Having a constant sniffle, irritated throat, headache, and watery eyes can affect your work and daily activities, preventing you from doing things you enjoy. These symptoms are usually due to sinus headaches which is more common than most people think.
Many people who experience sinus headaches often wait it out, but you shouldn’t allow the bacteria to keep breeding in your body as this condition can affect your health and daily activities.
What are sinus headaches?
The sinuses on the face consist of theethmoid and sphenoid sinuses (located behind the nose), frontal sinuses (located on the forehead), and maxillary sinuses (located inside the cheekbones).The sinuses are the airy spaces in the facial and skull region that form the passage from the nose to the throat.
A sinus attack can be self-diagnosed and is treatable. The inflammation in the nasal passages and sinuses usually occur due to bacterial infection, known as sinusitis. The bacterial growth and inflammation may lead to pressure on your face, causing facial swelling, toothaches, sore throat, fatigue, dizziness and other common symptoms. The most severe symptom affecting most people is sinus headaches.
Sinus headaches make the head feel stuffy and can prevent you from carrying out your daily activities. These headaches make most people feel instantly tired and irritable.
Causes of a sinus headache
In most cases, sinus headaches occur due to a change in weather or an allergic reaction that causes symptoms similar to a common cold. Runny nose and watery eyes also occur due to hay fever, an allergic caused by dust or pollen, which affect the mucous membranes.
Bacterial infections also trigger sinus headaches. Viral infections are also a common trigger for sinus headaches. Viral infections can last for a few days, but bacterial infections last for seven days or more.
Another cause of a sinus headache is lung irritants such as smoking. Repeated smoking can make your sinus headaches worse and may have severe health effects.
The presence of fungi can also cause severe sinus headaches, and this condition is rare to diagnose. Allergic fungal sinusitis may occur in people with respiratory and lung conditions such as nasal polyps or asthma. Fungal sinusitis treatment involves surgery and therapies such as immunotherapy and anti-inflammatory therapy.
It’s usually difficult to diagnose the cause of a sinus headache, but your doctor can consider some factors to determine the cause of your sinus headache.
Symptoms of sinus attack that require medical attention
In bacterial and viral infections, inflammation of the sinuses occurs, producing more green or yellow mucus. It also causes bad breath and exhaustion, and a headache.
The following are signs that require your doctor’s immediate attention.
- Having sinus headache symptoms for over ten days without showing improvements
- High temperature
- Showing signs of improvement but fall sick again, probably with worse symptoms
- Tiredness and loss of sense of alertness
- Pain in the upper jaw that leads to a painful toothache
- Unclear or abnormal vision
Although sinus attacks and migraines show similar symptoms, they are different and caused by different reasons. The difference between these conditions is the duration of the symptoms. Migraines last for only a few hours or at most a day, but sinus headaches occur for days and sometimes weeks. Migraines also cause vomiting, nausea, intolerance to loud noises and bright lights.
Treatment and prevention
- Before visiting your doctor, you should identify if the cause of your sinus headache is an allergic reaction. If the sinus headache is due to an allergic reaction, list what causes the allergic reaction for the doctor. This helps save your time and speeds up the treatment process. Also, observe if the headache could be a prolonged migraine.
- Consider using nasal douching with a saline solution, as this can open your sinuses and remove blockages. With nasal douching, you can clear out the mucus in your nasal passage and breathe easily again.
- Use humidifiers to clear dry air from your houses and keep your pores open
- Use a saline-base nasal spray as it helps clean mucus in your sinuses and keeps the cilia in your nose healthy.
- Avoid smoking and staying in kitchens and factories that emit smoke because this may worsen your sinus attack symptoms, making the condition difficult to treat.
- Drink plenty of water because a sinus attack may leave you dehydrated.
- You will likely feel tired, so it is best to rest to prevent the symptoms from getting worse.
Although over-the-counter medications for sinus attacks are many, ensure you understand your symptoms and see medical care. Your doctor will likely recommend antibiotics, depending on the severity of your condition. While self-care can help with your symptoms, it is best to consult a doctor to prescribe suitable medication for your condition.
Your health and lifestyle choices can have a significant impact on preventing sinus attacks. If you have persistent sinus attacks, you may need to visit your doctor for a private health checks to determine the cause of the problem. Call Health Screening Clinic today on 02071837056 to schedule an appointment with a doctor if you have severe sinus headaches.
