Can Sinus Cause Constant Head Pressure Without Other Symptoms?

[Glenville86]

Background: Retired from the Army in Nov and had a complete physical. Everything was fine except for lower back degenerative disk diease and mild hearing loss. All bloodwork was normal. Took a job in Iraq where I am currently. Arrived in Feb. In Jun, I was sick with extreme fatigue, headaches, and dizziness. Saw a doctor in Jul and was given OTC headache meds. They did bloodwork that came back normal. Since that time I have had daily head pressure and tinnitus. The tinnitus comes and goes and can be really loud and annoying. Visited another doctor in Sep who thought it might be an allergic reaction and was given zyrtec for a month. No change with the head pressure. Saw an ENT in Oct who feels that it just a left-over from whatever made me ill in Jun and thinks it will get better with time. Have had this for 5 months.

NOTE: I am 44 and had never had a headache prior to this. Have never had any TMJ problems. Tinnitus was never a problem. Never noticed any allergies before this. Never had sinus problems. Am in decent health and walk daily for 45 minutes. Thought it might be some sort of reaction to something here in Iraq but do not have typical allergy or sinus symptoms.  

Questions: 1) Can sinus cause the daily head pressure and tinnitus? No pain, just a heavy and tight feeling from my eyebrows, temples to the back of my head. Wake up with it. Only goes away when outside exercising. Constant dust inside and outside this place with pollution. Extreme heat going from AC into 120 degree. Has cooled off now, but symptoms remain.  
  

[Jennlock82]

Good Morning,

I had the balloon sinuplasty last Thursday so...5 days ago and so far so good. I opted to be awake because I thought I could be a badass, my doctor told me to take an anxiety pill for the procedure and I did one better by taking a migraine pill I have that treats pain and anxiety and a word of advice if you do it awake don't be afraid to get loopy on meds because its a little nail biting knowing what's happening. My biggest word of advice wether your sedated or not is take a pain pill as soon as possible after the procedure, the only day I had pain was the day of, after that it was a cake walk but I messed up by waiting to see how bad the pain was before taking medicine. I just started breathing out of my nose two days ago and I can tell there's still some inflammation but my neti pot helps 100%, I would definitely not go through this again if I didn't have one. You're not supposed to blow your nose the first two days and you'll really want to because you'll feel like you have a nasty cold but please don't. I did because again I think I'm a badass and not only was it extremely painful but I broke blood clots loose and had a bad nosebleed. Try your best to sleep propped up so the congestion isn't so bad and keep lots of fluids and Chapstick by the bed because I learned mouth breathing is no fun and I kept waking up dying for thirst and with chapped lips. After the third day I started using my neti pot and it helped to flush out all the dry blood, I'm still dealing with it but not much anymore, the first two days was nothing but blood drainage and its so disgusting, keeps lots of kleenex handy, mine was so bad the first day that it felt like i had strep throat but apple juice practically cured that although I think I drank three bottles of it. There's lots of little tricks I learned in the past few days and I'm trying to remember them all because I really wished somebody had told me about them but all in all I'm doing good. My head cloudiness from the sinus infection was gone in two days and i was up and  running errands around town, my pain was ONLY the first few hours after the procedure, I never felt pain after that unless I caused it by accident and although I'm still swollen inside its amazing how I can smell and taste things better and breathe better than I did before I even had a sinus infection. It's worth it, it's a little annoying the first couple days but you should spend the first two days in bed anyway. I wish you well, remember its not a big procedure, in fact mine was over in thirty minutes and twenty of them were spent just waiting around so they knew my nose was numb, no swelling, no bruising and totally worth it!

[tpw224]

any update post balloon sinuplasty???have similar symptoms and am scheduled for the same procedure

[toni2251]

Hi Jenn
Just a word of advice. All of the medicine can weaken and lower your immune system. A lot of times we focus on the symptoms and not the true issue. The surgery will help. I had turbinate reduction surgery because my body would not heal. I found out why and now my focus is health to prevent this from reoccurring. Take care of your gut. That's where the problems truly begin. God bless your surgery.
Happy breathing :)!

