While a brain tumor can be malignant or benign, doctors at the Mayo Clinic report that only a biopsy of the mass growing on the brain can tell if cancer is present. Adult brain tumor symptoms should not be ignored. In addition to cancer, a brain tumor can create additional problems, including hearing or vision loss, changes in personality, migraine headaches or seizures. The symptoms associated with a brain tumor can vary, depending on its size, growth rate and location.
Headaches
Headaches should be considered as a symptom of a brain tumor when the pattern of the pain changes. Headaches may become more severe or happen more often and in different parts of the head. Headaches associated with brain tumors typically are most severe in the morning versus the evening or afternoon. The pain may become unrelenting and continuous. Headaches caused by a brain tumor often are accompanied by nausea and vomiting. With a brain tumor, nausea also is most apparent in the morning.
Senses
When the senses become altered for no apparent reason, it could be a symptom of a brain tumor. A brain tumor may cause sudden changes in vision that include blurriness or double vision. Brain tumors often present first as a loss of peripheral vision when patients cannot see beyond the central part of the field of vision. Vision loss can occur in one or both eyes. Hearing problems that come and go could indicate the presence of a brain tumor and come on gradually or attack suddenly. When speech patterns change and the patient has difficulty speaking that becomes progressively worse, a brain tumor may be present.
Other Symptoms
If a person who never had seizures suddenly begins exhibiting signs of convulsions, it may be because of a brain tumor. In many patients, they begin to lose sensation gradually in an arm or leg, because a brain tumor can develop in any part of the brain. Weakness in the limbs is often mistaken for a stroke resulting from a blocked artery, report doctors at the National Brain Tumor Society. Others exhibit strange, unexplained personality behaviors never seen before. Confusion and memory loss, unrelated to any other conditions, can indicate the development of a tumor. Many patients lose control of their balance and become unsteady, particularly when they also have a severe headache. Young women may stop menstruating or be diagnosed as infertile when they have a brain tumor.
