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I don't think my head pain sounds like migraines, but perhaps?

Hi, I'm 22/female.

Every time I explain to someone that I have 24/7 pain on the right side of my head, their minds jump to migraine. I wish it were migraines, but I think it sounds more like a tumor or aneurysm :/

So to start from the beginning, when I was about 14 years old, I bit into my lunch one day and noticed that the food tasted like nothing. My sense of taste was gone. This lasted for about 3 or 4 years. I still sometimes feel like I temporarily can't taste food, but my sense of taste has largely returned, I think (hard to say. after not having a sense of taste for 4 years, you forget what foods are 'supposed' to taste like). I had also begun having issues pronouncing certain words at this time, mostly words with s-sounds in them.

Then, when I was in my senior year of high school, I started experiencing blurry vision in the mornings and random dizzy spells that would last for a few seconds. At this time, I also noticed that my eyes would hurt REALLY bad when I first stepped outside in the morning. The brightness just strained my eyes, I guess. I saw a doctor for an unrelated knee issue at this time, told him I was getting dizzy throughout the day, and he essentially went, "Oh. Okay." So this convinced my dad I was making everything up.

Then when I started college, I developed this localized, incessant, excruciating pain in this spot on the back of my head. To this day, I still have this pain. Every once in a while, it's barely noticeable or not there, but it's there about 95% of the time. At first, I would lay in bed crying for hours because it hurt so bad, but now it's part of my normal and I've learned to deal with it. It's mostly in about the same area on the right side of the back of my skull, although lately sometimes it also hurts on the top of my head or on the left side near my ear, which has me scared that it's a tumor and it's spreading.

In addition, I've developed memory issues (I often forget what I'm doing in the middle of things and find that I can't remember things I learned a few months ago, whereas I never used to forget anything). I have trouble remembering words, an almost complete lack of concentration, balance issues, coordination issues,  a feeling like there's liquid in my skull, and these episodes where it feels like the blood is rushing from my head and I'm on the verge of passing out/losing consciousness. Sometimes, it feels like my ears are clogged with liquid, and sometimes it feels like my senses are extremely dulled...like I'm here but not really here because my bodily senses are so dulled; hard to explained. I also used to have noticeably shaky hands, although they've mostly subsided now. Oh, and when I was 18 just before I started college, I had this absolutely unbearable lower back pain for a few months. It felt as though there was a tennis ball in my lower back/spine a lot of the time. There were times when I was out with my family and I begged my dad to drive me home in tears because I just wanted to lay in bed and cry until the pain calmed down a bit. I don't know if that's related, though; that's gone, too. If I do some heavy lifting or anything, my back will start hurting, but it's more of an ache and nothing like that.


So yeah. Could this all really stem from migraines? Or does anyone know of any other possibilities that aren't brain tumors or aneurysms? Thank you.
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Avatar universal
I'm currently working on losing weight before I go to the doctor's. I've gained a lot of weight eating the unhealthy food my dad buys lately, and now I'm trying to drop it. I was just looking to see if anyone had any idea what it could be in the meantime. Thanks for your reply.
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Avatar universal
You need to go get an MRI today! The localized pain could be migraine activity, & believe it or not, the memory issues, photo sensitivity, eye pain, all that occurs frequently w migraine. But w o a MRI, a dr wouldn't be able to diagnose you, let alone me. Call a neuro, get the MRI, get some treatment!
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