Are Sinus Headaches And Migraines Related
People who often have allergies with a runny nose are 10 times more likely to have migraines. Asthma and migraine also share some of the same triggers.
So, do sinus and breathing problemscause migraines? Probably not, but it seems these conditions could be related somehow. If you want relief, you’ll need the right diagnosis and, if you have more than one condition, to consider treatment for each separately, even when they’re happening at the same time.
When To Seek Treatment
It can be challenging to tell if your headache is something you should be worrying about. If your attacks are severe,its a good idea to seek medical attention.
Theres a long list of scary causes of headaches that most of the time are not what people have, but on occasion they are, Robbins said. Especially if the headache is associated with some other symptoms, like feeling numb or weak or having a disturbance of vision or symptoms like that.
Other red flags include new headaches in someone whos age 50 or above, neurological symptoms like weakness or numbness in one of your limbs, fever, weight loss, lack of response to usual treatment or a change in headache frequency or characteristics.
Of course, there are other reasons to see a doctor, beyond worrying that your headaches may be a sign of a scary medical condition. One big reason, Robbins pointed out, is that plenty of effective treatments for headaches and migraines are now available that allow people to find relief, be proactive in how they manage their condition and keep it from worsening over time.
Living With is a guide to navigating conditions that affect your mind and body. Each month, HuffPost Life will tackle very real issues people live with by offering different stories, advice and ways to connect with others who understand what its like. In April, were covering migraines and headaches. Got an experience youd like to share? Email wellness@huffpost.com.
Causes Of Sinus Headaches
When you suffer from sinusitis, the sinus cavities those empty spaces under your eyes, by your nose and beneath your forehead become inflamed. The inflammation, whether its caused by bacteria, an allergen, a virus or fungus, makes it difficult for the sinuses to drain. Mucus builds up in them and puts pressures on your sinuses. The result is often described as a throbbing, dull pain in the cheeks, forehead or nose.
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If Your Sinus Headache Wont Go Away Call Kaplan Sinus Relief
Dr. Michael Kaplan of Kaplan Sinus Relief is a leading practitioner of the balloon sinuplasty treatment, and he often trains other doctors on the technique. Patients who visit Kaplan Sinus Relief also have the option to add IV Sedation and/or TGS image-guided navigation to their surgery, which are services that help keep patients relaxed during the surgery and improve accuracy and safety, respectively.
You dont have to put up with a sinus headache that wont go away. Kaplan Sinus Relief can help you find relief from sinus headaches, congestion, and more. Call 713-766-1818 or request an appointment online today.
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Talk To An Ent For Sinus Headache Relief
You dont need to live with sinus headaches. If you are experiencing these symptoms, then it is time to talk to an upper respiratory specialist at Collin County Ear, Nose, and Throat.
We serve patients in the Collin County and Dallas areas, with nearby offices located in Frisco and Plano, TX. Fill out our online form for an appointment request, or call our office at 596-4005.
School is out, and kids are excited to enjoy their summer break! As a family,
We find our patients experiences the most rewarding part of the job. Without them, we wouldnt be one of the longest standing ENT practices in the area!
This was my first time visiting this office. These folks were super friendly!! Starting with the front desk to all the help in the back, the Dr. Littlejohn was very patient and listened to all my concerns. I dealt with 5 people total due to testing and they all were genuinely nice! Loved it, and not to mention quick service. Great customer service, Ill be sure to refer family and friends!
Crystal S.
I have used Collin Co. ENT and Dr. Kenny Carter for over 3 years, primarily for ear problems. The staff has been consistently helpful and friendly to me. When I have had problems needing immediate attention and explained the need, have been able to get an appointment within a reasonable time to address the problem. I recommend Dr. Carter and his staff.
Stan B.Mehrdad M.
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What Is The Prognosis For A Sinus Headache
Sinus headaches are short-lived temporary problems associated with colds or hay fever. They recover quickly, once the underlying condition resolves.
Certain people develop chronic sinus inflammation and more long-standing symptoms associated with their sinusitis. Once the underlying condition is identified, preventive measures may be available and future recurrences of the sinus headache may be minimized. If the headache symptoms are not associated with inflammation of the sinuses, the underlying cause needs to be adequately addressed to relieve symptoms.
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How Do You Know If You Have Sinus Headache Or Migraine
Listing all the symptoms separately can be confusing and is perhaps why so many sinus headache sufferers have not been correctly diagnosed.
Instead, below are the key symptoms side by side, Sinus Headache vs Migraine, in an easy to follow checklist so you can quickly find out the truth.
If youre not experiencing fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a persistent green or yellow nasal discharge and you have a headache in the sinus area, then you likely have migraine. It is difficult for doctors of patients with migraine and sinus symptoms to acknowledge that a CT scan of their sinuses looks normal and does not show the inflammation, fluid or swelling they would expect after years of rhinosinusitis. Patients and their doctors often fall into the trap of believing that they are nipping sinus infections in the bud with frequent antibiotics and that is why they never get infected drainage.
