Chronic sinus headaches make it feel like your face is in a vice grip all day. The amount of pressure that builds in the facial cavity results in a sensation that gives you the impression that your face will explode at a moment’s notice.
If you can’t seem to shake a sinus headache, you should consider the following points to help you deal with the constant pain and pressure.
Chronic Sinusitis
Typically, when people contract a bout of sinusitis, their doctor often chooses to prescribe antibiotics as a cure to get rid of the infection. However, after a large number of cases in which patients became better before quickly reverting back to sinusitis, doctors and researchers had to rethink their opinion of this disease.
Rather than deal with it strictly as a bacterial infection, doctors and researchers have been forced to consider the condition under other medical contexts. A group of medical societies and practitioners refined their view on sinusitis by extending the definition of the disease to include a series of different sinus disorders caused by inflammation of the nose and sinus cavities.
By reframing the disease as an inflammatory disorder, doctors have been focusing on dealing with the underlying causes of sinusitis instead of simply shoveling antibiotics at the problem. This has lead to a search to discover the cause of the inflammation that results in this condition.
Anti-inflammatories such as steroids ended up being prescribed more often to deal with the painful swelling that leads to constant headaches.
Causes and Cures of Chronic Sinusitis
There are a variety of triggers that lead to sinusitis, not all of them caused by bacterial infections. This condition may be triggered by a viral infection such as a cold or flu. Additionally, allergies may also end up triggering sinusitis, including seasonal issues such as hayfever.
Risk factors that increase the likelihood of sinusitis occurring include frequent changing of altitude, swimming, diving and physiological issues such as a cleft palate, facial tumor, deviated septum, nasal bone spurs and polyps.
Before the shift in medical thought during the early 2000s, doctors and researchers didn’t consider that a plethora of different issues may have caused your sinus headaches to become a chronic issue.
Now that doctors and researchers have seen the light, you should make sure that your own personal physician is treating your sinus problems with the same consideration, dealing with the underlying inflammation instead of automatically considering it to be a bacterial infection.
Are Sinus Headaches Affecting You?
Are you suffering from constant sinus headaches that just won’t go away no matter what you do? We can help. At Houston Sinus & Allergy, we see a variety of nasal and sinus issues that result in sinus headaches, as well as other stressful or painful situations, and we know how to provide long term relief. If your sinus headaches are preventing you from leading a normal life, book an assessment with us, and let us help you find the relief you need.