Is It Depression--or a Tumor? | Newsweek My Turn: Health Triumphs

The Demon in My Head

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I had to learn to walk again. I also had to regain my short-term memory. But mostly I celebrated that the tumor-caused depression was totally gone. My mind was back, and my wit and humor quickly returned. In short, the brain surgery was a remarkable success.

Friends and family called the surgery and my recovery miraculous. In his surgical report, the neurosurgeon wrote that I had gone "from being completely unresponsive to a walking, talking, normal human being again."

I rejoice in that medical triumph, but I also regret losing more than 10 years of my life to deep sadness and confusion. Concern for people who may be enduring what I went through haunts me. How many people with crippling depression have an undiagnosed brain tumor? How many deaths would be prevented if suicidal people had MRIs or other brain tests that could reveal problems?

The job of ensuring proper diagnosis and treatment falls largely to psychiatrists and neurologists. Many of them now work more closely together, but that cooperation must expand. People who suffer from unexplained depression also must do their part. When therapy fails to correct the problem and medications prescribed by psychiatrists fall short, patients must ask for a neurological consultation before the depression overwhelms them. And take a lesson from my experience: If a doctor says you have a brain tumor but tells you not to worry about it, get a second opinion.

Bahnsen lives in Columbus, Ga.

Wonderful article. The common theme to most meningioma patients is the delay in diagnosis, yet the medical community refuses to recognize its own deficiency in this area, that is, neurological assessment. In addition, the medical field discounts the human psyche regardless. Most doctors spend so little time with patients they do not recognize the early changes in their patient's personality, mental acuity, gait, etc. They are not taught to interview a patient properly in medical school. Most patients are diagnosed with large tumors after they have become terribly symptomatic. The medical community then exonerates itself with catch phrases such as, "it is a slow growing tumor." After my physician watched me decline over a year, withdrawing me from work and sitting by as I became incoherent, telling me I was depressed, I ultimately presented to an ER with a massive meningioma, brain herniation, and massive cerebral edema several hours after leaving her office. Once I recovered, which really was a miracle, I filed a complaint with my state's medical regulatory board. They ultimately found her care met the standards!! I was outraged. I have since contacted several legislators and hope to bring our state medical regulatory board under scrutiny. My goal is not punitive, it is to recognize the need for remedial education of community physicians. If we allow them to sweep these cases under the rug, the next meningioma or brain tumor patient will not fare any better. I encourage everyone to contact their district senators and congressmen and woman as well as the Department of Health Medical Regulatory Boards to tell them your story. If you want to know where your state falls in assessed leniency for physician reprimand or remedial education google Public Citizen Congressional Watch. This is a Ralph Nader watch group that amongst many interests compiles data on medical regulatory boards. I believe the time has come that meningioma patients demand more research and to help the next meningiopma patient by forcing the medical community to acknowledge it has a deficiency in diagnosing this condition. We can not be quiet about this. Hats off to Newsweek.

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Posted By: starfare @ 10/20/2009 1:29:50 AM

I am recovering from brain surgery...four years ago I was told the same thing, "too small, people die with these and never know they had them"....after a one year follow up I 'forgot" I had a tumor..it was benign, it didn't matter. After months of headaches and nausea, I had another MRI and was told my tumor had doubled in size and was growing toward the main vein/sinus. Surgery saved my life and I too am haunted by the number of people suffering due to the minimizing physicians, who are not neurosurgeons, do and never follow up.
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Posted By: sarad @ 12/14/2007 12:36:33 AM

Wonderful article. The common theme to most meningioma patients is the delay in diagnosis, yet the medical community refuses to recognize its own deficiency in this area, that is, neurological assessment. In addition, the medical field discounts the human psyche regardless. Most doctors spend so little time with patients they do not recognize the early changes in their patient's personality, mental acuity, gait, etc. They are not taught to interview a patient properly in medical school. Most patients are diagnosed with large tumors after they have become terribly symptomatic. The medical community then exonerates itself with catch phrases such as, "it is a slow growing tumor." After my physician watched me decline over a year, withdrawing me from work and sitting by as I became incoherent, telling me I was depressed, I ultimately presented to an ER with a massive meningioma, brain herniation, and massive cerebral edema several hours after leaving her office. Once I recovered, which really was a miracle, I filed a complaint with my state's medical regulatory board. They ultimately found her care met the standards!! I was outraged. I have since contacted several legislators and hope to bring our state medical regulatory board under scrutiny. My goal is not punitive, it is to recognize the need for remedial education of community physicians. If we allow them to sweep these cases under the rug, the next meningioma or brain tumor patient will not fare any better. I encourage everyone to contact their district senators and congressmen and woman as well as the Department of Health Medical Regulatory Boards to tell them your story. If you want to know where your state falls in assessed leniency for physician reprimand or remedial education google Public Citizen Congressional Watch. This is a Ralph Nader watch group that amongst many interests compiles data on medical regulatory boards. I believe the time has come that meningioma patients demand more research and to help the next meningiopma patient by forcing the medical community to acknowledge it has a deficiency in diagnosing this condition. We can not be quiet about this. Hats off to Newsweek.
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Posted By: matthewtwit @ 12/09/2007 10:00:39 PM

I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression for over a year before my brain tumors were found, Now I am celebrating two years of being cancer free.