› Forums › General Melanoma Community › signs of brain mets?
- This topic has 15 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 6 months ago by
Cindy VT.
- Post
-
- September 8, 2013 at 12:07 am
Sorry to post this as "anonymous", but I have family members who are active readers of this site, and I don't want them to panic. Also, I don't quite want to admit to myself that I could have brain mets. So…in the last few weeks, I have had the weirdest feeling that my vision is a little off, that I have to remind myself what I am doing, especially when driving, that I am feeling pretty sad, and that I am breathless and dizzy sometimes, even though I continue with my fairly strenuous exercise routine for a 62 year old.
Sorry to post this as "anonymous", but I have family members who are active readers of this site, and I don't want them to panic. Also, I don't quite want to admit to myself that I could have brain mets. So…in the last few weeks, I have had the weirdest feeling that my vision is a little off, that I have to remind myself what I am doing, especially when driving, that I am feeling pretty sad, and that I am breathless and dizzy sometimes, even though I continue with my fairly strenuous exercise routine for a 62 year old. I have been stage IV for almost 24 months with only surgery as treatment. I imagine/hope this is just depression, ( I have suffered from that before), but the vision thing is different , and so is the feeling that I am forgetting how to drive. I realize that the symptoms of brain mets differ depending on what part of the brain is affected, but I would love to hear how brain mets manifested themselves to any of you. I do have chest, abdomen and pelvis scans scheduled for a month from today, but I could add the brain. Don't really want to know, but perhaps that is childish!? Please help by sharing your experiences.
Love and light to all.
- Replies
-
-
- September 8, 2013 at 12:57 am
I would highly recommend a brain MRI rather than a CT scan. My oncologist has told me that small brain mets (under 1cm) would probably not cause any neurological symptoms. However everyone is different and it also depends on the met location.
Hopefully its just the stress of mel that is causing the symptoms. Also, if it is brain mets then the sooner you identify/treat them with SRS or surgery the sooner you will stop the progression of the symptoms.
Good Luck
-
- September 8, 2013 at 12:57 am
I would highly recommend a brain MRI rather than a CT scan. My oncologist has told me that small brain mets (under 1cm) would probably not cause any neurological symptoms. However everyone is different and it also depends on the met location.
Hopefully its just the stress of mel that is causing the symptoms. Also, if it is brain mets then the sooner you identify/treat them with SRS or surgery the sooner you will stop the progression of the symptoms.
Good Luck
-
- September 8, 2013 at 12:57 am
I would highly recommend a brain MRI rather than a CT scan. My oncologist has told me that small brain mets (under 1cm) would probably not cause any neurological symptoms. However everyone is different and it also depends on the met location.
Hopefully its just the stress of mel that is causing the symptoms. Also, if it is brain mets then the sooner you identify/treat them with SRS or surgery the sooner you will stop the progression of the symptoms.
Good Luck
-
- September 8, 2013 at 2:08 am
My brother had Stage IV melanoma with 5 brain mets and he didn't even know it. Of the 5 mets, the largest was 1.5 cm in the left parietal region near the speech center. His first clue that anything was wrong was that he had a stroke with speech aphasia and right side weakness. It turns out that one of the mets started bleeding (a common occurrence with melanoma) and that is what caused the stroke– and led to his subsequent diagnosis.
As you say, there can be many different symptoms associated with brain mets depending on their size and location. If you have any cause for concern at all, you should get a brain MRI as soon as possible. Not only is it much easier for the neurosurgeon or radiation oncologist to destroy small mets, but untreated brain mets can bleed and cause a stroke. There are a lot of other conditions that can cause the symptoms you mention, but you would be very wise to get this checked out ASAP.
-
- September 8, 2013 at 2:08 am
My brother had Stage IV melanoma with 5 brain mets and he didn't even know it. Of the 5 mets, the largest was 1.5 cm in the left parietal region near the speech center. His first clue that anything was wrong was that he had a stroke with speech aphasia and right side weakness. It turns out that one of the mets started bleeding (a common occurrence with melanoma) and that is what caused the stroke– and led to his subsequent diagnosis.
As you say, there can be many different symptoms associated with brain mets depending on their size and location. If you have any cause for concern at all, you should get a brain MRI as soon as possible. Not only is it much easier for the neurosurgeon or radiation oncologist to destroy small mets, but untreated brain mets can bleed and cause a stroke. There are a lot of other conditions that can cause the symptoms you mention, but you would be very wise to get this checked out ASAP.
-
- September 8, 2013 at 2:08 am
My brother had Stage IV melanoma with 5 brain mets and he didn't even know it. Of the 5 mets, the largest was 1.5 cm in the left parietal region near the speech center. His first clue that anything was wrong was that he had a stroke with speech aphasia and right side weakness. It turns out that one of the mets started bleeding (a common occurrence with melanoma) and that is what caused the stroke– and led to his subsequent diagnosis.
