Possible Sinus problems ?

[stcatherine]

Hi,

About 2 weeks ago I started to feel 'uncomfortable' around the base of my neck, just like it was a real effort to keep my head up and very tense in my muscles, then last week I started to develope this weird pressure in my head, mainly on the right side around my temples, I havent really had any headaches, but by saturday I was feeling very drunk and the pressure felt like it was on top of my head, at the back and in my temples, just like someone was pressing their palms into the sides of my head and I have also felt nauseous.

I ended up having a panic attack because I thought I had a Brain Tumour,  and so I went to see my GP on Monday. He diagnosed anxiety and stress and put me on Diazepam 2mg 3 times a day.  These have helped me to stop worrying but the pressure is still very evident, sometimes when I lie down it goes away and I get a headache in my temples. Over the past day and a half I have felt maybe the pressure is moving to a band around my ears and nose area and more at the base of my skull than the top and looked into the possibility of it actually being a sinus problem.

I don't have any nasal discharge, nor do I have the pain I would noramlly get with a sinus infection, it's just this over whelming feeling of pressure, right now as I type the feeling is maybe around my nose and eyes but also up to the top of my temples and around the back of my head into my neck.

I have started to take sinutab today to see if it will help with the pressure.

Really I am just looking to see has any one else experienced this pressure all over their head, which can move to different areas without sinus pain or discharge and accompanied with nausea ?

It would be fair to say that this feeling is driving me insane !

[mariah021]

i have all of your exact symptoms.
my nose and forehead feel like 'pushy' which i guess is pressure, but never hurt from the pressure.
sometimes i have sharp, short pains in the back of my head and temples. sinusitis can be the cause of such pains. my nose and forehead and cheeks also hurt when i touch them, hardly have to press and they ache.
i was diagnosed recently with chronic sinusitis, which has varying symptoms, and am going for a CAT scan to see if i have cysts in my sinus cavities.
it's nothing to fret over, although it is uncomfortable, isn't it?
sometimes the feeling alone wakes me up from a sound sleep, and it's hard for me to go back to sleep.
but the 'bands' around your head and nose could be caused by your sinuses swelling, thats what my allergist and gp told me; they feel like pressure, but no pain? i had multiple panic attacks because i would sit and look up brain tumor symptoms (dumb) and then flip out just because i would read 'forgetting things, different pupil sizes=TUMOR' and then think that i was forgetting everything, or that when one pupil was smaller from light differentiation that i had tumors.
it was pretty pitiful, i'll admit, but the feeling really led me to believe i had one.
anyway, it's just what sinuses do to us!
the symptoms are so odd, but it's such a relief to know it's all because of your sinuses.

hope you feel better soon :)

[Enoch Choi, MD]

how'd it go?

[mikee2]

I've been following this column for a while and I'm going to try this sinus flush.  I went to the website that you gave out and read everything.  I'll let you know how it works out.  I need to do something about this lightheadedness and pressure around my sinus's.   It just feels weird like my face and sinus's are changing shape...

[Enoch Choi, MD]

friggy's got a good technique to rinse it out:
http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/665

[friggy]

If you have sinusitis enough to cause congestion, then the discharge would more likely be colored.  It's more probably what Dr. Choi says.

[Enoch Choi, MD]

So your GP gave you valium for stress but didn't treat the pressure that made you stressed out?  That's ironic.

Sinusitis, rhinitis, migraine, all are possibilities.

I'm glad you tried the sinus flush.  Yes, many people have to do it frequently to rinse stuff out.  It may be changing from side to side due to the residual saline rinse still inside.

[stcatherine]

Just to add, I have now tried the Flip-turn sinus flush ( what an experience that was) any discharge that came out was clear ( My husband who was with me said there were small amounts of whitish stuff) but nothing couloured in any way, does this flush take time to work ? do I need to repeat it again ? or is it more likely that its just not my sinus thats the problem ?

the pressure is still here ( thou it went away for a bit afterwards) and it seems to change from side to side