Five Symptoms That Can Point to a Tumor in Your Brain

There are more than 150 different types of tumors, adhesions, or cysts that can develop in the brain, and each can come with its own set of unique symptoms. That said, when there’s a growth in your brain, some symptoms develop more often than others, and we want to review them here.

At our practice, Dr. Ali H. Mesiwala is a board-certified neurosurgeon who, along with our experienced team, has extensive experience with brain tumors and brain surgery.

In the following, we take a brief look at some of the more common signs of a brain tumor, with a few caveats.

What you should understand about brain tumors

As we mentioned in the beginning, there are many different growths that can develop in the human brain, so outlining a definitive list of symptoms here is impossible. Some growths can cause an eyelid to droop, and nothing more, while others can cause persistent, severe headaches.

Symptoms of a brain tumor depend on the type of growth, its location, and its size.

Another point to consider is that tumors in the brain aren’t always malignant (cancerous). In fact, the chances of developing a malignant tumor in your brain or on your spinal cord is just 1% and only a little more than 25,000 malignant tumors of these types are diagnosed each year.

Another number that illustrates this point is that more than 30% of brain tumors are meningiomas, and 85% of these tumors are benign and slow growing.

In other words, our goal with this blog post isn’t to alarm you unnecessarily, but to outline a few symptoms that might indicate a problem in your brain, which may or may not be caused by a brain tumor.

Five signs of a brain tumor

Understanding that symptoms can vary greatly when it comes to brain tumors, let’s take a look at some of the more common, which include:

1. Headaches

One of the most common side effects of brain tumors are headaches. Your brain is surrounded by hard bone and there’s little room for additional growths. When a tumor does develop, it can place pressure on your brain, causing headaches. These headaches can be quite severe and tend to strike during the night or in the morning when you wake up.

2. Seizures

Depending upon the location of the tumor, it can interfere with your brain’s electrical activity and lead to seizures.

3. Balance problems

Here again, depending upon the tumor’s location, it may affect your balance and lead to dizziness and vertigo.

4. Cognitive issues

People with brain tumors sometimes experience cognitive issues, such as difficulty remembering, or their comprehension skills may become impaired.

5. Loss of senses

Another side effect of a brain tumor can be a reduction or loss of certain senses, such as vision, taste, and hearing.

Again, these symptoms aren’t the only ones that people can develop when they have a brain tumor. Muscle weakness, facial numbness and tingling, personality changes, and other symptoms are also on the list of possible side effects of a brain tumor.

If, however, you’re experiencing any of the issues we describe above, or other strange symptoms, it’s important that you have us examine you.

To get started, please contact one of our offices in Newport Beach, Marina del Rey, Rancho Cucamonga, California, to set up a consultation.