Latest news with #meningioma
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Doctors dismissed my symptoms as a sinus infection... a year later I found out I had a deadly brain tumor
Long before becoming a patient, Ilene Sue Ruhoy was a prominent neurologist in Seattle, accustomed to treating disease. She had been practicing for a decade when, in 2014, she noticed mounting fatigue, dizziness, nausea, migraines, and irritability that various doctors chalked up to stress, a hormone imbalance, and a sinus infection. None of them, she felt, truly listened or took her symptoms seriously. In August 2015, after a year of asking doctors to order her an MRI, one of them finally listened, and what appeared on the scan changed the course of her life entirely. At the emergency room, doctors informed her that she had a tumor called a meningioma the size of an apple pressing on the left side of her brain so forcefully that both hemispheres were being pushed to the right side of her skull. While not classified as cancer, meningiomas can be deadly if complications arise, boasting a mortality rate of anywhere from 63 to 90 percent. She underwent multiple surgeries to seal off the blood vessel feeding the tumor in the hopes of preventing it from growing larger, followed by a procedure to remove the mass in its entirety. 'It's only when I look back in time and think through those appointments and the conversations, and I was at the point where I was begging people to believe me,' Ruhoy told 'The sad part is that if someone had believed me earlier on, I think I could have prevented a lot of the recurrences that I had to go through because I've now undergone three rounds of radiation to my brain.' Ruhoy was healthy before her medical crisis, like many of her current patients. She questioned how this could have happened, feeling she had done everything right. During her quest for answers, Ruhoy complained of light sensitivity and severe, long-lasting migraines that doctors told her were due to her stressful job as a neurologist in a hospital. She said one doctor stayed glued to their computer and failed to even make eye contact with her. Another told her, after she begged for an MRI because she knew something was wrong, that he 'didn't want to feed into the hysteria by ordering an MRI.' She said 'Looking back, I think that I just wasn't cognizant of what was really happening when it was happening. 'And it's only when I look back in time and think through those appointments and basically I was at the point where I was like begging people to believe me, because things just were getting worse for me.' Around nine months into her illness, before being diagnosed, she found a primary care doctor and as soon as Ruhoy walked into her new doctor's office, she began to sob, telling the physician that she had reached her wit's end. 'All I said was, please, just order me an MRI. And she said the famous words, "when a neurologist asks you to order a brain MRI, you order a brain MRI,"' Ruhoy said. 'I remember that moment when she just agreed and I almost hugged her. I didn't, I should have, but I was just so grateful, and I will always be grateful.' Ruhoy still does not know definitively what caused her own tumor. She said: 'I have a PhD in environmental toxicology, so I've thought long and hard about this; what exposures have I had in my life, what infections have I had in my life. 'Once I was diagnosed, I underwent a big workup, led by myself, to try to answer that exact question, and I really came up with nothing. We don't really know what causes these tumors.' Inspired by her own journey, Ruhoy would come to specialize in complex post-exposure illnesses (PEIs), such as long Covid and chronic fatigue syndrome. People with poorly understood chronic illnesses fed by exposure to certain medications, pathogens, or trauma generally describe feeling 'gaslit' by their doctors who don't adequately listen to their concerns, often brush them off as being due to stress, give up trying to treat patients, and alienate them. She vowed to help patients who have felt let down by the medical establishment and to not allow them to leave her office without setting forth on the path to recovery. PEIs encompass several diagnoses marked by a wide array of symptoms. According to Ruhoy, exposure can be to anything external and does not always involve an infection. For instance, she said, long-term exposure to pesticides or mold have been linked to cases of Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Her newfound career treating PEIs began with Danielle, a dancer in her early 30s who developed debilitating joint pain, food allergies, hives, swelling in her hands and feet, dizziness, headaches, and neck pain. Many of her patients today are on their fourth or fifth healthcare professional in their quest to figure out what is driving their symptoms. Danielle was no different. She asked