I had alot of similar symptoms to what you describe with my schwannoma, which is a little bit lower than an AN. I had earaches that radiated into headaches, especially in the morning, as well as the full feeling in the ear. I also started to have pain right behind my left eye after too much time on the computer. Immediately after my cyberknife radiosurgery, all the pain was gone. I sleep through the night and wake up completely pain free. I can't speak for surgery, but my symptoms subsided right away with radiosurgery, without any skin being broken! Don't let neurosurgeons scare you with misinformation and myths about radiosurgery, it's in their best interest to do so. Do your research and make a treatment decision that's best for you, and make that decision only after you're completely informed about your options. Good luck!