brain tumor symptoms and steroids

Funny I often wonder if my dad's brain tumor symptoms are related to the dexamethasone or the tumor itself.

I know these drugs help relieve the brain tumor symptoms, but sometimes I wonder what the cost is.

It is the devil or the deep blue sea really. In our case you take the dex while under treatment then continue on. once dad stopped taking the dexmeth he brain tumor symptoms went wild. We could see daily changes the second he stopped the dex. That was a scary time in our lives.

We were told, now I will try to repeat this.
The dex stops swelling of the brain, since dad had had 2 brain surgery operations in a matter of a week that was a concern.
The dex also has the side effect of slowing the tumor down. this combination will often see a reduction in brain tumor symptoms.
And it did in our case.
However once you come off dex , and need to go back on it, it is much less effective.

There really are lots of tough questions to make.


News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | HEADLINES | Better brain tumor help

For thousands of patients with brain tumors, managing the side effects of treatment is half the battle. Many patients must take steroids, like dexamethasone, to reduce the swelling in their brains. Without these potent drugs, the swelling around the tumor can cause neurological problems.

"The swelling can sometimes cause a much worse deficit than the tumor does by itself. Steroids work very well at suppressing the swelling, in general, but the problem is, over time, steroids can carry a lot of side effects," Dr. Nick Avgeropoulos said.

Some of those side effects include
• Insomnia
• Psychosis
• Blood pressure and blood sugar irregularities
• Weight gain
• Muscle weakness

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