What do brain tumor headaches feel like?

Almost everyone who has ever had an aggravating headache has been worried at some point in time that they might have had a brain tumor. Let’s talk about what a brain tumor headache feels like.

And now for some reassuring facts: although up to 70% of people with various brain tumors have a headache at the time of diagnosis, only about 8% of tumor patients have headache as their first and only symptom. In the past, older textbooks and other sources have described a “classic” brain tumor headache as being worse in the morning, and more likely to be a dull pain, but with nausea and vomiting.

However, neurologist and cancer specialist Dr. Casilda Balmaceda, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, states that there is no typical brain tumor headache.

Symptoms for headaches associated with brain tumors

Nausea and vomiting do not usually occur until the tumor has grown large enough to put pressure on the brain. Morning headaches can also occur due to this increased pressure phenomenon. However, morning headaches are far more likely to be due to sleep disorders like sleep apnea.

A brain tumor headache can link to the spot where the brain tumor is. So if you always get a headache in the same spot, there is a possibility that it could mean a brain tumor—but it’s not a very big chance. If most of your headaches are on one side, but a few are on the other, your headaches are still most likely to be migraines.

Migraine patients who have had the misfortune to later develop a brain tumor report that the headaches due to the tumor are different from their migraine headaches. Do you always get a headache with a brain tumor? No—many times you get other symptoms instead, like weakness or a personality change.

Children with brain tumors are more likely to experience headaches than are adults.

References:

1. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119263829/abstract
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2022972