It is easy to assume the worst when you feel something in your body that wasn’t there yesterday. What you think is a tumor in the lower half of the neck may be thyroid nodules. If diagnosed by a doctor as benign, monitoring of the nodules may be recommended. If more symptoms are present, they may be treated with medication or radioactive iodine.
Or you may wrongly confuse swollen lymph nodes in the armpits, neck or genital area with tumors. Swollen lymph nodes are usually the result of a bacterial or viral infection that resolves itself in a few weeks. However, if the situation persists, seek medical help.
According to the website for Johns Hopkins Medicine, benign tumors are non-malignant and non-cancerous. They are usually localized and don’t spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumors are cancerous, often resistant to treatment and may spread to other parts of the body. Even after being removed surgically, they sometimes recur.
Symptoms of a Tumor
Symptoms change depending on where the tumor is located, as cited by Healthline.com. Possible symptoms of a benign tumor include chills, discomfort, fatigue, fever, appetite loss, night sweats, weight loss and other symptoms not explained by other conditions.
A benign brain tumor may be indicated by headaches, seizures (involuntary changes in behavior, muscle control, consciousness and/or sensation), nausea and vomiting, vision or hearing problems, weakness in the arms, legs or face muscles, strange sensations in the head or hands, and behavioral and cognitive problems. These were the symptoms mentioned most frequently in a survey of 1,400 brain tumor patients, based on a website devoted to clinical trials.
But Gene Barnett, director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center which treats adults at Cleveland Clinic, tells CNN that 50 to 60 percent of all people with brain tumors experienced no headaches.