Pineal cyst symtoms

[Mel_2006]

Does anyone know what all symtoms a pineal syst can cause?

[JainMD]

Hi Mel,
How are you feeling?
What all symptoms do you have?
How old are you? When was cyst diagnosed and how big it is?
The pineal gland is a small endocrine gland in the brain. It produces melatonin, a hormone that may weakly modulate wake/sleep patterns. It is located near the center of the brain, between the two hemispheres.
Pineal Gland cyst is benign cyst, present in pineal gland of brain. It is located in midline and close to the course of optic nerve. It does not cause symptoms unless and until it is large in size and cause pressure symptoms.
There could be Pressure symptoms like headache, vomiting, irritability, double vision or vision impairment (due to its closeness to optic nerve) among others.
If any of such symptoms develop, then it is a concern to see neurologist at earliest.
Serial monitoring of size of pineal gland cyst is important by doing periodic MRI.
Keep me informed.
Bye.

[Mel_2006]

Honestly i feel like ****. I have real bad migrains i have a headache everyday i have black outs I have brain seizers i have no energy and several other symtoms i am almost 32 and i have had migrains since i was 5. my cyst was diagnosed in 2003 it was 1.2 x 0.7 cm and it is now 10 x12 cm. And i cant find any doctors here where i live that will help me. they wont let me work because of it but yet i cant get disability and i am a single mom of 4 kids. Can you help?

[JainMD]

Hi Mel,
I can understand it is so difficult for you.
I mean on one side you have kids to look after and on other you have the diagnosis but you are not able to treat it.
I think your cyst has grown 10 times from previous MRI and that is causing pressure symptoms.
These pressure symptoms are  vomiting, headache, seizure etc.
I think you need to find a neurosurgeon at earliest and get it operated.
I can help you by giving advice.
Bye.

[Mel_2006]

I cant find a neurosurgeon that is the problem. The neurosurgeon's that my family doctor has sent me to say that the cyst isn't what is causing my symtoms and send me on my way.

[JainMD]

Hi Mel,
What other diagnosis does the neurosurgeon feel it is?
What explanation he has given you?
Is it migraine causing headache and seizure?
Did he see your recent MRI's?
What does he feel why cyst are not harmful even after they have increased 10 times in size?
Keep me informed.
Bye.

[Mel_2006]

The neurosurgeon came in the room my mom was with me and told us that after reviewing the mri results he didn't believe that a pineal cyst could be what was causing all my symtoms because pineal cyst usually have no symtoms and that i was just having stress headaches said he would be right back and answer any questions we had and he never did the nurse came in and gave me my check out papers a few minutes later. We asked to talk to him and they said that he was busy with someone else.

[JainMD]

Hi,
I am sorry to say but I would diagnose stress headaches at last.
There is evidence showing that cyst has increased 10 folds and you are having consistent symptoms of cyst causing pressure effects on neighbouring structures.
Can you post the complete MRI report?
I am not sure whether seizure activity could be due to stress headaches.

[Mel_2006]

Exam date 12/22/200

Clinical Statement: pineal cyst, headache
Images obtained in the axial and coronal planes following the intravenous Magnevist. Thin sections were obtained through the pineal gland with and without conyrast as well.
Comparison is made to report of August 27,2004. The films were not available to us. It is recommended the magnetic resonance imaging of August 27,2004 be obtained for further evaluation.
The lateral ventricle, third ventricle and fourth ventricle appear intact. There is no evidence of intracranial bleeding.
Pineal cyst is seen in all planes. It measures approximately 10 x 12 cm. There is some minimal contrast density to the rim of the cyst. There is no evidence of other areas of increased or decreased signal intensity within the brain. The internal auditory canals and acoustic nerves appear intact. There is no evidence of contrast enhancing masses.
Mucosal thickening is seen effecting the right and the left maxillary sinuses and also the ethmoid sinuses and minimally the sphenoid sinuses. Mild mucosal thickening is also seen effecting the frontal sinuses. Other variations are not identitied.
MR Impression
1. The ventricular system appears intact. A pineal cyst is again apparent with some minimal contrast enhancement in the rim of the cyst. It again measures approximately 10 x 12 cm. It is recommended however that the prior magnetic resonance imaging study be obtained for direct comparison for further evalution. This prior studt was done August 27,2004.
2. No evidence of intracranial bleeding, Other areas of increased or decreased signal intensity within the brain are nit identified. The internal auditory canals and aciustic nerves appear intact.
3. There is no evidence of contrast-enhancing masses.
4. There is evidence of bilateral maxilly, ethmoid, sphenoid and some frontal sinusitis as noted above.

This MRI was done before the EEG was done that showed i was having brain seizers..

