What Women Need to Know About Benign Brain Tumors
It is easy to shrug off forgetfulness or a headache as stress. However, this isn’t always the case as those symptoms could point to the possibility of a tumor in the brain. For women, this risk is even higher given that women make up 62.9% of people who develop noncancerous brain tumors. It is therefore important to know what to look out for, and which steps to take.
First, it is important to know that when you are found to have a “benign” tumor in your brain, it doesn’t mean that you are fine. The word benign is used as an alternative to noncancerous, but that doesn’t mean those tumors are harmless.
Depending on where the benign tumor is located inside your brain, its effects can vary widely and even be life-threatening. Additionally, most noncancerous tumors regrow or return many years, even decades, after they have been successfully removed through a surgical procedure. One therefore shouldn’t take these tumors lightly just because they have been categorized as noncancerous.
Symptoms of brain tumors usually vary based on the location of the tumor. However, the common signs include experiencing persistent headaches, vomiting or nausea, seizures, memory decline, changes in one’s vision (particularly changes to peripheral vision), and numbness or weakness in one’s limbs.
Many women experience the signs above quite often in their lives. For example, a number of women have headaches and vomit just before their monthly period. The signs can therefore be symptomatic of many different conditions, which is why it is possible to have a brain tumor and not suspect that what you are experiencing isn’t the usual PMS or other such condition.
For women, hormones can play a role in the onset and progression of brain tumors. For instance, meningiomas usually have receptors for estrogen. This means that the tumor can grow rapidly in case you are undergoing a hormonal change, such as when you are pregnant.
Brain tumors usually grow slowly and it is easy to fail to suspect that something is amiss until the tumor has progressed to such an extent that it is causing severe symptoms. It is therefore important to avoid dismissing any symptom or sign that you experience. Inform your healthcare provider about it so that needed tests, such as MRI scans, can be done to rule out a brain tumor.
Early detection is vital, so keep your doctor informed about any changes you experience. Not every headache you have indicates that you have a brain tumor, but talking to your doctor will help in determining whether additional tests are needed to confirm what exactly is causing that headache.
Currently, surgery to remove the benign tumor is the go-to treatment option, but some brain tumors are cancerous and often require a combination of surgery, radiation therapy or even chemotherapy. Many companies like CNS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSP) are working to bring to market more effective treatment options for brain tumors. The availability of those additional alternatives could improve the clinical outcomes of patients who aren’t responding well to the existing treatments.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to CNS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSP) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CNSP
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the BioMedWire website applicable to all content provided by BMW, wherever published or re-published: http://BMW.fm/Disclaimer
It is easy to shrug off forgetfulness or a headache as stress. However, this isn’t always the case as those symptoms could point to the possibility of a tumor in the brain. For women, this risk is even higher given that women make up 62.9% of people who develop noncancerous brain tumors. It is therefore important to know what to look out for, and which steps to take.
First, it is important to know that when you are found to have a “benign” tumor in your brain, it doesn’t mean that you are fine. The word benign is used as an alternative to noncancerous, but that doesn’t mean those tumors are harmless.
Depending on where the benign tumor is located inside your brain, its effects can vary widely and even be life-threatening. Additionally, most noncancerous tumors regrow or return many years, even decades, after they have been successfully removed through a surgical procedure. One therefore shouldn’t take these tumors lightly just because they have been categorized as noncancerous.
Symptoms of brain tumors usually vary based on the location of the tumor. However, the common signs include experiencing persistent headaches, vomiting or nausea, seizures, memory decline, changes in one’s vision (particularly changes to peripheral vision), and numbness or weakness in one’s limbs.
Many women experience the signs above quite often in their lives. For example, a number of women have headaches and vomit just before their monthly period. The signs can therefore be symptomatic of many different conditions, which is why it is possible to have a brain tumor and not suspect that what you are experiencing isn’t the usual PMS or other such condition.
For women, hormones can play a role in the onset and progression of brain tumors. For instance, meningiomas usually have receptors for estrogen. This means that the tumor can grow rapidly in case you are undergoing a hormonal change, such as when you are pregnant.
Brain tumors usually grow slowly and it is easy to fail to suspect that something is amiss until the tumor has progressed to such an extent that it is causing severe symptoms. It is therefore important to avoid dismissing any symptom or sign that you experience. Inform your healthcare provider about it so that needed tests, such as MRI scans, can be done to rule out a brain tumor.
Early detection is vital, so keep your doctor informed about any changes you experience. Not every headache you have indicates that you have a brain tumor, but talking to your doctor will help in determining whether additional tests are needed to confirm what exactly is causing that headache.
Currently, surgery to remove the benign tumor is the go-to treatment option, but some brain tumors are cancerous and often require a combination of surgery, radiation therapy or even chemotherapy. Many companies like CNS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSP) are working to bring to market more effective treatment options for brain tumors. The availability of those additional alternatives could improve the clinical outcomes of patients who aren’t responding well to the existing treatments.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to CNS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSP) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CNSP
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the BioMedWire website applicable to all content provided by BMW, wherever published or re-published: http://BMW.fm/Disclaimer