Danielle a laundry list of questions, questions no doctor had asked her before: Did she ever have any pain disorders? Did family members have similar symptoms to hers? Did she choke a lot? Did she have chest pain? A detailed blood test revealed Danielle's hypothyroidism, missed by other doctors who hadn't ordered a comprehensive panel. This likely caused her fatigue, menstrual issues, hair loss, bloating, and skin changes. Dr Ruhoy addressed each symptom: an MRI uncovered a misdiagnosed spinal problem, treated with muscle relaxants; medication stabilized her dizziness; and specialists managed her heart and joint pain. Within months, Danielle felt significantly better. In addition to treating patients' symptoms with medication, Ruhoy recommends drug-free treatments: being active, even for a short walk, time in nature, and following a consistent sleep schedule. 'Will you ever be 'normal' again? It's a question I hear often from patients, and unfortunately— if by 'normal' you mean a full return to the person you were before this chronic illness... I can't promise that you will,' Ruhoy wrote in her book Invisible No More. 'However, if you care for yourself, if you remain diligent in the ways we have discussed, and if you attend to your body and listen to the signals it sends you… then you have a great chance of being well. Very well, even.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Mom of Teen Blames Forgetfulness on Menopause. Then She Saw the Scans: 'All I Could Think About Was Not Being There for Her'
April Tate's tumor was deep inside her brain, and growing slowly A single mom is living with a shocking diagnosis. April Tate was working in childcare in Fife, a coastal community in Scotland, in 2018 when she forgot the name of one of the children in her care. April, who was 52 at the time, chalked the lapse up to hormones; as Harvard Health explains, forgetfulness and brain fog are commonly reported symptoms of menopause. But when she mentioned the memory lapse to her doctor, he asked her to come in for an evaluation immediately, according to Daily Mail. That's when doctors scanned her brain — and April was given the devastating news: She had a brain tumor. And while it wasn't cancerous, it was so deep in her brain that it couldn't be removed. As Mount Sinai explains, the type of tumor April has, a posterior falcine meningioma, is slow-growing, but in the part of the brain that focuses on movement, coordination, and "vital body functions such as breathing.' 'When they said I had a brain tumor, my first thought was that I was going to die. It was a numbing moment. I was a single mom, and my daughter Abby was still a teenager. All I could think about was not being there for her,' she told the outlet. 'When the surgeon explained the tumor was located in a really difficult part of my brain and he'd only attempted surgery in that area once before, it was hard to accept.' April was self-employed, which 'brought financial pressure,' as she had to take time off work for treatment, losing income. It 'just added to the stress.' She was told to 'watch and wait,' she says, with regular scans monitoring the tumor's growth. 'For a while, it didn't change much,' she explains. Still, 'it was terrifying to live with the unknown of whether it would grow or not. Over time, I began to adjust.' In late 2022, April was given the bleak news that the tumor had begun to grow, qualifying her for daily radiation. While she says the treatment itself 'was fairly quick each day … it was exhausting.' She had to wear a custom mask to keep her head completely still, a process that she said felt 'claustrophobic and intense … I just closed my eyes, listened to music and tried to stay calm. The hardest part came afterwards, with having to wait to find out if it had worked.' It did, she shared — and while she still has to undergo scans, she's been able to go back to work and increase her physical activity. She ran a 5K this year, and she's taking part in a fundraising challenge via JustGiving to pay for a single day of research at a Scottish brain tumor center. As she explained, 'What shocks me most is how little funding goes into researching brain tumors. That has to change.' And while she is grateful her tumor isn't cancerous, April explains, 'There's something in my brain that shouldn't be there, and it could change at any time. I even worried about how it might affect new relationships and not wanting to burden someone else with what I was going through. But we still deserve to live fully, and to love and be loved.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Read the original article on People
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Contraception used by thousands increases risk of brain tumour, study finds
