Brain Tumor Affecting Behavior

Of course any tumor in the brain can cause any number of changes in behavior.  Recently had a relative who went through so much that it was necessary to hospitalize her because it was not safe for her at home - wouln't dress, confused, agitated, non-communicative, tried to leave the house, etc.  Turns out she was having a reaction to steriod treatment.  Once that was resolved she did better even though she still has trouble speaking .  Hope this helps

Mrs. C

On 12/14/2007 kathyindiana wrote:

Has anyone had the experience of spouse's melanoma has traveled to the brain and he gets very agitated and confused and it is unsafe to care for him at home?

My spouse has stage IV which has metastasized to the brain last June.  He went in for whole brain radiation in September and I did notice a bit of forgetfulness, and occasional confusion.  The front lobe (near the forehead) caters to short term yet I imagine it would depend on the location of the tumor.  

My husband just finished the gamma ray for 8 lesions and so far has done tremendous, a bit tired yet coherent.  He does repeat himself sometimes.  

With the brain, I was told to watch carefully for confusion, ability to move hands, legs, hands numbing and tingling sensations in the fingertips.  Finally, if walking began to be a problem this was also a 'check-up' sign.

It never hurts to talk to the doctor away from your cancer patient... sometimes this really helps you define the questions the patient may not be able to ask.  This has helped me anyway.

Best of luck.

 Demetria

my husband has recently been diagnosed with stage IV melanoma. He had a random seizure (very bad) at home, thought he had a stroke, he is 49, there was a very large bleed on the brain, where they found he had a large tumor in the right frontal lobe (about the size of a ping pong ball)

the cancer has spread from mole on back to lymph nodes under arm, to lung, to node in collar bone, to brain.

he just recently had a new mri and there is another lesion in PONS of brain.

He is starting total brain radiation yesterday, and is on TEMODOR.

 His mood is def. different, before this happened however, it is interesting, looking back, he was QUITE agitated, very snippy, argumentative, it was def. brain swelling.

he is forgetful now, and very emotional.

 this is a nasty nasty cancer, and most people are very un or misinformed about this cancer.

i found this board, hoping to find others and find some info and support.

thanks to all for listening

That sounds a lot like what is happening to my 48 year old Dad. He was recently diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his brain (They still haven't found the mole it came from). He had a crainiotomy to remove a lima bean sized tumor and he did relatively well after the surgery. But the cancer is also in his mininges, which has caused mengitis like symptoms since 11/07.

 He started whole head radiation last week and is on Temodar. Each day his dimentia and hallucinations seem to be getting worse. He keeps insisitng he needs to clean the basement or fix the windows. He even tries to get up to go out into the garage to fix something. He hears hissing sounds and sees water from the ceiling that is leaking onto him and making the bed all wet. I hope they don't have to discontinue treatments.

 He also starting taking medication for a thrush diagnosis this week. I think it is reacting to the steroids (I read that it could interact with them and keep the steriods from being absorbed by the liver).

 This is so scary and it moves so fast. My dad lost one of his sister's at 48 due to brain cancer (we don't know what kind). And another one of his sister's had meloma that spread from a mole on her back to her breast. She has been cancer free for about a year now.

 I can't stand to see him like that. It is like he is a different person. Is this something that will pass?

 My thoughts are with you and your husband.

Dear Tina,

I am very sorry to hear about your Dad. I too have a father who has Melanoma. His started from a mole in his back to his lymph nodes. Then it went everywhere. My dad is much older than yours. He is 83, however until the melanoma spread he was an extremely active senior. He was still driving and had all of his mind working.

He is taking Temodar and Thalidomide since his cancer spread. However theThalidomide is making him very tired and weak. He is also having some problems with memory loss but it is mostly short term at this point. His personality so far is the same, however I know most of the time that as soon as the tumor gets to the frontal lobes it will affect personality in many ways. Sometimes the reason I think we see so much anger is that they are losing their metal faculities and it is so scary the easiest way to deal with it is to be angry.

I would make sure that he isn't having a medication causing some of his symptoms. Many times pain meds can make people behave in different ways or to hallucinate. Steroids commonly can make people have rages and unexplained anger especially if they are on high doses or are being brought down from a high dose to a lower dose. 

I hope his personality changes get better. I agree this disease is terrible. In some ways you feel like a train is coming at you and the closer the train gets the faster it seems to go. Faster and Faster and Faster.  All you can do sometimes is be there, because you never know when he is going to have that moment that he is like you Dad again.