Scared about brain tumour

[HeadFog]

I live in fear of getting a brain tumour after my mum and grandad both passed away from one.

Over the last few days I have been feeling dizzy when I lay in bed at night, like the room is spinning. I even felt a bit nauseous last night. In the morning it feels like it takes a while for my brain to wake up, it feels quite foggy for a while and I generally just feel off balance.

I know there are a lot of things that could cause these symptoms but I am not finding anything that match these symptoms perfectly so I am thinking it must be a brain tumour this time.

I have a 1 and 4 year old and I am so scared.

I get that with ear infections.

My daughter had a benign brain tumour, by the way, and dizziness wasn't a symptom.

Thank you, and I am sorry to hear about your daughter. Do you get earpain with the ear infections?

No ear pain here but I guess it is most likely viral, my 4 year old has had a pretty bad cold and there is Covid going around his nursery. I did have this woozy foggy weird head feeling after the covid jab so maybe.

It's the fact it all seems worse first thing in the morning which makes me nervous.

The dizziness and fogginess could be caused by many things. How long have you had the symptoms?

I've got a benign brain tumour and occasionally have a few symptoms like you describe, but I know that in my case, it's largely due to anxiety/not drinking enough/the heat/tiredness.

Vertigo, ear infection sounds more likely.

I know 2 people who have brain tumours and didn't have those symptoms at all if it's any comfort.

About 5 days. It was bad when it was very hot so initially put it down to dehydration. I'm rubbish at drinking water and am breastfeeding. It's the vertigo when in bed the last 2 nights that's now worried me it could be something more.

I also have a sort of heavy feeling in one spot of my head around/above my right eye, it just doesn't feel right. Not painful though, just heavy. My eye feels quite dry and tired on that side.

That sounds exactly like labyrinthitis to me. The dizziness when lying, the nausea, the being off-balance, and the strange fogginess in the head. I've had it occasionally over the past decade and that describes my symptoms perfectly. Horrible, horrible thing but not "serious".

The crystals in the inner ear have become unbalanced and this is often due to a viral thing going on.

It's worse first thing in the morning because you've been lying down all night. I had to start sleeping on my side and propped up because being prone on my back made it so much worse.

I used to have health anxiety many years ago and from what I recall, brain tumours most often have serious symptoms like a seizure or one-sided limb weakness.

Hope you feel better soon.

If your eye feels heavy could it be eye strain? Might be worth booking an eye test, they can spot many things on there and it might put your mind at rest.

Thank you so much it is calming me down a bit. I have anxiety, particularly around health, so once I start obsessing it's hard for me to get out of the rabbit hole. I know the anxiety right now is making me hyperaware of the symptoms too.

Yes I did think about eye strain, I'm probably due an eye test anyway so that's a good proactive step I can take.

The people I know we're actually diagnosed by their opticians so that would probably put your mind at rest.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor what were their symptoms?

Have you spoken to your GP about your worries? Firstly, if there is any chance that your symptoms might actually be a brain tumour you should see them - but even if not, they'd be able to tell you what it was.

But the main reason I think you should go is so that you can chat to them about the illness that your family members died from - it might not have any genetic link, just bad luck that they both got it.

But if there IS a strong genetic link, you should be able to get annual scans (or whatever is appropriate for the aggression of the illness) to make sure everything is okay.

My dizziness was caused by labyrinthitis which actually impaired my hearing so I now have to wear hearing aids.

All your symptoms are typical of anxiety. Sadly it's a vicious cycle. Speak to your GP. I too convinced myself I suffered from a brain tumour some years ago. Thankfully my GP agreed to send me for a MRI. This allowed me to turn the page and focus on my anxiety.

None at all in either cases, they were picked up through routine eye tests.

Thank you. I haven't spoken to the GP yet as I know they usually (quite rightly) will only consider doing something if the symptoms have been here longer than a typical viral infection duration.

Both my mum and grandad had a brain tumour as secondary cancer. I am at higher risk of breast and bowel cancer due to family and personal history so I'm having regular checks for those but the brain one seems to be the thing giving me most anxiety.

Having children has ramped up my health anxiety for sure, there is no way I am leaving them behind.