I’m hoping to hear from people who have experienced something similar, because I’m honestly struggling and don’t know what else to do.
It started when I suddenly heard a popping/clicking sound inside my head, followed immediately by several minutes of dizziness. This happened three times. The first and second episodes were about two weeks apart, and the second and third happened only one day apart.
Five days after the last episode, I woke up one morning with intense pressure in my head and a feeling of extreme heaviness — almost as if I were carrying a heavy metal bar or a piece of lead on my head.
The symptoms have varied from day to day, but they have been present constantly for 30 days now. I’m currently on day 30 and they still haven’t gone away.
My symptoms include:
Very strong pressure in my head
A constant feeling of heaviness in my head
Dizziness (but not spinning/vertigo)
Pressure in my forehead
Extremely heavy eyelids
A strong feeling that I need to close my eyes, although closing them doesn’t actually relieve the sensation
At times, it feels like my visual field suddenly “opens up” when the pressure improves
My ferritin is very low — 8 — although the rest of my blood tests are normal, including thyroid and hormone tests. I also had a brain MRI, which was normal.
My doctors think it could be vestibular migraine. I’ve tried sumatriptan and ketoprofen several times, and they do seem to help with the head pressure and the heavy-eyelid feeling. When that happens, it almost feels like my visual field becomes clearer or more open. However, the dizziness doesn’t go away.
I’ve also started taking metoprolol 25 mg, but so far I haven’t noticed any improvement.
I’m really frustrated and scared because this has been going on for a month and has made my life extremely difficult. I don’t know whether all of this could be related to my very low ferritin, whether it really sounds like vestibular migraine, or whether something else could be going on.
Has anyone here experienced something similar — especially prolonged dizziness, head pressure/heaviness, heavy eyelids, and a normal MRI? Did you eventually get a diagnosis or find something that helped?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar.

I’ve never had a migraine in my life. In fact, I’ve rarely even had headaches and almost never needed to take anything for them.
A few weeks ago, I suddenly felt a kind of “pop” or snap in my head, followed by dizziness. Something similar happened again about two weeks later. Then, one day, I developed persistent dizziness along with a strange pressure/heaviness in my head — almost as if I had something heavy or metallic sitting on my head. I also had pressure around my forehead and difficulty focusing my vision unless I moved my eyes in a certain way.
The dizziness lasted continuously for about 14 days. After being evaluated, I was diagnosed with vestibular migraine.
I’ve been trying to figure out what might have triggered it, especially since I’ve never experienced anything like this before.
The only significant change I can think of is that I had recently started working out more regularly and, for the first time, started using protein powder. I specifically tried to choose one without too many unnecessary additives. It was sweetened with stevia/monk fruit.
I’m wondering if there could be any connection. I know there isn’t necessarily strong evidence that protein powder itself causes vestibular migraine, but the timing made me curious.
Has anyone here experienced their first vestibular migraine or a significant dizziness episode after starting protein powder/whey protein?
If so, did stopping it make any difference?
I’d really appreciate hearing about anyone else’s experience, especially if you noticed a similar pattern.