As you say, there can be many different symptoms associated with brain mets depending on their size and location. If you have any cause for concern at all, you should get a brain MRI as soon as possible. Not only is it much easier for the neurosurgeon or radiation oncologist to destroy small mets, but untreated brain mets can bleed and cause a stroke. There are a lot of other conditions that can cause the symptoms you mention, but you would be very wise to get this checked out ASAP.
-
- September 10, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Out of curiosity, why have they only done surgery? I was stage IV with only one tumor in my arm near the origianl melanoma. They removed it and started me on yervoy. Had a recurrance in same arm as well as spot in liver. Removed spot in arm and they I went to MD Anderson in TX to the Melanoma specialist and they started me on Zelboraf. The melanoma specialist, Dr Papadopolus does MR of brain every 8 weeks even though I haven't had any signs of brain mets.
Just worried your disease is not being tackled aggressively enough. I am by far not an expert, again, just curious as to the reason.
May God bless you and I pray there are no brain mets.
Becky
-
- September 10, 2013 at 8:30 pm
Thank you, Becky! My past cancer experience required a bone marrow transplant, so the docs fear any immunotherapy ( IL-2, Ipi, Pd-1, etc.) might cause my body to reject the bone marrow graft. Only in an otherwise last ditch situation would they try any of those. In addition, the transplant does exclude me from most trials. I am Braf +, so that's a possibility if needed. However, the great thing is that with each surgery to date, I have returned to NED status. (It was a solitary lung met that got me to stage IV.) My melanoma specialist is Dr. Wolchok. He feels that in my case at least, we should stick to cutting it out whenever possible and leaving NED alone. Not sure why they only look at my brain every six months…
Thank you again for your good wishes! I send you peace and light and pray the Zelboraf gets rid of that liver met!
-
- September 10, 2013 at 8:30 pm
Thank you, Becky! My past cancer experience required a bone marrow transplant, so the docs fear any immunotherapy ( IL-2, Ipi, Pd-1, etc.) might cause my body to reject the bone marrow graft. Only in an otherwise last ditch situation would they try any of those. In addition, the transplant does exclude me from most trials. I am Braf +, so that's a possibility if needed. However, the great thing is that with each surgery to date, I have returned to NED status. (It was a solitary lung met that got me to stage IV.) My melanoma specialist is Dr. Wolchok. He feels that in my case at least, we should stick to cutting it out whenever possible and leaving NED alone. Not sure why they only look at my brain every six months…
Thank you again for your good wishes! I send you peace and light and pray the Zelboraf gets rid of that liver met!
-
- September 10, 2013 at 8:30 pm
Thank you, Becky! My past cancer experience required a bone marrow transplant, so the docs fear any immunotherapy ( IL-2, Ipi, Pd-1, etc.) might cause my body to reject the bone marrow graft. Only in an otherwise last ditch situation would they try any of those. In addition, the transplant does exclude me from most trials. I am Braf +, so that's a possibility if needed. However, the great thing is that with each surgery to date, I have returned to NED status. (It was a solitary lung met that got me to stage IV.) My melanoma specialist is Dr. Wolchok. He feels that in my case at least, we should stick to cutting it out whenever possible and leaving NED alone. Not sure why they only look at my brain every six months…
Thank you again for your good wishes! I send you peace and light and pray the Zelboraf gets rid of that liver met!
-
- September 10, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Out of curiosity, why have they only done surgery? I was stage IV with only one tumor in my arm near the origianl melanoma. They removed it and started me on yervoy. Had a recurrance in same arm as well as spot in liver. Removed spot in arm and they I went to MD Anderson in TX to the Melanoma specialist and they started me on Zelboraf. The melanoma specialist, Dr Papadopolus does MR of brain every 8 weeks even though I haven't had any signs of brain mets.
Just worried your disease is not being tackled aggressively enough. I am by far not an expert, again, just curious as to the reason.
May God bless you and I pray there are no brain mets.
Becky
-
- September 10, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Out of curiosity, why have they only done surgery? I was stage IV with only one tumor in my arm near the origianl melanoma. They removed it and started me on yervoy. Had a recurrance in same arm as well as spot in liver. Removed spot in arm and they I went to MD Anderson in TX to the Melanoma specialist and they started me on Zelboraf. The melanoma specialist, Dr Papadopolus does MR of brain every 8 weeks even though I haven't had any signs of brain mets.
Just worried your disease is not being tackled aggressively enough. I am by far not an expert, again, just curious as to the reason.
May God bless you and I pray there are no brain mets.
Becky
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.