Diagnoised with Brain Tumor

Back on Sept 29th i was dx with a brain tumor by a nuroradiologist....he stated in his report that it was probably a low grade oligodendroglioma....However i am not really getting any answers from anyone. I have been sick for over a year and 6 mos ago things started getting worse. i noticed that i was having frequent headaches that awoke me in the morning and would stay with me for most part of the am. I then started with dizziness, ringing in the ear, usually the right, weird sensations about my head, tingling and pain in my left arm. ( tumor right temporal lobe). I also started having speech problems, and as of late memory problems, bad. I had had problems with menstural, having to go to the bathroom right then and not later. Recently i had a bad spell to where i had a weird sensation about my head, pain in my arm then leg numbness and then i couldn't move my arm at all. My hand had gone completely cold and after about 45 mins and this spell passing, i needed to go to the restroom and could not walk by myself. The next day I had severe weakness and pain on the left side of my body. I have been told that I may just have seizures, I may have a brain tumor, but because the lesion is so small no one can say for sure, I could possibly have MS. I am so confused and not really getting anywhere. I walked into the grocery store to buy groceries and couldn't remember what i went for, and came home with 4 pizza's. That is not like me. I believe that i have a tumor, but i cannot get the spectrom mri done due to my insurance. Others are telling me that i just have sever migraines. since being on depakote my headaches are not as bad. But i still get anger, mild head first and then severe fatigue.

[scaredpreggo]

I have some similar symptoms.  Can you describe the headache and "weird sensations about your head?"  How was tumor dx?

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

It is true that migraine gives tingling sometimes. But the weakness in the left side of the body suggests a problem with compression of neurons somewhere. I would like to know the exact MRI, if you have a copy.

A low grade oligodendroglioma does not necessarily mean a very small tumor. Can you mention the size ? It is possible that the tumor may be small, but the surrounding tissue has got some swelling which is causing the trouble.

Have you consulted a Neurologist or a Neurosurgeon ?

Regards

[laniertoni]

I had MRI was done with and without contrast and they brought me back for additional views. I went back same day and they did the additional view and that is when they determined that i had a lesion there. The Radiologist said it was a 0.3 i believe. I have been told that there is no swelling around the tissues. I have consulted both I have been put on cymbalta at first for my moods, then detrol la for the urinary problems, and they put me on yaz at the time as well but it caused me to have problems, so we stopped that. The Nuro put me on Keppra 1000 mg bid at first and then it was lowered to 500 bid. I have since been put on depakote 500 bid and keppra lowered to 500 qd.
They did ck by b12 levels and they were low so they put me on b12 500 mg sublinqual qd and my b12 is back up in the 900's but i am still fatigued alot, especially towards the 3:00 o'clock hour. I was told that the tumor was so close to the skull base that a spectrometry mri would be of no good or at least that is what the radiologist said so that is why my insurance is denying me of having it done. I have had 2 MRIs done now and a ct scan, but they say that there is no change in it...
As far as finding the tumor they did a Flair and coronal i believe the 2nd time around. Nurologist said that if they hadn't of done those it would have been missed by most neurologist as well.

[laniertoni]

My Fiance said that i was wrong on the size of the lesion.... he said it is 3.5 mil....One othere thing i didn't mention i don't think is that  I am a triage nurse and I have to be able to remember who I am talking to and what i said i would do for them as far as getting records, meds., and what questions to ask when i get a urgent call. I graduated with a 4.0 5 yrs ago and now i feel like i have the brain of a 14 yr old.

[kitlyn]

Hi :
I sympathize with you, in july of 06 i had sever weakness after a diet to lose a small amount of weight. and i felt weakness was from that. It turns out after a brain MRI, as i was getting severe head pressure, arm weakness, and speech trouble w  weakness in my jaw, that they found two lesions, on both sides of my brain, 1.2 cm and larger,  mine had mass effect after contrat. However , they also could not rule out a tumor, but said not sure, and MS etc.. i had to wait 5 months to see and then after they said that my spots got less prominent and it was not a tumor. I went through and still am going through the worst time in all my life. I wa salways healthy and drank and now i am scared so much each day. I can identify. If its a tumor w cetainty why are you not in the hosp , to remove or treat it. If the  Neuro said tumor.? Are you in the rt hands dr. Get a second opinion if needed. I had to beg to have my MRI done, and noone thought i wa ssick , all said anxiety, a woman has to yell and scream to be heard sometimes.  I don;t know if your a woman, but you must be persistent w  dr.s   Peace, Kitlyn, let us know.