Brain Tumor Symptoms

May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month and The National Brain Tumor Society sent about 200 advocates to Washington this week to lobby Congress on behalf of the brain tumor community.  There is not enough education. There are not enough resources. Patients are not getting the information or care they need to make appropriate decisions about their health. It's not just me. Patients with more severe tumors than my own (malignant) face the same challenges in terms of diagnosis and treatment. The mass in my brain is a benign cyst, but it wreaks the same havoc on the brain that any other mass does simply by taking up space that is not available and causing a build up of cerebrospinal fluid (hydrocephalus) that puts pressure on the brain. 

As a public service message, I include below information about brain tumor symptoms provided by the American Brain Tumor Association. Having most of these symptoms myself, one would think it would be logical that a 17x16x11mm cyst in the center of the brain would the obvious cause. To be told otherwise and to receive virtually no treatment makes me feel like I am in an episode of the Twilight Zone that just won't end! It feels prudent for me to share this information. You never know if it will get to someone who needs to know it!