headaches before treatment ?

[bivrak]

I was just diagnosed this week with only a 3 mm tumor. They found it in an MRI looking for the cause of my headaches, which have been constant for over two weeks now.

I have some vertigo/balance symptoms - blurry vision, a feeling of being "out of it", poor balance, and rarely, a feeling that the room is spinning. But my worst symptom is headaches. I'm concerned because nothing I find online suggests that headaches should be either a symptom of vertigo or a symptom of such a small AN.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I have a theory that my headaches are resulting from the vertigo. I have always been very sensitive to motion sickness. I get headaches if I try to read in the car for more than a couple of minutes, and I've always gotten headaches if I try to play video games that give the illusion of rapid motion - video games most people can play with no problem. So my theory is that whatever has always made he sensitive to motion sickness is making me extra sensitive to the vertigo my tumor is causing. Like the video game issue, I'm getting bad headaches when most other people wouldn't.

Does this make sense? Has anyone else had the same problem?

Thanks

[leapyrtwins]

Hi and welcome to the forum 

I'm sorry to hear you have an AN, but you've come to a great place for support, advice, and comaraderie.

Patients diagnosed with ANs seem to have a list of similar symptoms that are common, but not everyone experiences the same things.  What I'm trying to say is hearing loss, balance issues, headaches, vertigo, etc., are all symptoms of an AN, but not everyone who is diagnosed with an AN has all these symptoms.

In my case, I had diminished hearing and a feeling of fullness in my AN ear, but no headaches.  I also didn't notice any balance issues until my neurotologist tested my balance.

But everyone's AN journey is different and even though I didn't have headaches doesn't mean that other AN patients didn't.

Ironically AN size doesn't seem to go hand in hand with symptoms or the severity of symtoms; so a 3 mm AN causing symptoms isn't uncommon.  Sometimes small ANs cause big symptoms; sometimes large ANs cause small symptoms.

Jan