People with astrocytoma often experience the following symptoms. Sometimes, children with astrocytoma do not show any of these symptoms. Or, these symptoms may be similar to symptoms of other medical conditions.

The people may have headaches, be lethargic (tired and listless), or have seizures that are not related to a high fever. Vision may be double or diminished, and it may have altered growth or development.

In a baby, the only symptom may be that the head is growing too fast. An infant’s skull can expand to make room for a growing tumor, so a baby with astrocytoma may have a larger than normal head.

There can be following symptoms in case of Astrocytoma:

·      Headache

o     Recent onset of new type

o     Persistent

o     Worse on awakening

·      Vomiting

o     Possibly accompanied by nausea

o     More severe in the morning

·      Personality changes and behavior changes

·      Emotional instability, rapid emotional changes

·      Intellectual decline

o     Loss of memory

o     Impaired calculating abilities

o     Impaired judgment

·      Seizures, new onset

·      Reduced level of consciousness (decreased alertness)

·      Neurologic changes

o     Vision changes (double vision, decreased vision)

o     Hearing loss

o     Decreased sensation of a body area

o     Weakness of a body area

o     Speech difficulties

o     Decreased coordination, clumsiness, falls

·      Fever (sometimes)

·      Weakness, lethargy

·      General ill feeling (malaise)

·      Positive Babinski’s reflex

·      Decerebrate posture

·      Decorticate posture

IN INFANTS

·      Bulging fontanelles

·      Separated sutures

·      Opisthotonos

·      Increased head circumference

·      No red reflex in the eye

Note: Specific symptoms vary.

Additional symptoms that may be associated with primary brain tumors:

·      Tongue problems

·      Swallowing difficulty

·      Impaired sense of smell

·      Obesity

·      Uncontrollable movement

·      Dysfunctional movement

·      Absent menstruation

·      Hiccups

·      Hand tremor

·      Facial paralysis

·      Eye abnormalities

o     pupils different sizes

o     uncontrollable movements

o     eyelid drooping

·      Confusion

·      Breathing, absent temporarily

·      Unusual or strange behavior

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