12 Most Common Brain Tumour Signs and Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of a brain tumour can vary from being subtle and mild to severe and life-threatening. Depending on the severity of symptoms and stage of cancer, doctors may advise brain tumour operation in combination with other treatments. The symptoms are based on the location and size of the tumour. Patients will experience symptoms due to the growing tumour and its pressure and damage on vital brain tissues and cells.

Common Signs and Symptoms of Brain Tumour

1. Seizures

In most cases, one of the early signs is seizure. A seizure is an uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain, which happens suddenly. It can affect the consciousness level, feeling, movements and behaviour of a person.

Types of Seizures

• Sensory Seizures – In this type of seizure, a person may experience smacking lips, strange smells, and flashing lights in the vision.
• Myoclonic Seizures – A person can get bothered by muscle twitches.
• Tonic-Clonic Seizures – In this type of seizure, the body will shake at different intensity levels all over. Patients may lose control of the bowel, bladder and become unconscious.

2. Headache

Another most common symptom of brain tumour is persistent headache. You may feel more pain in the morning than at other times of the day.

3. Vomiting or Nausea

Brain tumour can cause increased pressure or hormonal imbalance in the brain, which can lead to vomiting or nausea. This can also occur as a side effect during chemotherapy treatment for brain tumour. Patients may experience a vomiting sensation more during the morning than other times of the day.

4. Numbness & Weakness

Patients may feel a sensation of weakness or numbness. They may have tingling in their feet or hands. If numbness or muscle weakness is present on one side of the body only, then too it may be a sign of brain cancer.

5. Changes in Cognitive Functions

Cognitive functions like problem-solving skills and thinking ability are affected by brain cancer. The person may not be able to notice any changes initially because the changes are subtle.

• Change in Depth Perception – The perception can get clumsy.
• Understanding Problem or Confusion – The understanding issues can range from mild confusion to extreme confusion. For example, a person may not be able to understand words or sentences in a conversation or he may not be able to understand daily activities.
• Lack of Focus – The basic activities may take more time than usual due to the lack of focus and they may get distracted easily.
• Unable to Solve Problems – Patients may not be able to follow a recipe, play chess, write sentences or solve basic maths problems due to the tumour.
• Forgetfulness (Forgetting Things)– A person may start forgetting basic information gradually. With the progress of the tumour, the memory can diminish with time.

Also Read: MOST INNOVATIVE MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR BRAIN TUMOURS

6. Unconsciousness

The growing tumour in the brain starts to put pressure on the brain cells and a person may start to lose consciousness. Sometimes, it can also lead to a state of coma.

7. Change in Mood or Personality

As a result of a tumour in the brain, a person’s mood or personality can change such as taking more risks, becoming paranoid, becoming angrier, more sexual desire, laughing for no reason or being depressed.

8. Problem in Hearing or Vision

The tumour can also disturb brain parts related to auditory or visual functions. There can be ringing in the ear or loss of hearing in one ear. Vision can also get affected and patients may experience vision loss, blurry vision, double vision, or light flashing. There can also be abnormal eye movement.

9. Changes in Body Strength or Coordination

A person suffering from a brain tumour may lose body coordination and strength. They may stumble upon walking, lose body balance, get dizziness, clumsiness in body language and weakness in one side of the face or body.

10. Difficulty Speaking

A brain tumour can cause changes in the speech of a person. For instance, listeners may not be able to understand a person who is speaking. They may be unable to find sense in the sentences or conversation, problem in finding correct words for conversation, trouble to form a sentence, unable to speak clearly, slurring of words, etc.

11. Convulsions

There can be irregular, violent and sudden movement of body parts or limbs caused by the disorder in the brain due to a tumour.

12. Loss of Feeling or Weakness in Legs or Arms

One of the symptoms of a brain tumour is not being able to feel the body parts such as hands or legs. There might also be some weakness in the limbs while doing daily activities.

A brain tumour is a serious illness that should be treated as soon as possible at the best hospital for radiation oncology in India. All the signs and symptoms of brain tumours mentioned above will help identify brain cancer at an early stage. When cancer is detected at an early stage, it becomes easier to treat cancer due to the smaller size and low reach.

Also Read: KNOW ALL THE NON-SURGICAL TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR BRAIN TUMOR