Understanding Sinus Headache Symptoms and Cures
You may have heard of the different headache symptoms like nasal discharge, ear fullness, hyperthermia, and facial puffiness. But what are sinus headaches? If you hear someone complaining of continuous pain in the bridge of the nose, cheekbones, temple, and forehead you might as well suspect that they are suffering from sinus headaches. More often than not the pain is aggravated with abrupt head movement or head jarring.
Sinus headaches are associated with a deep and constant pain in the cheekbones, forehead, or bridge of the nose. By and large, the pain is often aggravated with sudden head jarring or movement. Aside from the pain and the symptoms mentioned above, people who suffer from sinus headaches can also experience post nasal drip with irritating sore throat, yellow or green nasal discharge, fatigue or exhaustion and migraine. Most of the time, migraine pain is provoked by noise or light.
It is important that we understand that these different headache symptoms occur because the sinuses that are situated in the nose bridge, forehead and cheekbone are inflamed as a result of an underlying infection, allergic reaction or an abnormal growth or tumor. These factors can greatly prevent the steady flow of mucus and can cause significant pain in the area.
When it comes to the treatment plan, it is usually directed to symptom relief and infection management. For the infection, doctors regularly prescribe antibiotics. Aside from that, they can also give antihistamines like Benadryl to arrest the allergies. On the other hand, decongestants like Sudafed are also given to help alleviate the other symptoms. It is significant to follow your doctor’s instruction carefully when taking these medicines, most especially the antibiotics. You need to take the medicine during the whole course of treatment. If you notice that the symptoms have subsided, still continue taking the prescribed antibiotics in order to kill the bacteria completely.
Besides the medications mentioned, pain relievers and vasoconstrictors are also provided to patients suffering from this type of headaches. Vasoconstrictors are proven to reduce nasal obstruction which is apparent to sinus headaches. Another type of medicine given are corticosteroids. This one is often prescribed when the pain is unrelieved and becoming relentlessly severe even after using pain relievers. Just remember to follow every advice given by your doctor because some of these drugs are habit – forming like for example the decongestants.
Surely, there are so many treatments and medicines available to treat sinus headaches. Aside from those, you may opt to use methods like humidifiers, nasal spray, inhaling steam to alleviate yourselves from symptoms caused by sinus headaches. These methods have fewer side effects are proven really effective. You may also try uncomplicated techniques like head and neck stretches and relaxation techniques.