Take a moment to digest. Most people from the study who were told this rejected the finding at first. They had been told by on average by 4 doctors that it was their sinus. They had also been wrongly diagnosed for an average of 25 years
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How Does A Doctor Know Whether Its Sinus Or Migraine
Migraine is a clinical diagnosis, says Weber. That means that the doctor will ask you about your family history of migraine, allergies, and any other symptoms to determine if you have migraine or sinus headache.
To help your doctor make the correct diagnosis, it can be really helpful to track what youre experiencing, says Lauren Doyle Strauss, DO, a headache specialist and assistant professor at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Write down your symptoms, says Strauss. Where is the pain located? Are you tired or dizzy? Are you sensitive to light or sound? Do you have an upset stomach or vomiting?
In addition to considering your symptoms, there can be tests used to identify sinus problems. A headache caused by a sinus infection is typically diagnosed with a CT scan of the sinuses, says Weber.
Treatment For Chronic Sinus Headaches
Individuals suffering from sinus headaches who have sought treatment from a primary physician with little success may find it beneficial to seek other treatment options from a specialist. Although primary care physicians can often help patients with occasional sinus headaches, an ENT is better suited to helping patients with chronic sinus problems. Treatment for chronic sinus headaches can provide significant relief for those who suffer from them and make their daily lives much more enjoyable.
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How Common Is It To Have A Diagnosis Of Sinusitis When In The End The Problem Is Really Migraine
Research has shown that three quarters of headaches thought to be sinus headaches are actually migraine, which is important because the treatment of sinusitis and migraine is completely different.
Of course, it is also possible for a person with migraine to have a true bacterial sinusitis, but usually the headache will feel quite different from the usual migraine.
Check If You Have Sinusitis
Sinusitis is common after a cold or flu.
Symptoms of sinusitis include:
- pain, swelling and tenderness around your cheeks, eyes or forehead
- a blocked nose
- a reduced sense of smell
- green or yellow mucus from your nose
- a sinus headache
- toothache
- bad breath
Signs of sinusitis in young children may also include irritability, difficulty feeding, and breathing through their mouth.
The sinuses are small, empty spaces behind your cheekbones and forehead that connect to the inside of the nose.
Sinusitis causes the lining of the sinuses to swell up.
This stops mucus draining into your nose and throat properly, making you feel blocked up.
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Why Choose Dr Ummat
Dr. Sunil Ummat, MD, a board-certified ENT specialist, brings more than 15 years of ear, nose and throat experience to his Seattle area practice serving all of Kirkland, Bellevue, and surrounding suburbs. His strong focus on patient care combined with the excellent results he is able to achieve have earned him a reputation as one of the top otolaryngologists in the Seattle area. He sees patients for a wide range of ear, nose, and throat problems, including sinus headaches, in Kirkland, WA.
Sinus Migraine: When Sinus Pain Is More Than A Headache
You have a headache. It extends over your eye and you have pressure in your face. Your nose even runs a little. You take some Sudafed or ibuprofen, tell everyone you have a sinus headache or even a sinus migraine, and lay down for a while. Two or three hours later you are better. You might have a little residual soreness and you might be a little tired, but the worst of the headache is over. Youve just had a sinus headache or was it?
You could have had a migraine that isnt even related to any sinus issues and not realize it. You felt sinus pain and pressure, so your mind automatically went to sinus headache. Your doctor may even have told you it was sinus related and the subject of migraines never came up. It happens a lot more than you might think. In fact, nearly 90% of patients who visit their doctor and complain of sinus headache actually have a migraine or migraine-type headache.
This is an easy misdiagnosis, but its important to get it right because sinus-related headaches and straight-up migraines are treated differently. For a sinus headache, a decongestant could be key. But if youre having a migraine, you might benefit most from a simple pair migraine glasses like these, or other remedies that are designed for migraine.
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Treatment For Sinus Headaches
If you experience headaches caused by sinusitis, you have a number of treatment options. At ENT of New Orleans, our team provides:
- Saline washes
- Surgery
Surgery is reserved for patients with chronic sinusitis that doesnt respond to conservative treatments. You might need surgery if your sinusitis is caused by blockages or severe congestion.
Functional endoscopic sinus surgery can be performed on patients with nasal polyps, tumors, or other blockages in the nasal passages. With this surgery, your provider removes the abnormal tissue to allow for better drainage.
Another common procedure is balloon sinuplasty. During this procedure, a small balloon is inserted into a sinus passage and inflated slowly. Then, your provider flushes your sinuses with a saline solution, deflates the balloon, and removes it. This allows your provider to expand your sinus passages and also flush out pus and mucus that has built up.
