Controlling symptoms of brain tumours

Brain tumours can cause symptoms. These include:

• headaches

• feeling sick (nausea) or being sick (vomiting)

• seizures (fits)

The symptoms you have depend on where in the brain the tumour is, and the size of the tumour.

One way of managing your symptoms is with surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. These treatments can reduce the size of the tumour and help you feel better.

You might also have drugs to:

• help control seizures (fits)

• reduce the swelling inside your brain

• control the pain

Find out more about the symptoms of brain and spinal cord tumours

Supportive care

The aim of supportive care treatment is to relieve symptoms and improve your quality of life. It is also called palliative care.

You can have palliative care at any stage of an illness if you have troubling symptoms.  Palliative treatment might also help you live longer and more comfortably, even if you can't be cured.

Your brain tumour team will have expertise in managing the symptoms of your brain tumour. Your doctor might also refer you to the palliative care team. This team can support people with with a range of issues, both in and out of the hospital setting.

Other symptoms

Your brain tumour might cause other problems. You can get support from your healthcare team to manage some of these.

The following symptoms might cause you problems:

Feeling very tired

Many people with a brain tumour feel very tired. Fatigue means feeling very tired, exhausted and lacking energy. You might find it one of the most disruptive side effects of having a brain tumour.

Unfortunately there isn’t a cure for fatigue. But there are some things you can do that might help. And for many people, fatigue improves in the months or year after your finish your treatment.

Read more about fatigue and what you can do to manage it

Changes in your mood and behaviour

Brain tumours can cause changes in your mood, behaviour and personality. Changes can include feeling:

• irritated or aggressive

• confused or forgetful

• low in mood or depressed

• impulsive and being direct or forward

Tell one of your healthcare team if you notice these changes. Or if you are worried about somebody with a brain tumour. There are some things that might help. How helpful these are will depend on your situation and how severe your symptoms are.

There are things that you can try to help yourself feel better even though you may feel low and as though you can't do anything. For example relaxation, exercise or getting support from other people who have had a brain tumour

Read more about what might help you manage your emotions

Your healthcare team might suggest:

• talking therapies such as counselling

• joining support groups with others going through the same thing

• medicines such as antidepressants

Read some general information about mental health and cancer

Difficulty thinking, decision making and concentrating (cognitive changes)

Cognitive changes refer to changes in your memory, concentration and ability to be able to think clearly. Symptoms can include:

• memory loss – forgetting things that you normally remember

• difficulty thinking of the right word for a particular object

• difficulty following the flow of a conversation

• trouble concentrating or focusing on one thing

You might have cognitive changes because of where the tumour is in your brain. These changes can also be a side effect of brain tumour treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy. Some medications can also affect your cognition. For example, medicines to control fits.

There isn’t a treatment for these cognitive impairments. But there might be ways to improve your cognition. And your team might have advice about ways of coping with the changes.

 If the changes are caused by temporary problems such as swelling in your brain, it might improve as your recover after treatment. And your healthcare team might be able to alter your medication dose if they think the drugs might be making problems worse.

We have some general information about cognitive changes and how your can manage these.

Read about cognitive changes