If you have a severe headache in the morning and can't get rid of it no matter how many different painkillers you take, you may have a brain tumor. This is especially true if the headache is accompanied by hearing problems, vision loss, balance problems, memory loss, and convulsions.
Professor Hwang Ki-hwan of the Department of Neurosurgery at Seoul National University (SNU) Bundang Hospital warned that a severe morning headache that persists despite medication and is accompanied by symptoms such as hearing abnormalities, vision loss, balance abnormalities, memory loss, and convulsions may not be a simple headache but could indicate a brain tumor.
He emphasized the urgent need to visit a hospital in such cases. This information was shared on the SNU Bundang Hospital's YouTube channel.
Hwang explained that there is a distinction between headaches caused by brain tumors, which are relatively rare (affecting around 10 out of 100,000 people), and stress headaches, which are more common. He notes that stress-related migraines typically ease in the morning and become more intense in response to stressors throughout the day. In contrast, headaches caused by brain tumors are often more severe in the morning and improve with physical activity.
In addition to being worse in the morning and improving with physical activity, headaches caused by brain tumors are also resistant to various pain medications. Hwang clarified that this is due to the underlying cause of increased pressure within the brain. While medication can offer temporary pain relief, it is challenging to completely resolve the headache in such cases.
"If you take acetaminophen-based painkillers such as Tylenol and need to increase the dose to feel better, or if you don't feel better and need to use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or narcotic painkillers to relieve your headache, you need an accurate test," Hwang said.
Brain tumors can also be accompanied by a variety of symptoms along with this characteristic headache.
Depending on the location of the tumor, there are various symptoms such as sensory disorders such as hearing and vision loss, motor disorders such as placebo sensation or balance abnormalities, memory loss, and convulsions," he said.
What should you do if you have a headache with these characteristics? You should visit a doctor without delay and have a brain CT scan. This is because the prognosis and quality of life can vary greatly depending on when a brain tumor is diagnosed.
Brain tumors are divided into malignant and benign. Benign tumors are slow-growing and have clear boundaries with the surrounding tissues, so they can often be monitored without symptoms. However, depending on the location, they can be just as difficult to treat as malignant tumors and have a worse prognosis.
Malignant brain tumors tend to have a rapid growth rate and the ability to infiltrate surrounding tissues, resulting in the destruction of nearby healthy brain tissue. Consequently, the prognosis for such tumors is often poor. Even after surgery to remove the tumor, radiation therapy or chemotherapy may still be required to help prevent the tumor from regrowing or spreading.
Hwang emphasized that while distinguishing between malignant and benign brain tumors is crucial, it is equally important to identify the precise location of the tumor. This is because tumors in different brain regions can lead to distinct symptoms and varying degrees of treatment difficulty.
Therefore, determining the location of the tumor is essential for planning appropriate treatment and minimizing potential complications.
Tumors in the actual frontal lobe are easy to remove and have a good prognosis if the surgery goes well. However, tumors in the brain stem, which are located deep in the brain, are difficult to biopsy, let alone operate on, and have a poor prognosis.
In addition, 35 percent of brain tumors are located in the meninges, a thin membrane surrounding the brain, 16 percent are located in glial cells distributed throughout the brain, and 14 percent are located in the pituitary gland, which is responsible for hormone secretion.
"Tumors in the meninges or pituitary gland are mostly benign and do not progress rapidly and rarely metastasize to other parts of the body, so they can be monitored," Hwang said. "However, tumors in glial cells are more likely to be malignant, called glioblastoma, and often require surgery and chemotherapy as soon as possible."
Delayed treatment due to a lack of early diagnosis can also lead to poor outcomes from brain tumors.
Hwang underscored the significance of early detection of brain tumors, citing an example of a tumor that compresses the optic nerve. While removing such a tumor can result in the restoration of vision for some patients, a function that has already deteriorated is unlikely to recover. Therefore, early detection and timely treatment are crucial. He further emphasizes that if the tumor is not in a critical location and is treated early, many patients can resume their normal lives, he said.