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The brain is a control center for the body; each of its parts is in charge of a different function, from speech and memory to appetite and muscle growth.   Because the brain has so many jobs to do, and is so intimately intertwined with so many aspects of the body, each tumor is unique in its symptoms because it is located in a different place in the brain.   Indeed,  tumor symptoms are quite varied, and sometimes impossible to distinguish from those of more common diseases. The motley assortment of symptoms, not usually seen together, may alert your provider to the possibility of a tumor. 

One common, but not universal sign of a tumor includes nasty morning headaches that often wake patients before they have finished sleeping, and may result in vomiting.  The headaches may become more painful when a tumor patient coughs, exercises or moves the body from a lying position to a bending position, or a standing position to a kneeling position.    Moreover,  it is unresponsive to the usual headache remedies. ??
A third of patients are diagnosed with brain tumor after they have been hospitalized with another common symptom associated more with epilepsy than with cancer -- seizures, caused by disrupted flows of electrical current through the bloodstream and into the brain.   If you are having a seizure,  your body may convulse, you may lose consciousness, your muscles may twitch, your arms or legs will jerk,  and your sense of taste and smell may be distorted.   You could feel some tingling, go numb,  or find it difficult to speak clearly.

Since it's the brain we're talking about, squeezed and corroded by a spreading cancer,  ?tumors also have powerful effects on a patient’s personality, her ability to solve problems, and to remember what she's learned.  Brain tumor patients can get confused, unfocused and forgetful; they often have trouble communicating with others.    Depending on the tumor's location, they may change their temperaments, personalities, and behavior.   

Brain tumors, like other cancers, are dangerous partly because of the "mass effect."  An undifferentiated mass of tumor cells, trapped within the small space of the skull, compresses and crowds the formerly healthy brain, displacing delicate brain tissue and literally squeezing the life out of the areas where it grows.   Sometimes the mass effect is the result of hydrocephalus, in which the tumor blocks the flow of nutrient-filled spinal fluid and prevents it from delivering its payload to the brain.  Other times, it causes a condition known as edema, in which the blockage is smaller, and cerebrospinal fluid flows in uneven spurts that are absorbed too quickly by brain tissue, causing it to swell and get inflamed.    You may be experiencing the mass effect if you vomit a lot or feel nauseous,  if you are constantly sleepy and can't see clearly either straight or to your side,  if your head constantly aches or you are having unfamiliar thoughts and feelings.   In particular, if your eye doctor notices a swollen optic nerve (papilledema) your brain is probably under attack by a tumor.  

In addition to these three common symptoms:  headaches, seizures, and the mass effect --, each individual tumor may cause focal symptoms that result from the tumor's location within the brain and will, in fact, help locate it.  A tumor near the ear canal, for example,  can cause patients to lose their hearing or hear buzzes and rings.  Tumors near the eyes can cause double vision;  others near the brain's processing center for motor skills could cause uncontrolled movement or make a patient feel weak, even paralyzed.   A patient might even lose the capacity to walk and talk.   Since the two main "highways"  of the nervous system intersect at the bottom of the skull, a right sided brain tumor may cause left-side symptoms and vice versa.

The brain stem is the control room for essential life-or-death processes in the body such as breathing,  the circulation of blood,  and the heartbeat.  At the center of the stem flows the superhighway of the body, the central passage that controls consciousness, attention and sleep.  The most frequent symptoms of brain stem are early morning vomiting and clumsiness in walking. Since the muscles lose their strength on one side of the face, patients with brain stem cancer may have one-sided smiles or drooping eyelids. They may see double and speak in a slurred or nasal voice.  They may even be unable to swallow.  

Tumors are most common in the meninges (the protective covering for the brain and spinal cord) and the glial cells (which are located throughout the brain and provide protection and support for neurons).  Seizures are among their mass effects.    However, tumors can also appear in the Cerebellum (which controls muscle coordination), the Cerebellopontine Angle, the  Frontal and Occipital Lobes (which control language and writing), the Parietal Lobe (which interprets pain), the Temporal Lobe,  (which processes sounds and spoken words, depth perception and the sense of time) the Corpus Callosum (which controls judgement and long-term memory) the Hypothalamus (which controls appetite and thirst) and many other parts of the brain.    The symptoms will vary depending on the location, and are therefore used as clues by doctors to diagnose the tumor. 

*This article is based on the information at http://www.braintumor.org,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_tumor, http://www.nih.gov, http://www.webmd.com