Women on a widely–used contraceptive jab are three–and–a–half times more likely to suffer a potentially–fatal brain tumour, a study shows. It's the third major investigation in just over a year to show the jab raises the risk of a meningioma, the most common type of tumour in the brain, in those on it for 12 months or more. Around 10,000 prescriptions a month are issued for medroxyprogesterone acetate— sold under the brand name Depo Provera—in England alone. Hundreds of women in the UK are now reported to be considering legal action against the manufacturer Pfizer, for not warning them of the risks. A class action is already underway against Pfizer and other generic manufacturers of the jab in the US, where more than 500 women allege the companies were aware of the link but failed to adequately warn users of the risks or promote safer alternatives. The drug is a hormone injection give every three months and works by preventing eggs from being released by a woman's ovaries. It was first licensed for use on the NHS as a contraceptive over 40 years ago. But a 2024 study in the British Medical Journal of more than 18,000 women, by a team of scientists from the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety, concluded those who stayed on it for at least a year were up to five times more at risk of a meningioma. The jab is administered every three months in a doctor's surgery or sexual health clinic A second probe in September last year, by researchers at the University of Alabama in the US, produced similar results. Although non–cancerous, the condition can cause blurred vision, headaches, hearing loss, poor sense of smell and problems with swallowing. Tumours are normally slow–growing but can kill by compressing the brain and nerves if they grow too big. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people a year in the UK are diagnosed with a meningioma and it's more common in women. In the latest study, scientists at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, compared meningioma rates in 72,181 women on the jab with more than 247,000 women on oral contraception. The results, in the journal Expert Opinion on Drug Safety, showed the risks were more than trebled in long–term users of the jab. Researcher Dr Mahyar Etminan said the dangers did not appear to increase the more years women spent on the drug. But he added: 'I do believe the evidence is now robust, with three large studies showing pretty much the same thing. 'Women concerned about this risk may want to consider opting for alternative contraceptives.' It's not clear why the jab triggers tumour growth. One theory is the synthetic hormone it uses – progestogen – binds to meningioma cells and helps them grow. Some research suggests certain versions of the Pill made with progestogen can also heighten the risk of meningioma but only in a small proportion of women who take it for more than five years. The UK drug safety watchdog—the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency—last October called on Pfizer to include a warning about the heightened risk in patient information leaflets. Pfizer also wrote to NHS doctors urging them to immediately stop women from using Depo Provera if they were diagnosed with a meningioma. Virginia Buchanan, partner at Levin Papantonio—the law firm handling the case in the US—said: 'This new study reinforces the need for legal action against Pfizer, with the hope of bringing justice for the women who have never been warned about the increased risk of developing a brain tumour from using Depo–Provera and who have gone on to develop meningiomas.'
Medscape
22-07-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Air Pollution Linked to Increased CNS Tumor Risk
TOPLINE: Exposure to air pollution was linked to development of meningioma, a tumor that arises from membranes around the brain and spinal cord, in a study of nearly 4 million Danish adults. Consistent positive associations were observed between the development of meningioma and exposure to ultrafine particles (UFPs), fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and elemental carbon. METHODOLOGY: The cohort study included nearly 4 million adults (mean age, 35 years; 50% women) identified from nationwide registries since 1991. Danish national registers were used to obtain address histories and covariates at individual and area levels. A validated model was used to evaluate residential air pollution, and a national emission inventory was used to quantify contributions to air pollution from local road traffic and other sources. The primary endpoint was occurrence of the first primary central nervous system (CNS) tumor, as reported in the Danish Cancer Registry. Cranial nerve tumors, meningiomas, gliomas, and 'other CNS tumors' were included. TAKEAWAY: More than 16,000 cases of CNS tumors were identified, which included gliomas (37%), meningiomas (28%), cranial nerve tumors (14%), and other CNS tumors (21%). 