Headache Remedies Center

Suffering from a sinus headache is a serious matter. It affects your mental estate causing you to become inefficient and unproductive in the work area. This is the main reason why many infected individuals look for effective sinus headache remedies.

What Causes Sinus Headache

Sinus infection is the usual cause of sinus headache. The membrane-like lining called mucosa that covers the sinuses and the nasal passages becomes inflamed thereby affecting the quality of the mucus produced by the sinuses.

Symptoms of Sinus Headache

Symptoms of sinus headache include pain and pressure around the sinuses, above the nose, behind and between the eyes and in the forehead. Other symptoms include pain that get worse when moving, such as bending over or lying down. It can be accompanied by cough and sore throat, nasal discharge or nasal stuffiness, and fatigue.

Treatment of Sinus Infection

When you suffer from a mild sinus infection, the sinus headache may eventually disappear on its own as the body naturally heals itself. However, for severe cases of sinus infection, the headache may last for two weeks. Some of the short term sinus headache remedies include taking pain killer drugs like ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

If you are suffering from an acute sinus infection, the medical professional would prescribe you a ten-day course of antibiotics. But, when the bacteria have some resistance to one type of antibiotics, it is possible that the doctor will advise you to take two courses of antibiotics, instead.

Some of the most effective sinus headache remedies are linked to those successful sinus infection treatment regimens. This is specifically applicable with severe sinus infection although there are cases when a person suffers from headache on a daily basis.

When the mucosa of the infected person is constantly inflamed and thick glue-like mucus is continuously produced, antibiotics will not normally work during this case. Hence, medical professionals usually prescribe steroid nasal sprays to lessen the inflammation.

Medical Procedures as the Last Option

If you are suffering from fungal sinus infection, functional endoscopic sinus surgery can be one of the most effective alternatives to overcome this condition. This surgical procedure includes removal of inflamed sinus tissues together with the fungi that have grown into the affected tissues.

However, there are quite a number of individuals who are more prone to sinus infection. This can be due to the structure of their nose that has narrow nasal passages. When allergies strike, it becomes difficult to breathe in through the nose. During this case, balloon sinuplasty procedure can be one of the best sinus headache remedies.

Other Treatments for Sinus Headache

Actually, sinus headache can be cured in two ways. You can treat the headache pain itself and at the same time treat its underlying causes. To ease the pain as well as the pressure brought by the sinus headache, you can try any of the following treatment procedure.

1. Taking a decongestant

This is an over-the-counter medicine that can help open your blocked sinus cavities by reducing the inflammation in the nasal passages and by decreasing the amount of thick glue-like mucus produced. However, you must carefully follow the instruction and never use nasal decongestant sprays for more than three consecutive days.

2. Use of an over-the-counter pain reliever

This is one of the most common sinus headache remedies which everyone probably knows and has tried. Medicines such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), acetaminophen (Tylenol) and naproxen sodium (Aleve) can help in alleviating the headache pain. When taking this type of medication, it is strongly recommended to read and follow the label of the medicine.

3. Try other type of medicines

If your sinus problem is related to allergies, then you may take medicines specifically designed for allergies such as antihistamine. Your physician may also prescribe you to try nasal steroid sprays and some other drugs to help lessen your nasal congestion and headache pain.

4. Use of nasal irrigation or lavage

To relieve the headache, you can also try flushing out your sinuses with salt water through the use of a bulb syringe or Neti pot. This moistens and helps clear mucus from the nasal passages, thereby helping to lower the pressure. When trying to do this treatment procedure for the first time, seek medical advice from your physician.

5. Avoid irritants

Avoidance of irritants is also important to ease sinus headache. Hence, keeping away from cigarette smoke, perfume and other chemicals that can worsen your condition is necessary to avoid irritating your nasal passages.

6. Keeping your nasal passageways moist

Always use a humidifier or vaporizer and avoid dry air so as not to irritate your sinuses. You can put a warm wet towel over your face for a few minutes or try a saline solution nasal spray to improve your condition.

Understanding the nature of sinus as well as its causes and symptoms is important for you to learn how to deal with this condition. You don’t need to worry too much since there are various sinus headache remedies that can help reduce and even totally eliminate the pain that you are suffering from.