To get a thorough evaluation and to learn about your treatment options, book an appointment online or over the phone with ENT of New Orleans today.
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Symptoms: Identifying A Sinus Headache
Keep in mind that other kinds of headaches can feel similar to a sinus headache. But there are other symptoms associated with the headache that can indicate whether it is happening because of sinus issues.
For example, notice if there are specific triggers that bring on the sinus headache. When you are experiencing these headaches simultaneously with a head cold or seasonal allergies, its a good indication that the sinuses are the underlying cause.
Symptoms vary for each patient. But the most common symptoms of a sinus headache include a headache accompanied by one or more of these symptoms:
- Runny nose
- Headache pain increases when leaning down
- Swelling and redness in the nose, cheeks, or forehead
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Are These Your Symptoms
From those patients confirmed with a migraine diagnosis in the study:
- 83% noticed the weather affected their headaches
- 73% noticed seasonal variations in their headaches
- 62% said their headaches were triggered by allergies
- 56% had nasal congestion
- 25% had a runny nose
- 22% had red eyes
- 19% had watery eyes
You could be forgiven for thinking these symptoms are sinus related. They look a lot like the symptoms you might expect from a sinus infection so its no surprise that there is a significant amount of confusion between sinus headache and migraine.
Results found that 9 out of 10 patients in the study had migraine, not sinus headache.
Furthermore, the 100 patients from the study had seen an average of 4 physicians each and had gone on average 25 years without the correct diagnosis or significant relief.
Thats 25 years without significant relief and 4 physicians who had gotten the diagnosis wrong!
The lead investigator of the SAMS study Dr. Eross says It was hard to convince some of them that they actually suffered from migraine headaches, said Dr. Eross. Many were shocked.
One in ten people from the study knew they had migraine, but thought they had sinus headaches in addition. In reality they actually suffered two different types of migraine, one with sinus symptoms and one without, Dr. Eross noted.
Much of the pain or pressure is in the face, on both sides, so it doesnt occur to them that this might be a migraine. Dr Eross
How Can We Make The Difference Between A Sinusitis And Migraine
- A migraine will usually resolve in 24 to 48 hours while sinusitis usually requires treatment with antibiotics.
- Migraine attacks often recur on a regular basis. It is very rare to have many episodes of bacterial sinusitis every year.
- Acute sinusitis is caused by an infection of the sinuses and is usually associated with other symptoms, such as colored nasal drainage, fever, post nasal drip in the back of the throat.
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How Is A Sinus Headache Different From A Migraine Attack
Whereas a sinus headache is a result of pressure on the nasal walls, migraine attacks originate in the brain, says Rajneesh. Theres often a clear association in a person who has a history of allergies, and then their allergies flare up, which then leads to headaches, and the headache is usually frontal, he says.
According to the American Migraine Foundation, people with allergic rhinitis are more than 10 times more likely to have migraine.
Although both migraine and a sinus headache can come with a runny nose, with migraine the discharge is usually clear, whereas in a headache that comes with sinusitis, it can be colored or foul smelling, says Rajneesh.
Migraine attacks are often associated with other symptoms besides a headache, which can include nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, and sound sensitivity, according to Weber. Some migraine patients have an aura, typically visual, with spots, lights, or colors prior to the onset of a migraine attack, he says.
How a Migraine Attack Unfolds
Sinusitis And Sinus Headaches
What most people dont realize is that true sinus headaches are actually quite uncommon and are often over diagnosed or misdiagnosed. Sinusitis is an inflammation of the sinuses, often due to a bacterial infection. The sinuses are air pockets that are situated at certain points in the facial bones. Scientists are not certain the exact purpose of sinuses. Some believe that it helps enhance the voice through resonation while others believe it may be a way for the body to humidify the air during inhalation. They are usually empty but do have a very thin mucus layer along the walls.
There are four pairs of paranasal sinuses, meaning that there are two at the same points on the left and right. They are:
- Frontal sinuses: above the eyes just over the eyebrows
- Maxillary sinuses: on each side of the nose, in the cheekbone
- Ethmoid sinuses: between the eyes, under the bridge of the nose
- Sphenoid sinuses: behind the eyes and ethmoid sinuses
Inflammation of the sinuses can occur due to bacterial, viral, or fungal causes and can present in one of the sinus pair, or several. If there is an infection present, it is important that it is treated. Failure to properly treat a sinus infection can cause serious health risks and can create a propensity to develop sinus infections in the future.
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The Most Common Misdiagnosis For Migraine Is This
You guessed it, sinus headache.
According to recently published research, over half of all those with migraine who participated in their study were misdiagnosed. The authors concluded that the under-recognition of migraine constitutes a significant public health problem.
Why are so many people not diagnosed?
There are a number of reasons why an individual with symptoms of migraine report that they havent been diagnosed by a health professional. These include: