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Understanding and Beating Allergy Sinus Headaches |
 When you allergies set off that long string of sinus problems, the result can mean a lot of suffering that you wish would just go away. You also know that without some intervention, your allergy sinus problems may not go away for quite some time because the triggers of those allergies are still active. Once your sinuses get filled up and inflamed, they don't get over it quickly on their own.
Of those miserable allergy sinus symptoms, headaches may be the worst. An allergy sinus headache can generate waves of pain and misery throughout your head, your face, your jaw and even further. As bad as it is to sniffle and sneeze because it is allergy season, coping with an allergy sinus headache is much worse because it can steal from your ability to think, to function at work or in family activities or to enjoy life to any degree at all.
The reason you get an allergy sinus headache will give you some ideas on how to fight back against that pain and diminish your suffering. The sinuses are complicated matrix of canals that lie behind the skin of your face and that snake their way from your nose to your ears, jaw, eyes and forehead. When the sinuses are working right, the fluid flows freely through those passageways keeping the head working well, cleaning and clearing problems that get into the sensitive organs of your nose, ears and eyes.
But when allergies cause the sinuses to clog up, those dozens of canals fill with a thick mucus which makes them stop flowing and it causes the membranes around the sinuses cavities to swell up and become inflamed. If that gunk in the sinuses is not cleared away, bacteria can get into it and cause your sinuses to become infected which leads to another whole world of health problems for you.
Allergy sinuses headaches occur when your allergies shut down your sinus functions as a reaction to pollen or some other type of allergic reaction. While sinus allergies are not like problems you have from a cold or flu, they feel very similar and the suffering is just as miserable. The reason your sinus inflammation results in a headache is that the inflamed sinus membranes press against the sensitive nerves in your face and head which causes them to throb. Your face has a huge amount of tiny nerves so it doesn’t take much to cause a lot of pain and suffering when your allergy sinus headache gets underway.
The key to beating an allergy sinus headache is to take the steps necessary to get the inflammation of the sinuses to go down which relieves the pressure on the nerves of the face, scalp and head which then makes the pain go away. There is no harm in taking conventional medications such as aspirin or Advil but until the inflammation of the sinuses is addressed, you will not experience a significant reduction in the pain you are enduring.
Many times over the counter antihistamines can go a long way toward causing your allergy symptoms to subside which in term relieves the pressure on your sinus allergy headache. You do have to be careful what kind of antihistamines you take because some have side effects like sleepiness that could affect your performance at work or make it dangerous to drive. So use some common sense when turning to medications to relieve a sinus allergy headache.
In addition to drugs, there are some simple steps you can take to relive the pressure caused by an allergy sinus headache. Steam sometimes causes the sinuses to open up as does cold. So a hot shower to taking your time over a piping hot cup of tea or coffee can actually cause the sinuses to open and begin to drain. As the drainage comes out, your sinuses membranes begin to go down which causes the pressure on the nerves of the face to be reduced and with it the elimination of the headache. Caffeine is well known for causing inflammation to go down as well so that cup of coffee or tea is a resource many people use frequently to get some relief form a sinus allergy headache.
A cold washcloth that you press on your face can accomplish the same effect by causing the sinuses to open up and release the gunk that is filing them up and in doing so causing the pressure to be reduced in your face and head. Both of these methods also serve to flush away the pollen or other allergens in your sinuses which brings a long term relief to your problem.
Once you learn to get control over your sinus allergy problems, you can take some time to work with your doctor to find ways to beat allergy sinus problems before they take control over your life again. With proper medications and by learning how to avoid contact with the cause of your allergies, you can cut down on how often you get a sinus allergy headache in the first place. And won't that be a relief?
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