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Hi My Sister Is 65 Years Old And 5 Years

Posted on Sat, 4 May 2019

Question: Hi my sister is 65 years old and 5 years ago she was diagnosed with a Meningioma brain tumor behind her right eye. Testing was done to confirm at XXXXXXX Hospital. The doctor wanted to keep his eye on it every 6 months. My sister has not had it checked since then. Our Family question: We are seeing a major personality change in her. She is more aggressive. Responds to little things and blows them out of context. She is texting to many family members aggressive texts and goes on and on how bad we are, then she puts herself on a pedestal. This past year we have lost a sister in law and a beautiful niece and a sister. Emotions in the family over all are running high. I personally have stood by my sister the past 4 years. Trying to convince everyone it must be the tumor. She absolutely argues with everyone. She has now started to attack me. I have tried to read things on meningioma tumors. However I would like to know if this is normal behavior for the location of this tumor? I begged her to go get an MRI and I got 10 texts which were all mean and attacking. My sister and her daughter and son were close. The past 4 years she is not allowed to see her grandchildren and barely any communication with her daughter. All very concern. In the process she has been diagnosed with Colitis. She is constantly have bowel issues. Her doctor wants her to de-stress but how can she when agitated all the time? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, XXXXXXX

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Meningiomas are mostly non-cancerous - so less reason to worry

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for using the Ask a Doctor service.

Since meningiomas occur both in children and adults, I would be able to address your queries. If the diagnosis is thought to be meningioma and nothing else, you have relatively less to worry about since 90% of meningiomas are benign or non-cancerous and rarely convert to cancer. The bad part is that the anterior part of the brain (known as frontal lobe) deals with executive functioning and personality and therefore her personality changes could be a sign that the tumor is encroaching upon the brain. An MRI therefore needs to be done without delay. Since I do not know the exact dimensions and location of the tumor it is hard to comment whether surgical interventions are feasible.

Now regarding the issue of convincing her to get treatment, this is hard and your family has to act in unison on this matter. Some psychiatric medicines might be able to cool her down. Talk to her treating physician in this regard. Colitis is treatable but nevertheless she has to get the treatment.

Feel free to write back.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Kampana