[Jennlock82]

I just found this thread and decided I would post on it in case others in the same situation find it as well. I have been sick for 5 months now, first it started as a cold that my GP gave me antibiotics for, then it was an ear infection which led another antibiotic, next was a sinus infection that I was given a zpack and nasal spray for, after having all this back to back and the sinus infection lasting over a month I was sent to an ENT who gave me steroids and did a CT scan that showed I have a slight deviated septum but no impacted sinuses or anything, next I began coughing which led to a pulmonologist who said I had bronchitis which, you guessed it, led to more antibiotics. Not long after started the non stop brain rattling tinnitus which caused such bad migraines I landed in the hospital twice, once from fainting and once from the pain which subsided for a couple if hours after being given morphine and benedryl. My symptoms that never once went away throughout the entire five months are: foggy brain, memory problems, extreme fatigue even when I wake up, sinus pressure, dizziness and irritability. There are many times that I feel very depressed, I have not talked to friends or family in months, I cannot work and I am a complete and utter ***** to my husband because I am simply miserable at all times. However I do believe there is light at the end of the tunnel, I just have to find it. My ENT doctor has told me that the foggy head, full feeling in head, memory loss are all symptoms of the sinuses being full, there's not a lot of room up there so when all that pressure builds it has effects on the nerves and such that surround it. I have an appointment next week with a neurologist just for peice of mind that i have had every test done under the sun but my ENT has scheduled an operation on my sinuses, I forget the name but its where the blow a balloon up in your sinuses so they can properly drain. Google it, supposedly it's a miracle cure for people in my situation, I pray it works. All my blood work, cat scans, MRI's, EKG's, EEG's, hearing tests, vertigo tests have all come back normal which is why my doctor thinks its sinuses. Supposedly it's the easiest to misdiagnose and overlook because you can have so many symptoms without the doctors being able to see anything a lot of the times. Here's a few things I have learned in the past couple months from talking to doctors and nurses: My tinnitus is constant and can sound like a jet engine going through my head which leads to a horrible headache between my eyes, it can be caused from anything from antibiotics to loud noises to fluid build up. If you have fluid build up from a recent sinus infection ect, drink a lot of water CONSTANTLY, it will thin the gunk in your ears, rinse your nose with a neti pot, this will also help thin the mucus. Take benedryl to help with your headache and to promote drainage. Sudafed- gods cure for all. I am currently living off benedryl, sudafed, the neti pot and morphine when my headaches become debilitating. My headaches are more than likely caused from sinus pressure, sudafed and the neti pot help a lot but there's still sometimes where it gets bad and that's when the migraines get worse. Mine are so bad that I get an aura that causes my face and tongue to go numb, my scalp prickles and I could literally chop my head off if I was able to move, they say to lay in a dark quiet room for as many hours as it takes but because I have tinnitus quiet places make it worse so instead I take a benedryl, a pain pill, lay in a dark room and find a soothing music channel to listen to just loud enough to drain out the ringing in my ears. What's weird is that throughout this entire thing I've never had any thick mucus or yucky green stuff come out of my head so I disregarded a sinus infection for a long time but don't overlook it, supposedly that happens a lot. I encourage everyone to not only go to an ENT but find one that will actually listen to you, the first one I went to wouldn't listen to me and kept disregarding my symptoms so I just walked out, doctors like that will never help so don't take crap from somebody your paying good money to see. I'll try to post back after my balloon surgery, I'm told the symptoms start going away immediately after surgery. Fingers crossed*

[yayi12]

Please write back ***@**** can you please write back..i have the same symptoms Thank you.

[toni2251]

I have been doing much better since I got on the right thyroid medicine. My nose even after surgery felt like there was still a problem like tightness, a swollen feeling, headaches, no drainage, just weird. I'm currently on 88 mcg of levoxyl. When I first took my meds I literally could feel a rush go through my head. It was almost like the pressure was lifting. My nose began to feel open. Now let me say that the process I went through when first starting thyroid meds was hard. My ears would ring, my eyes were so blurry I couldn't see. I was and still am terribly emotional. I believe that I got sick and because my thyroid wasn't working properly my nose wouldn't heal. Who would have known. It is getting better. I believe my body has to adjust to synthetic hormones which is an awful process. But I see the light. It's getting closer. Im assuming it will get much better as time goes on.