10-year mean exposure to UFPs (hazard ratio [HR] per interquartile range [IQR], 1.1), fine particulate matter (HR per IQR, 1.2), nitrogen dioxide (HR per IQR, 1.1), and elemental carbon (HR per IQR, 1.0) was associated with increased risk for meningioma. Sensitivity analyses showed that the HRs for meningioma were stronger for traffic-related vs nontraffic UFPs, while traffic and nontraffic fine particulate matter had similar HRs. No consistent associations were observed between air pollutants and risk for glioma, but a negative association was observed between cranial nerve tumors and nitrogen dioxide. IN PRACTICE: 'Our study suggests that long-term exposure to air pollution from traffic and other sources may play a role in the development of meningioma and adds to the growing body of evidence that air pollution can affect the brain — not just the heart and lungs,' lead study author Ulla A. Hvidtfeldt, PhD, Danish Cancer Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, said in a press release. SOURCE: The study was published online on July 9 in Neurology. LIMITATIONS: The study was limited by a strong intercorrelation and modeling uncertainty of pollutant estimates, which may have hindered the attribution of effects and led to misclassification of true personal exposure. Unmeasured factors such as genetic predisposition, ionizing radiation, and occupational or lifestyle exposures may have led to residual confounding. Additional limitations were potential ascertainment bias from differential tumor detection and reliance on emission inventories of variable quality to distinguish traffic from nontraffic sources. DISCLOSURES: The study was funded by the Danish Cancer Society. The investigators reported having no relevant conflicts of interest. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Breathing dirty air could raise the risk of a common brain tumour
Breathing in dirty air may not only affect the lungs but also raise the risk of developing a common type of brain tumour, a study has found. Scientists analysed several air pollutants, including those commonly linked to traffic – such as nitrogen dioxide and ultrafine particles which are often found in urban environments. The study, published in the journal Neurology found people exposed to this type of pollution are more likely to develop meningioma – a typically noncancerous brain tumour. 'Various types of air pollution have been shown to have negative effects on health, and ultrafine particles are small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier and may directly affect brain tissue,' said study author Dr Ulla Hvidtfeldt at the Danish Cancer Institute in Copenhagen. 'Our study suggests that long-term exposure to air pollution from traffic and other sources may play a role in the development of meningioma and adds to the growing body of evidence that air pollution can affect the brain – not just the heart and lungs.' This common type of brain tumour forms in the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Meningiomas are the most common type of primary brain tumour and make up around one in three of all primary brain and spinal cord tumours in adults in the UK, according to Macmillan. However, the findings do not prove that air pollution causes meningioma; they only show a link between the two. Data from almost 4million adults in Denmark with an average age of 35 were included in the study. The participants were followed over a 21-year period, during which time 16,596 people developed a tumour of the central nervous system including 4,645 who developed meningioma. Using home addresses and advanced modelling researchers were able to estimate long-term exposure to air pollution and calculated a 10-year average exposure to certain pollutants. Researchers looked at exposure to the following: ultrafine particles with particles less than 0.1 micrometers in diameter; fine particulate matter, also called PM2.5, with particles that are 2.5 micrometers in diameter or less; nitrogen dioxide, a gas mostly from traffic emissions; and elemental carbon, a marker of diesel pollution. People in the lowest group had an average 10-year exposure of 11,041 ultrafine particles per centimeter cubed (cm3) compared to people with the highest exposure of 21,715 particles/cm3. Those with the lowest level of exposure were compared to people with the highest. Researchers also adjusted for factors like age, sex, socioeconomic status. The results showed that people with a higher exposure to pollutants had a greater risk of developing meningioma. There was a 10 per cent higher risk for ultrafine particles for every increase of 5,747 particles/cm3, a 21 per cent higher risk for fine particulate matter for every increase of 4.0 micrograms per meter cubed (μg/m3), a 12 per cent risk increase for nitrogen dioxide for every 8.3 μg/m3 and a 3 per cent increase elemental carbon for every 0.4 μg/m3. Researchers did not find a strong link between these pollutants and more aggressive brain tumours.
