Some doctors call the condition the phantom tumour

When Lauren Ashley at the age of five started to complain that her eyes were hurting her mother was obviously concerned and took her to an ophthalmologist who soon diagnosed a suspected brain tumour due to the swelling of the optic nerve.

The condition that Lauren Ashley suffers from is actually called pseudotumor cerebri which causes pressure to build up in the brain and which can end up leaving you blind. Some doctors call the condition “the phantom tumour” because it has all the symptoms of a brain tumour but in fact is caused by a deficiency in the ability of the brain to absorb its fluid which then ends up building up causing severe pain and discomfort.

This story is just one of many recent cases of pseudotumor cerebri which has made doctors and scientists sit up because they say it could be that the rising rates of this extremely rare illness could be caused by the rising rates of obesity in America.

The evidence shows that around 2/3 of those children who are diagnosed with pseudotumor cerebri are in fact overweight or obese. Lauren who nevertheless is of a normal weight says that her condition means it is difficult for her to live a normal life and that she is in constant pain.

Dr.Steve Roach a neurologist from the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio runs the first American first pseudotumor cerebri clinic for children and he believes that obesity is definitely playing a part in the increased incidences of this condition.

In some cases it has been shown that purely by losing weight the symptoms are drastically reduced and it is hoped that with the 80 cases that the Nationwide Children's Hospital is treating more useful information about the link between obesity and this condition will be able to be established.

Obesity seems to increase the likelihood of practically every single illness known to man and children are not exempted. Parents should make an extra effort to stop their children becoming obese so that they don’t suffer from heart problems, cancer, hundreds of other health problems including pseudotumor cerebri.