Imaginary Tumor

I mentioned in an earlier post that I moved in with my parents during my divorce because I got sick.  When I first separated I actually was renting a room from friends, but then in the middle of the divorce I found out I have a disease called Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension aka Pseudotumor Cerebri.  Disease sounds pretty scary so most of the time I just say condition.  It's certainly not contagious.  I had to have an MRI to rule out a brain tumor and I had a spinal tap which was pretty painful.

The simplest way to explain my condition is that my body produces too much spinal fluid which is what cushions the brain in the skull.  That means my brain has too much fluid around it and is under pressure, sometimes extreme pressure.  It can cause my optic nerves to swell also.  The pressure causes MAJOR headaches and dizziness as well as a few other fun things like vision problems.

The name pseudotumor is because some of the symptoms mimic a brain tumor.  It actually means fake tumor.  My family and friends make jokes about things because hey, if you don't laugh about it you'll cry about it.  So, I get teased about my imaginary tumor.  They ask me if I've told whatever guy I'm dating about it yet.  The answer is always NO! :)

To learn more about my condition follow the link below.

iih.org