sinus headache

23 November 2011

Sinus Headache – Did You Really Beat It?

Pain around the sinus cavity. Congestion. Post-nasal drip. Fatigue. You’re feeling hot, and you have a headache.

You head to the pharmacy, and get a nasal spray. You come home and have a good sleep. Finally, the symptoms begin to subside.

All’s well that ends well, right? You’ve beat sinusitis again. Problem is, it probably wasn’t sinusitis at all.

Some of you caught on, didn’t you? This was most likely a migraine attack, not sinusitis at all. Did you notice the clues?

Clue #1: You’re feeling hot. Feeling hot, but if you take your temperature, you most likely didn’t have a fever. With sinusitis, you may not only feel hot but have a fever.

Clue #2: The symptoms begin to subside. That was pretty fast for sinusitis. First, nasal sprays are not always recommended – it depends on your specific condition. Even if they are recommended, if the sinusitis goes away within a few hours, you’ve probably had a migraine attack. The symptoms are more likely to last days and get worse gradually and subside gradually.

Clue #3: We didn’t mention some key symptoms of sinus headache. These may include yellowish or greenish mucus. Sore throat. And cough.

The tricky thing is that these are all possible symptoms of sinusitis, but sometimes the sinus headache comes without the upper respiratory symptoms at all. That’s right – you may get migraine with congestion and facial pressure, and sinus headache without!

So here are some more clues to help you discover a sinus headache. First, the gradual onset. Second, sinus headaches rarely come with nausea, and you’re usually not bothered as much by noise and light. Of course, it is possible to get a migraine attack within a sinus headache!

If we rely on the statistics, chances are you are having a migraine attack, or in rare cases a migraine along with sinusitis. Don’t run to the store for a nasal spray. Get a proper diagnosis, especially if it’s happening on a regular basis. Leaving either migraine or sinusitis untreated can lead to worse problems later on, and the treatment is different for each.

For more, read Are you getting sinus headache symptoms?

25 September 2008

Misdiagnosis: Sinusitis and body pain

James Discoveries & Stats 3

Researchers at the Georgetown University Medical Center made a surprising discovery about patients with sinusitis. It’s not just about headache, stuffy nose and tenderness in the face. There’s pain all over the body!

All right, this might not be so surprising to patients with sinusitis. But chronic sinusitis apparently does result in bodily pain – a symptom not usually listed. The researchers compared the pain with the chronic pain of the elderly, or those with arthritis.

Dr Alexander C. Chester, the study’s author, notes:

Bodily pain is not listed as a symptom of chronic sinusitis in general medical texts or journals and as a result, patients are sometimes diagnosed with unrelated conditions such as arthritis, depression, fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome. Unfortunately, this leaves too many people unaware of treatments for sinusitis that can improve their overall condition.

Speaking of misdiagnosis, it is believed to be extremely common that people with migraine are misdiagnosed with sinus headache. Many symptoms are common to both – tenderness, congestion, and headache, for example (read more about sinus headache here).

Before taking drastic steps (such as going for surgery), it helps to get a second opinion from a qualified specialist, and it also helps to do your own research. Looks like you already are! 🙂

8 April 2008

Is a Deviated Septum giving you a headache?

James Tips, Treatments 46

Recently I got an email from Scott, who had just been diagnosed with a "deviated septum". He has daily headaches, and was wondering if a deviated septum could be responsible.

First, a little background. What is a deviated septum?

Your nasal septum is the partition between the right and left parts of your nose. When a person has a deviated septum, it’s pulled over to one side or the other (the one in the illustration is deviated to your left).

There can be a number of causes, and sometimes we can’t be sure why one particular person has a deviation. Sometimes surgery can cause this, or an injury, or perhaps a traumatic birth, or it may even occur during the baby’s development in the womb.

Question #1 – can a deviated septum trigger headache symptoms? Yes, in some people it can.

Question #2 – how likely is it that a deviated septum is the primary trigger or cause? In other words, what are the chances that surgery will solve the headache problem in any given person? In most cases, it’s not very likely that surgery will solve your headache problem.

A deviated septum is actually very common – 4 in 5 people have it. One way to see if you might have a deviation is to try breathing through either nostril while blocking the other. If there’s a significant difference in air flow, you may have a deviation.

There are at least two reasons this may cause headaches. Most commonly, the septum may block mucus, causing frequent recurring sinus infection. That’s a major recipe for a headache!

Drs Young and Silberstein have also noticed a different kind of "deviated septum headache", which they write about in their book Migraine and Other Headaches:
Rarely, a deviated septum may cause a one-sided headache on the side toward which the septum deviates. If the septum deviation is causing the headache, placing a small piece of paper soaked in an anesthetic (lidocaine or Novocaine®) will relieve the headache. The treatment is surgical straightening of the deviated sinus.

Note that this is rare – it’s more likely that, if you have problems, it will be with a sinus infection.

If neither of these situations seem to fit you, chances are surgery will not help.

If you do opt for surgery, it’s called a septoplasty, and it’s done in a day. It usually won’t change the look of your nose. It is a fairly safe surgery, though with all surgery there are risks. It won’t instantly cure sinus infections, but it can make you less susceptible. The more deviated the septum was, the greater the improvement usually is. Read more about surgery for a deviated septum here.

Have you had experience with surgery for a deviated septum? Did it help you with your headaches? Leave a comment and tell us about it.