Signs And Symptoms Of Cerebral Edema

Edema is another term for swelling. When your body receives some form of injury, a typical reaction for your body to have is to swell. However, it's possible for your brain to swell as well, which is something known as cerebral edema. This can occur due to an injury to the brain or illness, though it may also occur for unknown reasons. Because the brain is located in the thick skull, it doesn't have much space to swell, so if your brain starts to swell, the situation could become dangerous, and potentially even lethal. As such, if you believe you or someone you know, may be suffering from cerebral edema, contact a local hospital.

Headache

One of the first signs of cerebral edema is a headache. It may occur anywhere within your head and is due to the increasing pressure occurring inside your skull. As the swelling develops, the ache will likely become worse. A headache may also bring additional symptoms like light sensitivity or noise sensitivity, and in some cases, you may have difficulty sleeping, or you may feel fatigued. If the ache persists, even after taking pain relief medication, consider seeing your doctor. You will also want to ensure your headache isn't a migraine.

Typically, migraines also have additional symptoms of throbbing pain, nausea, blurred vision, paleness, dizziness, and other signs. Your headache may develop into a migraine if you have edema, however, so if you notice this form of pain along with the other following symptoms, call an ambulance or have someone take you to the hospital. Due to the severity of other symptoms, you should not drive yourself if it's possible to avoid it.

Seizures

Seizures can be caused by injury, or even by an infection the brain like meningitis. As such, it's a critical sign you or someone you know has cerebral edema. There are different types of seizures as well, so it's important to know which one you are suffering from. Tonic-clonic is the most common form of seizure in which your arms and legs become stiff and jerk. You may also stop breathing until the seizure is over. Absence seizures occur when you lose consciousness, though it is important to note these typically affect children more so than adults.

Febrile seizures occur in children, are usually due to an illness, typically only last for a few minutes, and are relatively harmless. Partial focus seizures occur in a single location of the brain but can spread to other parts of the brain. There are two different kinds of partial focus seizures. The first is when you remain conscious and aware of what is going on, and you may or may not be able to respond. In the second, you lose consciousness.

Vision Loss Or Changes

Because your brain is swelling, some of the circuitry required for vision can be stressed. Depending on where your brain is swelling, the pressure may also be built up behind your eyes, which can also cause distorted vision. There are different types of low vision, too. In one case, you may lose central vision, which occurs when you notice a blind spot in the center of your field of vision. You may also lose peripheral vision, and similar to central vision, this occurs when you can no longer see at the sides, below, or above eye level.

Another aspect of vision loss or changes is night blindness. As its name might suggest, this means you have more difficulty than usual in seeing in low-lit areas like theaters. Another vision change is blurred vision. Where you once had clear sight, now you are suddenly unable to focus or have fuzzy vision. This is similar to hazy vision where it looks like a glare or film is covering your eyes. An eye inspection can usually determine the cause.

Memory Loss

With the swelling of the brain, blood flow can be difficult for the brain to regulate. Besides an impending stroke, this also means your memory may be affected. This can also occur when your brain makes contact with your skull. It can damage certain parts of your brain that host memory. How quickly the memory is lost, however, is determined by the cause of the swelling and how quickly the swelling grows. For an injury, for example, the memory loss may be immediate.

Depending on the injury's severity, you may never recover those memories, though the memory loss may only be temporary until the swelling has gone down. If the swelling is due to an illness, depending upon how much damage the brain takes, it may not be possible to ever recover those memories. Or, perhaps, the memories will return once the infection and swelling die down. Regardless, if you or someone you know seems to be forgetting things, large or small, it may be a sign they're suffering from cerebral edema.

Difficulty Speaking

A normal brain requires uninterrupted oxygen and blood to perform its functions normally. Since the brain essentially controls all motor skills, functions like speaking, walking, and breathing, are all at risk when the brain is unable to function normally. Cerebral edema can cause the brain to do just that by interrupting the oxygen and blood flow to the brain. The swelling doesn't allow for appropriate levels of oxygen and blood flow, and so motor skills start to decrease or stop entirely.

One of these you may notice is communication. If you or someone you know suddenly seems to have difficulty speaking, they may be suffering from cerebral edema. A brain aneurysm, caused by a head injury, for example, can develop from the swelling and pressure building inside of the skull which can then make the problem a lot worse. If slurred or incomprehensible speech occurs, see your doctor.