Strange symptoms… Brain tumor?!

[HeleneD]

My husband has been having strange symptoms for the past 4-5 years. He has never had any of them checked because everyone tells him he's crazy when it comes up.

He's 20, and 6'3, and weighs 200lbs. He's in great shape, and he works out regularly. He eats a very healthy diet.
When he starts showing symptoms, I guess I'll call it having an "episode", they can last between a day or two and three weeks.
The first thing is his mood swings. He'll start out the day feeling great, and then a while alter he'll get really angry. Then he'll be fine again, and by night time he'll be depressed.
Every time it happens the right side of his body will begin to go numb. It happens gradually, but it happens very time.
Occasionally, maybe every three episodes he'll have a mild seizure.

I looked his symptoms up and came up with Brain tumor. And frankly, I'm terrified.
He has all of these.
Seizures
Changes in speech or hearing
Changes in vision
Balance problems
Problems with walking
Numbness or tingling in the arms or legs
Problems with memory
Personality changes
Inability to concentrate
Weakness in one part of the body.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[lbarnett84]

look up aura migraine or epilepsy? :)

[Anonymouse88]

He should get that checked out.  If he's had seizures, why haven't they done a neurological workup?  He could have something causing adolescent onset of epilepsy.  Seizures can have a variety of presentations, and if he's seizing in his motor and sensory cortices (they're right next to each other), that might explain the numbness and weakness.  Another option might be really nasty migraine auras (they can occasionally mimic strokes), but I think epilepsy is more likely (note that I'm not an expert on epilepsy or any sort of doctor).  Then again, if it takes days for the numbness and weakness to set in, I've got nothing.  He should definitely see a doctor though.

At the very least he should get an EEG, which would identify abnormal brainwaves caused by seizure activity.  An MRI or CT of his head might be in order to check for things like tumors, but keep in mind that brain tumors can cause just about any symptom.  If his doctors won't believe him, try to get a video of him while he's having an episode to show them.

If the mood swings are independent of the episodes, they might be an entirely separate issue (ultra rapid cycling bipolar can cause mood changes over the course of the day).  If they're with the episodes, though, they probably are related.