Saturday, January 7, 2012

Location, location, location!

You've just been diagnosed with a meningioma and one of your first questions is how could my tumor's location impact me?

The following information will help! Thank you www.braininjury.com

A wide variety of symptoms can occur after "brain injury." The nature of the symptoms depends, in large part, on where the brain has been injured. Below find a list of possible physical and cognitive symptoms which can arise from damage to specific areas of the brain:
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Frontal Lobe: Forehead

Loss of simple movement of various body parts (Paralysis).
Inability to plan a sequence of complex movements needed to complete complete multi-stepped tasks, such as making coffee (Sequencing).
Loss of spontaneity in interacting with others.
Loss of flexibility in thinking.
Persistence of a single thought (Perseveration).
Inability to focus on task (Attending).
Mood changes (Emotionally Labile).
Changes in social behavior.
Changes in personality.
Difficulty with problem solving.
Inability to express language (Broca's Aphasia).

Parietal Lobe: near the back and top of the head

Inability to attend to more than one object at a time.
Inability to name an object (Anomia).
Inability to locate the words for writing (Agraphia).
Problems with reading (Alexia).
Difficulty with drawing objects.
Difficulty in distinguishing left from right.
Difficulty with doing mathematics (Dyscalculia).
Lack of awareness of certain body parts and/or surrounding space (Apraxia) that leads to difficulties in self-care.
Inability to focus visual attention.
Difficulties with eye and hand coordination.

Occipital Lobes: most posterior, at the back of the head

Defects in vision (Visual Field Cuts).
Difficulty with locating objects in environment.
Difficulty with identifying colors (Color Agnosia).
Production of hallucinations.
Visual illusions - inaccurately seeing objects.
Word blindness - inability to recognize words.
Difficulty in recognizing drawn objects.
Inability to recognize the movement of object (Movement Agnosia).
Difficulties with reading and writing.

Temporal Lobes: side of head above ears

Difficulty in recognizing faces (Prosopagnosia).
Difficulty in understanding spoken words (Wernicke's Aphasia).
Disturbance with selective attention to what we see and hear.
Difficulty with identification of, and verbalization about objects.
Short term memory loss.
Interference with long term memory.
Increased and decreased interest in sexual behavior.
Inability to catagorize objects (Categorization).
Right lobe damage can cause persistent talking.
Increased aggressive behavior.

Brain Stem: deep within the brain

Decreased vital capacity in breathing, important for speech.
Swallowing food and water (Dysphagia).
Difficulty with organization/perception of the environment.
Problems with balance and movement.
Dizziness and nausea (Vertigo).
Sleeping difficulties (Insomnia, sleep apnea).

Cerebellum: base of the skull

Loss of ability to coordinate fine movements.
Loss of ability to walk.
Inability to reach out and grab objects.
Tremors.
Dizziness (Vertigo).
Slurred Speech (Scanning Speech).
Inability to make rapid movements.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post and the previous one. I've tried to avoid Dr google since my diagnosis, as dr google tends to induce panic and depressive feelings. Being a nurse myself, I have access to dry clinical tomes, but they can be even worse and to be quite honest, neuro isn't my specialty anyway.
    I had pretty much no symptoms before being diagnosed with my large orange sized tumour in the posterior fossa. I only had a history of slowly worsening headaches since childhood. It took 2 craniotomies to get rid of IT properly and now (post surgery), I have hearing loss, tinnitus, facial partial numbness (I'd say it will eventually resolve), balance issue and bone missing behind my ear. Guess I'm happy to swap them for IT anyway though.

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  2. Hi Faybian,
    You are welcome. I can relate to your Dr. Google feelings. When I was first diagnosed, I believed my chances of having a full recovery were slim based on the grim numbers and stats out there. I hope the facial numbness does heal over time. If it helps any, we share similar company. Healing hugs to you.

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