The 6 barely-there symptoms of a brain tumour – from getting irritated easily to needing the loo more often
BRAIN tumours are one of the most deadly forms of cancer — but not everyone knows the signs.
I’m A Celeb star Annabel Giles tragically died from the disease this month, after being diagnosed in July.
She had surgery and radiotherapy, but the “highly aggressive” cancer spread over the following four months, taking her life.
Annabel had a glioblastoma, the most common type of malignant brain tumour that affects around 2,200 Brits a year.
Just under a third of brain tumours diagnosed in England between 1995 and 2017 were glioblastomas.
They develop from glial cells — the supporting cells of the brain and spinal cord.
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Doctors can test for the disease with MRI or CT scans, as well as neurological examinations and biopsies.
The main treatments are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as well as supportive treatments to ease symptoms.
Symptoms depend on where tumours are located on the brain and can often be missed at the early stages of the disease, when it is easier to treat.
They can also easily be mistaken for something else, so it is important to know what to watch out for.
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6 surprising signs of a brain tumour
1. Getting irritated easily
Changes in personality can be an early warning sign of brain tumours, with one in three patients suffering a change, according to the Brain Tumour Charity.
The disease can cause people to become irritated more easily, as well as aggressive, confused or forgetful.
Losing motivation, depression, loss of social inhibitions, anxiety, mood swings and difficulty planning, organising or identifying emotions can also be a symptom.
As the tumour grows, it can press on brain cells around it, affecting how they work.
Personality changes are most common when the tumour is in the frontal lobe, which controls your personality and emotions.
2. Growth spurts
Brain tumours can affect the pituitary gland — a part of the brain that makes hormones, including the ones that cause growth.
In rare cases, this means brain cancer can cause people to quickly increase in height.
The strange symptom is particularly subtle in children, who may be expected to go through spurts in adolescence as part of puberty.
Tumours can also cause other hormonal changes like delayed puberty, changes in periods, increased sex drive or unexplained weight gain or loss, according to Brain Tumour Research.
3. Difficulty making facial expressions
The disease can also lead to nerve damage, which may cause patients to struggle when making facial expressions.
They may be unable to smile, frown or move their face in their normal manner when speaking.
Nerve paralysis can also cause the face to be fixed in a particular position or cause weakness or drooping on one side.
4. Voices in your head
Some brain cancers can cause symptoms that might seem more like a mental health issue than a physical illness.
Tumours on the temporal lobe can cause you to hear voices in your head, according to Cancer Research UK.
Disease in the area can also cause short-term memory loss and difficulty with hearing and speaking, the charity said.
5. Struggling to read
The disease often impacts patients’ brain function, impacting their ability to think or read.
Dr Donald O’Rourke, a neurosurgeon at , said: “Some symptoms are really destructive in the sense that people are wide awake and may look completely alert or normal.
“This is particularly common with tumours in the midbrain.
“The two sides of your brain are connected, and they ‘talk’ to each other in order for you to do things like think, write, and remember.
“We really take that communication for granted. When a tumour disrupts the communication, it’s devastating.”
6. Needing the loo more often
Brain tumours can cause changes to the endocrine system — a network of glands and organs that use hormones to control a range of bodily functions.
In some cases, this can make people feel they need to go to the toilet more often, according to the Brain Tumour Charity.
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It can also impact tiredness, sensitivity to the cold, thirst, diabetes, fertility and erectile dysfunction.
Tumours on the spinal cord can also lead to incontinence in some cases.