"Sick" headaches, sinus pain

[millermail]

Thanks for providing such a valuable service.

I've lived on over-the-counter sinus headache meds for years due mainly to pain and pressure in/on my nose (primarily right side), behind my eyes (almost exclusively right side), and around my eyebrows/lower forehead. After the first few years I had septum and turbinate surgery. There was improvement for a while, but for most of the 17 or so years since then, I've gotten these headaches on a regular basis. If they hurt badly enough, or just the right way, they'll nauseate me as well.

Information about sinusitis always mentions nasal congestion and discharge as a symptom of infection. Since I don't have that, I've never gone to my internist about headaches or been treated for a sinus infection. But I'm now on day 14 or 15 of daily sinus headaches that aren't responding immediately, as they typically do, to one pill, and some days I've been dizzy and sick (like today, which is prompting me to write). So I guess my primary question is -- if there is no discharge involved, can it be an infection; and how would the difference between a bout of headaches and an infection be determined?

A few asides that may or may not be important: I always get dizzy if I lie flat on my back, and the rare occasions when I've woken up on my back, I've always woken with a sinus headache. I can't go below on a boat without being immediately enveloped in dizzying nausea, though I never feel sick on deck. I had migraines throughout my teens, also concentrated on the right side of my face. I sleep on my left side and usually don't turn much. I've been on a new medication the past few weeks that not only doesn't have headaches as a side effect; it actually is used off-label to prevent and stop sinus headaches.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.


This discussion is related to Having sinus surgery.