THAT RECURRENT HEADACHE : THERE MIGHT BE NEED FOR BRAIN IMAGING (MRI/CT)
Sylvia is a widow who lost her husband to death after 15 years of marraige, she has been working relentlessly to give her kids the best.
However, she has been experiencing this mild recurrent headache for months that became severe on her birthday 🎉.
She consulted her family family physician who subjected her to several laboratory investigations but all the tests where normal.
The physician prescribed fast acting pain killers and antimalarials and discharged her.
After months of battling this issue of recurrent headache and blurred vision, she disclosed her health challenge to a nurse friend that works at a Neurology centre. The nurse advised her to see a Neurologist.
Sylvia consulted a Neurologist who demanded for an immediate “Brain MRI” (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to be done.
The Brain was imaged through MRI(Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and a tumour(growth) was seen indenting on the tissues that covers the brain 🧠 (A meningioma).
A meningioma is a non-cancerous tumor that forms on the tissues that cover the brain and spinal cord just inside the skull.
Meningiomas are the most common type of tumor that originates in the central nervous system.
They occur more often in women than in men.
Most meningiomas grow very slowly, symptoms often develop gradually, if they develop at all.
The most common symptoms include:
1.Headaches
2.Seizures
3.Blurred vision
4.Weakness in arms or legs
5.Numbness
6.Speech problems
Meningiomas just like other brain tumours are rarely diagnosed before they begin to cause symptoms.
Some persons may experience recurrent headache, blurred vision just like Sylvia.If the doctor suspects the possibility of a tumor, the doctor may order a brain scan: an MRI and/or a CT scan. These will allow the doctor to locate the meningioma and determine its size.
The treatment for most brain tumours might be a Craniotomy surgery, Radiation therapy depending !!
👉 Most recurrent headache could be a signal to a potentially serious problem in the brain,
Hence the need for a 🧠 Brain MRI/CT.
I have called consistently wrote on the need for imaging the brain when the cause of recurrent headache cannot be established through laboratory work!!
Just recently, I imaged the brain of a female patient with the history of diabetes, this woman have been battling recurrent headache for months, the relatives of this patient consulted me, seeked my professional advice sometime last year, I strongly made recommendations for a brain MRI investigation to be done on this woman to ascertain the cause of this severe recurrent headache but they didn’t heed to my advise as they went to a family physician who was just treating diabetes mellitus as the cause of this headache, of course the headache persisted for months as they reached out to me last weekend and travelled down to Abuja from Umuahia for proper medical attention.
On imaging the brain 🧠, I discovered that there was a huge tumor at the parietal lobe which must have raised the intracranial pressure in the brain.
Tumor on characterization happened to be a benign and non-cancerous type of Glioma “Astrocytoma” that prompted me to contact my neurosurgeon friend for expert care and further Management of this patient.
I repeat again, that recurrent headache could be signalling a potentially serious problem in the brain 🧠, hence the need for brain imaging(CT, MRI).
Cheers to your good health !!!
Written by Dr Bob Collins
