Phantom Tumors in Kids

[Motherofboys]

Below is an article that came out on AOL about something that is growing in occurrence in kids: pseudotumor cerebri, also known as idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/05/05...umors-a-growing-painful-epidemic-in-children/

I am posting this because it is something I first experienced at age 14 and then again at 22 and on and off there after. My initial diagnonsis took weeks to get and they told my parents too that I likely had a brain tumor. I suffered for over a month with a variety of symptoms - terrible headaches, loss of vision, tunnel vision, rushing in my ears, sore neck, etc. My pediatrician had never seen it before, many doctors are unaware of it. He had to look it up in a book, it was my optical doctor that diagnosed it!

Please, please take time to read this and be aware of it. If even 1 person/child out there is helped by reading this and gets treatment sooner, it will all be worth it to me!

 

[beachlover9395]

Gonna bump this info up - hope it helps someone.

 

[Motherofboys]

Gonna bump this info up - hope it helps someone.

Thanks for the bump!

I should have noted that this "disease" is usually found in young women 20-30 age range, which is why a lot of pediatricians are not familiar with it.

So if you are female and have had these types of symptoms, this could potentially be the cause.

It can go be on and off, like if you lose weight, are on hormonal birth control, etc.

There isn't a whole lot known about this disease and it has been ignored by medical research for a long time as a "fat girl" disease, similiar to the treatment PCOS gets. Unfortuntaely for the short sighted medical community, weight is not the only factor as thin people get it too and losing weight doesn't always make it go away.