy .but i still have anger &moody problems.it hurts that my husband dont understand my hormone surges.its been almost 2yrs and still have IM MAD AT THE WORLD PROBLEMS,WHY ME.sorry so long but i want you to know she dont hate you just dont understand whats shes doing to the family.

[pennysf]

I am dealing with the same saturation with my spouse who was diagnose about eight years ago he was  given medicine call cabergoline 0.5 mg  to reduce the tumor over a periods of a few months he stop taken the medicine because he did not have the headaches any more . He also stops going to the doctor up until early last year where he was place back on the medicine. After a few months, he stops taking the medicine again. His response was he did not like taking medicine. Here is the problem that I having with my spouse, he hallucinate things and when we are in the company of others  he says things like I  was trying to come on to other people or he would insinuate the I did something that I really did not do. He is often on this rage and sometime have loud outburst. The funniest thing is one minute we can be ok and the next he is upset over nothing. He even allow other things to affect him as well such as  too many cars being park in our neighbors yard or a trailer cart is park onlong the front of someone else house too long. I can go on with the issues I am having with him. I love my husband dearly and I really want to be there for him. However, sometimes he can say some cruel things to me that am beginning to really take a toll I live and respect him. What I really do not understand is when he have these outburst he is so quick to wanting to spilt up. Our marriage is beginning to be unstable not because of any outside affairs, but the attitude my husband has, he is a man without reasoning very one-sided. If he does not get the attention, require he goes into this mood change where he is very cynical comments to hurt someone’s feelings.    

[tnusokr14]

i just wanted to post that i was diagnosed on Jan 31 this year to have a pituitary tumor. i have sense seen a NS and was sent for another MRI and blood work for hormone testing. it's been 3 wks and haven't heard a thing. this is ongoing and i have extreme debilitating headaches. i am 24 yrs old and feel 50+. i have to take a lortab at least once a day for the pain. i am also on gabapentin for seizures and pain. My bf and i have been living together for 3 yrs and just last week i "snapped" and became so infuritated i kicked him out. luckily we were able to work things out, but i am very emotional and hormonal. the littlest things make me so angry. and i am constantly fighting the "no one understands what i'm go thru" deal. for as long as i can remember my parents alwasy made fun of my mood swings, but now it is beginning to all make sense. it is very hurtful and there are days where i have a good day and others - its a really bad day. nothing anyone says can make it better to me, only worse. like i said... this is a constant personal battle and has lead to anxiety issues with myself. they have tried to say i need to be on meds for anxiety, but right now i refuse bc of all the other drugs i am on. you are not alone and your sister in law just needs to find someone to talk to and who can relate. even if it is a forum like this. good luck

[katie4444]

My partner of seven years was diagnosed with three brain tumors, 2 operable, 1 not.  After his four weeks of radiotherapy, his personality changed and threw me out of the house - told me aggressively (before not a raised voice) he never ever wanted to see me again.  I am devastated as he is on his own and will not talk to me or return calls or messages.  Also he has told his family to have nothing to do with me.  I go thru each day in a daze and cannot move on.  I want to be with him so much.  Any suggestions.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

Her behavioral changes are characteristic of personality change. Keep in mind that she will have to have frontal lobe damage for her personality to change. Pituitary tumor may not directly produce symptoms due to pressure. There are neurotransmitter changes involved here.

Has she been planned to have the tumor removed?

Regards

[beffysunshine]

My mother was diagnosed in the early 1990's and has had no treatment. tumour was in a place where it would have been very risky to operate. to begin with, she went along with the doctorss, and was on combinations of drugs. She also has lupus and thyroid disorder.

But her conditions weren't managed well, leading to her becoming very depressed and turing her back on conventional medicine entirely. She also lost her faith; and threw me out of the house when i was a teenager, just after she was diagnosed. She became very violent and there was a distinct change in her personality.

She went from someone who was actually quite gentle, especially with me and my brother, to someone uncommunicative and argumentative. She also focuses in on the strangest things, she became very obsessive about her diet and our diet, as children; and global politics, issues in the news seemed to take on more importance than family issues.

One thing she started doing right after she got ill that had a large impact on our family was hording, and no-one could reason with her, to the point where it's hard to get into her front door sometimes.Me and my brother have spent a lot of our lives in chaos as a result and making trips to my mothers to make sure the house doesn't become so full its a danger to her.

My mother found homeopathy very useful, and her health has improved a lot, she educated herself and she got a job as a teacher, but she seems to be affected with her interpersonal skills, organisation, and her ability to form close bonds with family is always under strain because she has outbursts where she says cruel things.

I'm 32 weeks pregnant, i have underactive thyroid myself, my doctor has told me that my pituitary gland is struggling to function and i've started taking thyroxine. I understand that there's a link between the two, does anyone have any information on this because it's wprrying me that i might end up suffering from the same condition as my mother

[biggy25]

i have had a brain tumor most my life. i was diagnose at age 6 when i kept getting frequent headaches. i had surgery for my tumor but they did not remove it (stupid huh?) now im left with a scar and my tumor is still there. yes i do believe tumors cause behavior change. it's more of a denial and blame lots of people. hers differ from me because i grew up with it. my problem is my tumor is blocking the fluid to the spine which cause me great spine pressure. anyway yes tumors cause behavior changes, i'm speaking from experience