Surviving A Sinus Headache Articles | Headache

By: Peter Rapport

The symptoms are obvious: persistent pain in the side of the face and/or eye; congestion, and fever. These are all signs of a sinus infection, which can lead to severe sinus headaches.

Sinus headaches, most commonly experienced during a bad cold, allergies, or the flu, can also be the symptom of a more serious sinus disease.

It may be habitually blocking the sinus ducts, and causing repeat infections, and must always be diagnosed and treated by a physician.

A true sinus headache is caused by an acute infection that causes sinus ducts to become blocked, preventing normal drainage, which creates negative pressure within the sinuses.

This can leave a patient with symptoms like a dull ache and feeling of fullness in the face and head, to severe pain behind the eyes, back of the head and even teeth.

Caused by an infection, a true sinus headache is almost always with a fever and other flu-like symptoms.

The face contains four pairs of sinuses, and when one or more of them become infected, various sinus headache symptoms may occur. They include:

Frontal Sinuses:

Found over the eyes, an infection here will cause forehead pain

Ethmoid Sinuses:

Found in the deep recesses of the nose, the pain of infection here radiates between and behind the eyes.

Sphenoid Sinuses:

The deepest of the sinuses, it causes severe pain in the back of the head when infected. This is the most rare of all sinus infections.

Maxillary Sinuse:

Found in the middle third of the face, pain of an infection is experienced across the face and below the eyes, next to the nose. This type of sinus headache is what most sufferers' experience.

When the ducts of any of these sinuses becomes blocked regularly, the patient is known to suffer from chronic sinusitis, and must be treated with a course of antibiotics, decongestants and nasal sprays.

Depending on the physical cause of the repeat infections, surgery may also be recommended to remove polyps that may be blocking the air ducts.

Or to correct a deviated septum to reduce the progression of the infections and ease the discomfort of repeat attacks.

Unfortunately, there is no real prevention of the sinus headache, because it is caused by a medical condition and/or chronic infection.