Worried about brain/spinal cord cancer at 17.
Posted , 2 users are following.
Age: 17
Sex: Male
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 187
Race: White
Primary concern: perceived cognitive deterioration/metastatic GBM?
Duration: felt off 8 months ago, but has gotten worse in the past 2 months, and particularly in the past 2 weeks (possibly exacerbated by going off meds?)
medical issues: Asthma, OCD, suspected ADHD, Anxiety.
Current medication: albuterol rescue inhaler as needed (used to be on 100 mg of Zoloft before going off)
Drinking/smoking: haven’t drank in over a year, and haven’t smoked weed in 9 months (bad trip)
Over the last couple of months, my cognitive state has been gradually diminishing (I think), but as of recent, my short term memory has become severely affected. These lapses in short-term memory generally have manifested as not being able to remember what I was going to do, usually after getting distracted by something else, but sometimes I just don’t remember, even if the thought happened seconds ago. For Instance: when I got up in the morning, I told myself I was going to grab my mask in my room after going to the bathroom, and after I was done in the bathroom, I came back to my room and had forgotten what I needed from there, or why I had come there. After a bit of thought, I was able to remember, however.
Stuff of this nature has been occurring frequently though, and I feel as if it isn’t normal to be experiencing it at all - never mind at the young age of 17. Besides all of this, I’ve also been with a dull pressure feeling in my head, but it hasn’t really gotten worse, or better - it’s just remained stagnant. I’ve also been misplacing things more frequently than I ever had in the past as well.
I don’t know what the cause of this is, but I did go off of my medication cold-turkey around 3 months ago - so I’m hoping these symptoms can be attributed to that, or maybe anxiety/adhd, and hopefully nothing like a brain tumor.
Speaking of brain tumors though, what are the odds that I as a 17 year old male would have one, and even more specifically, one that is a high grade Glioma (like GBM)?
EDIT: this is a copy/paste from a week ago, and I’ve since presented with new symptoms: occasional tingling in arms and legs, and haven’t had an erection in 3 days. These truly scare me, and have prompted me to think that I may have glioblastoma that has metastasized to the spine. It also doesn’t help that the pressure feeling in my head has yet to subside, and that my cognitive state has only gotten worse, as I’ve been feeling severe brain fog these past few days.
0 likes, 3 replies
jan34534 noah52207
Posted
Noah I don’t mean to minimize what you’re saying but I honestly have had all of your symptoms starting in my 20s and they went on for quite a while. Of course I was scared about what it could possibly be. it turned out that they were all due to long-term stress and anxiety. My symptoms lingered for close to a year. The doll headache, the memory issues, I had numbness in tingling in my arms and legs, brain fog, floaters in my eyes, shortness of breath, pressure in my head, dizziness . I still get some of these symptoms when I am anxious and I am now in my 50s.
if you had cancer that metastasized, you would be very ill by now. What is happening is that you probably read something online about your symptoms that gave you the worst case scenario. I’m just assuming this. Then fear takes over the mind and you start believing something that is not factual for yourself.our thinking is often just illusion and not based on reality.
actually your symptoms don’t sound at all like glioblastoma. You would have trouble speaking or even understanding language. You would have double vision most likely, even personality change, seizures, swelling, etc.
what you are describing sounds like short term memory issues due to stress and anxiety which is temporary, and also very common. head pressure from stress and anxiety which is extremely common, tingling sensation which is also caused by anxiety. I’ve had that for years.
going off medication cold turkey is never a good idea.
don’t overthink this. Remember fear stands for false evidence appearing real.
if you really want peace of mind, make an appointment with your doctor and have testing done then you can relax when everything is OK.
Anxiety can mimic symptoms of different conditions . any symptom created by anxiety is not harmful. Your short term memory issue will improve the more you relax.
When you get some help for the anxiety, the head pressure will resolve.
You’re going to be OK.
The worst thing you can do is sit around and think about everything because then your symptoms will get worse and not go away as quickly.
You might want to think about getting some counseling for your anxiety. it could really help a lot. take care!
noah52207 jan34534
Posted
Thanks for the reply. What about the lowered sex drive and inability to get an erection though? That's what is making me fearful.
jan34534 noah52207
Posted
The sexual issues are extremely common with stress and anxiety. A lot of people who have it won’t admit to it due to embarrassment however it’s a known fact that when somebody is extremely anxious or stressed out or depressed, the sex performance will diminish. that’s not something that is permanent.
It can be turned around with proper anxiety and stress management. Remember that the sex drive and performance comes from the brain and when the brain is under stress or depression it makes sense that that would be affected. Depression, anxiety and stress affect just about every part of the human body. That’s why it’s important to get some help for it .
i I think that would be your best bet now is to get some support.
One day you’ll look back on all of this and be glad that you did and take care of yourself by getting a little exercise which lifts depression and stress somewhat because it releases endorphins in the brain which help peoples moods and anxiety. Eat healthy and avoid sugars which are inflammatory agents in the body and can only make things worse. You’re going to be fine just take one day at a time. Take care