[Mel_2006]

Exam date 5/21/2004
Comparison to report from 02/04/03 MRI.
The corpus callosum and pitutarygland are within normal limits. A thin walled pineal cyst is identified that measures 1.2 x 0.7 cm. The ventricles are normal size. White matter is unremarkable. Brain stem and cerebellum are within normal limits. Paranasal sinuses are clear. Flow voids in the carotid basilar arteries are intact. The post imaged show no abnormal enhancement. Specifically, there is no abnormal enhancement in or around the pineal cyst.
MRI Impression.
Unremarkable examination. Incidental note is made of pineal cyst.

[Mel_2006]

Did you get my MRI results? I sent 2.

Thanks for your help
Mel

[JainMD]

Hi Mel,
Your MRI report suggests that you are having sinusitis. Sinusitis involving all sinuses present.
There is no evidence showing mass effect due to Pineal gland cyst, which is not co-relating.
What was reported on EEG?
The radiologist has not mentioned about optic nerve which usually is in close proximity of Pineal gland cyst.
Can you ask radiologist to have a relook and try to co-relate the symptoms?
If you are meeting the radiologist ask him about optic nerve too.
Your headaches can be explained due to sinusitis, but not seizures or blackouts.
It is possible that your seizures are preceded by blackouts.
Bye.

[Mel_2006]

Jain,
I know that i have sinus headaches but they started years after the migrains. I've had the migrains so long i can tell when my headache is a migrain or if it is a sinus headache. I don't have the EEG report all my doctor told me was that it conformed that i was having brain seizers.
what is the optic nerve? What can symtoms can it cause if something is abnormal with it?
The blackouts i have also had for years I stared blacking out with my migrains when i was 7. and have only had the seizers for about a year.

[JainMD]

Hi Mel,
Optic nerve is the nerve which carries visual signals from retina to nine primary visual nuclei in the brain for interpretation of image.
It is second of the twelve cranial nerves we have.
You would have symptoms related to vision if your pineal gland cyst is enlarging and causing pressure symptoms on optic nerve.
As I gather more information of your earlier health status, it says that these present symptoms may not be due to current pineal gland status.
Keep me informed if you have any further queries.
Bye.

[Mel_2006]

I have blurred vison, double vision, light sinsitivity. thing get fussy sometimes with my headaches.

[JainMD]

Hi,
I know that you are indeed having those symptoms but these symptoms were present prior to identification of increase in size of cyst.
Though I can't stamp and say that your symptoms are not due to pineal gland cysts enlargement.
But you have very bad migraine from age of 7 years associated with black outs and other visual disturbance, hence it makes us difficult to think about pineal gland cyst causing these symptoms now.
I think you should be discussing you MRI with radiologist at earliest.
Keep me informed.
Bye.

[Mel_2006]

The thing is,is we don't know how long i have had the cyst. Ok see when i was 5 i was in 2 car accidents with my grandparents just a few months apart and my parents said that just a month or so after that is when i started getting the headaches. They took me to our family doctor and he said that the headaches were mirgraines. There was never a MRI done or ant other test at that time or the time of the accidents. I continued to get the migraines and then my first blackout with a migraine was when i was 7. I missed alot of school when i was a child due to the migraines. The migraines would come and go when i was younger and i didn't blackout all that much. Then as i got in my early 20s the migraines got worse and i was having one just about every day in 2003 the doctor i was going to at that time the ordered a MRI. It took 22 years after the migraines started to have a MRI done. The Neurologist he sent me to then done an MRI and an EEG. That was when the pineal Cyst was found at that time measuring 1.2 x 0.7 cm. And the EEG came back normal. They tried to control my migraines with migraine medication it would help the first few times i took it then wouldn't help the migraines. He said that he didn't know what else to do to control the migraines and sent me back to my family doctor. About a year later i switched doctors and my new doctor monitored my migraines and ordered an MRI which showed the cyst still and he started montoring the cyst too with MRI's 6 months to a year apart. The headaches started getting real bad again i was having them every day and the blackout stared happening more often. My dad or my ex husband would end up taking me to the er 2 ot 3 days a week because they were so bad. At the er they would give me a shot and send me home. Then my doctor ordered another MRI and an EEG.{ because of the headaches and blackouts getting worse} That is when we found that the cyst had grown to 10 x 12 cm and that i was having brain seizers.
Now i have a headache every day some days worse then others ans i have a seizer atleast 2 days a week sometimes more some days the seizers aren't that bad and other days they are real bad. And i blackout atleast 2 to 3 times in a 3 week period.  

[JainMD]

Hi Mel,
I can understand that you are really not sure from when is the cyst present as there was no imaging being done for 22 years.
You are feeling that whether those migraine attacks were due to cyst.
I think I would now think that your symptoms could be due cyst enlargement.
I think you should be considering meeting another neurosurgeon at earliest and planning for possible intervention.
Keep me informed.
Bye.