I have had a 24/7 headache for easily over 10 years and I have spent hundreds of hours researching the problem.  I just recently found out about turbinate headaches last week after visiting the clinic.  I was diagnosed with probably experiencing turbinate headaches.   I wish that I would have known more about this before, but somehow I missed it in my research about headaches sinus pain.  

I have registered negative on every single test given to me, but I have the same symptons you described.  No doctor ever mentioned turbinate headache to me before last week, even though I have been describing these exact symptons in hundreds of doctor visits.  I was very close to doing what you said about the Mayo clinic scenario.  The results of the allergy tests I took came up 100% negative last week.  Prior to that, I even paid for my own MRI brain tumor just to rule out anything else completely.

I believe this diagnosis above any of the other 100's of different diagnosis I have received in the past, but I will remain skeptical until the problem is resolved. I am opting for Somnoplasty for Chronic Nasal Obstruction if my symptons worsen or remain the same.  I have had Somnoplasty for snoring before and the discomfort is short and it is an outpatient procedure.  It takes a number of visits, but the visits are short like a regular doctor's visit.  Best of luck to you in finding out the answer to treating your headaches.

I don't think any specific disease 'causes' turbinate swelling, but I am not an ENT specialist and this is more their realm. There is an association is some studies of headache and turbinate swelling, and in some case there is reported relief of the headache wirh nasal surgery. There are no randomized controlled trials that prove scientiffically that this is true, so you just have to go on expert opinion and case reports of improvement - you may benefit you may not, I don't think you can predct, but if you are willing to accept the risks of surgery and nothing else works it may be worth a shot.

For example here is one report published in the well respected medical journal 'Headache'

Middle turbinate headache syndrome.

Anselmo-Lima WT, de Oliveira JA, Speciali JG, Bordini C, dos Santos AC, Rocha KV, Pereira ES.

Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The middle turbinate and nasal septum are innervated by the anterior ethmoidal nerve, a branch of the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve. As reported in the classical work of Wolff (1948), stimulation of these regions causes pain in the medial canthus of the supraorbital region. Periorbital pain due to middle turbinate compression against the septum or the lateral wall of the nose may be due to congestion of the nasal mucosa or to pneumatization of the middle turbinate (concha bullosa). The diagnosis is made by exclusion and requires a high index of suspicion, anterior rhinoscopy, computerized tomography (CT), and confirmation by the lidocaine test. We present five cases of middle turbinate headache syndrome, all with concha bullosa. Four were treated surgically by partial middle turbinectomy and septoplasty more than 1 year ago, with excellent results. One patient refused surgical treatment which was suggested after failure of medical treatment with antihistamines, decongestants, and a topical corticosteroid, and continues to be symptomatic. Despite the small number of cases studied, the authors concluded that the procedure used was effective for the resolution of headache.