Expert: CONNIE FOWLER - 3/13/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I need answers fast, I am worried about my health and my life is falling appart because of it! As of today I am very busy and stressed out because of my problems.  I haven't been myself lately, and I don't know what to do or think. I am a double major (architecture and mathematics) and I also work full time as a science tutor.  I'm not overweight, I have normal blood pressure, I eat well.  I went to a family doctor a week ago, and he said I was "fine", however he is not a neurologist.  Here is the story of the past 2 months of my life:

Mid February I was at home and I decided to work out, I did a few pushups and with each pushup I felt a pain in the upper neck/back of the head area (on the left side of my head).  I did each pushup very fast and intensely, and I was out of shape.  Nevertheless the pain was very disturbing and I decided to ask about it on “yahoo answers” where someone responded saying I might have experienced a “mini-stroke”.  

The next few days I tried to look for some sort of disability but I felt fine.  I was worried sick.  

About  1 ½ weeks later, I was at work, kind of stressed out, I stood up to stretch and yawn, and while I was yawning I felt a very sharp pain in the back of my head that lasted only about 1 second.  It went away and would recur every 30 seconds to 1 minute with considerably less intensity for 2 hours (after the initial stabbing pain the headache was pulsating pain).  The best way to describe the initial pain would be like a warm stabbing thunderclap-type pain that went away as suddenly as it came.  The next day I posted more questions on “yahoo answers” and people told me I might have an aneurysm, so I did research, and fell into depression.  I would experience 2 more episodes of light pulsating pain in the left side of my head that week.  The pains came seemingly when I would think about them, but I was so stressed out that I don’t remember whether the pain came first or the thought of the pain…  

The next few weeks I was worried off and on, however I tried to make myself forget about my problems… I noticed myself becoming forgetful and passive, along with all the stress.  I would question my knowledge; I would confuse words, etc… One day I woke up not being able to make a strong fist, and felt a tingling sensation in my right arm when trying to make a fist.

2 weeks ago I went out with my friends and got into a bad situation.  Someone wanted to attack me because I looked different than others in the neighborhood.  I like to think of it as escaping with my life, because the person threw a hard snow/ice ball and hit me in the head with it as I was getting onto a bus… on my way home I felt really stressed and more so confused/tired/lightheaded than I ever did before.  

The next morning I had a nosebleed, and it seemed odd.  At school that day I felt as if my tongue was lazy, I would bite it with my molars as I spoke.  When I came home from school and lay down after eating I started to get a headache… Then I got up, and the headache was gone… I lay back down and the headache was back.  I did not make much of it, and went to work to tutor people in multivariable calculus… I got confused on a familiar question – funny thing was, the headache was gone.  I came back home, stressed as usual, thinking about my possible brain aneurysm, and started to argue with my mom about going to see a doctor, my tongue felt very lazy.  I went to bed and my headache came back as soon as I lay down.  I went to sleep and woke up 30 minutes later because my headache was becoming unbearable.  It was pulsating, on the right side of my head, and seemed to be aggravated by lying down.  I walked around and the headache would diminish, but as soon as I lay down it became a monster.  I never experienced such a headache in my life.  I took a Tylenol and 45 minutes later the headache intensity went down to a bearable level.  I fell asleep finally, and awoke the next morning with no sign of the headache.  I was tired the next day, because I only got 5 hours of sleep.  My tongue was back to normal too the next day.  

The next week was probably the worst week of my life.  I was lightheaded all week, I felt nauseous, and got random chills on the right side of my body.  My skin was equally sensitive to hot and cold, my eyes were sensitive to light, my ears sensitive to sound, and the constant lightheadedness made it impossible to study or do any kind of mental activity.  One day I woke up, on a Wednesday, thinking it was Saturday.  I turned into a one way street going the wrong way, I became passive…. This is when I finally went to seem my doctor, who is not a neurologist.  He told me to get blood testing, that’s all.  He checked my eyes and told me it’s unlikely that I have a neurological disorder.  

Today I no longer feel lightheaded as much… I feel somewhat normal, but when I went jogging today and felt slight pulsating pains on the left side of my head.  Also two days ago, I woke up in the middle of the night at 2 AM with a nosebleed!  

I still feel very stressed out; all I think about all the time is the disease, I make stupid mistakes and I forget things as a result of my stress, or could it be because of a brain aneurysm?

Please help! I still plan on finding a neurologist and getting a CT scan in the near future, but for now I need some answers.  

Thank you for any interpretation of these symptoms you could give me, I will be very grateful.  Please don’t just tell me to see a doctor, I will ASAP, all I need is an interpretation.  Sorry if some of it doesn’t make sense, I wrote it all fast. I am very stressed out right now and don’t know where else to turn until I see an neurologist.

Thank you.  

Navislav









ANSWER: Hi Navislav thank you for your question.
I truly feel you need to see a Neurologist it sounds like you could have fluid build up on your brain or possible tumor your symptoms are of that with patients whom had some kind of pressure on there brain and only a MRI scan can detect what it could be.
Blood test and looking into one eyes cannot rule this out and with all your symptoms your personal doctor should of referred you to a Neurologist or Neurosurgeon.
My opinion is to make an appointment with a specialist A.S.A.P. to see if you may have compression on your brain.
Best regards C.L.Fowler


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: so its impossible that this is a trivial situation.  How likely is it that I have a tumor/aneurysm? how likely is it that I don't?  

Answer
I cannot say wether it is a tumor, aneurysm, CSF brain fluid build up or a malformation. I have Chiari Malformation  which is a brain malformation I had some of your symptoms I had before my surgery,
decompression of the brain.
What I am telling you know one can say for sure untill you see a specialist and have a MRI to see if there is a concern with your brain.