Can Allergy/Sinus Cause Constant Head Pressure and Tinnitus?

The New-Test Forum - Airbourne Allergies

FromTo
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 allergies or 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.		Glenville86
11/13/2006
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I feel so sorry for you. I am in WV, and have had the sinus pressure and feels like swelling in my head which makes me have trouble with balance, and sometimes hear high pitched noises. I've always had sinus but nothing like this. I've had blood work, etc., 3 rounds of antibiotics, and family dr. sent me to ear, nose, throat specialist, who gave me all the nasal antihistamines and steroid sprays which didn't help. Put me on Prednisone (steroid) for 12 days and finally got better, although not perfect. The fatigue, balance problems, pressure in head is gone, although I still get pain in right back of head when sleeping and still get stopped up. Been using saline irrigation, also. They are sending me for allergy tests. Yes, allergies can make you like that, and you are probably allergic to dust! IF you read this forum you will see a lot of people are like this looking for answers. I hope you get better.

lmnd
11/14/2006
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From Salem, WV. I also have had constant bloodshot eyes and allergic dark circles around my eyes. The ENT here said it was not sinus since I did not have a yellow/green discharge. He also said it was not allergy since I was not sneezing and my eyes did not water. Since I have never had headaches, sinus or allergies, this pressure all over my head is getting old fast.

Glenville86
11/14/2006
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I replied but it wasn't posted, so here I go again. I was diagnosed with non allegic rhinitis - symptoms are year round nasal congestion, congestion triggered by strong odors, pollution, temperature changes, postnasal drip, unexplained fatigue, frequent headaches, recurrent sinus/respiratory infections. So...pollution, temp. changes, fatigue sounds like you. I don't have "head" aches, but face pressure and aches that actually make me sick to my stomach - throws my balance off, and reading makes me sicker if I'm like that. I can't use aerosol sprays, car fumes, gas fumes, all make me sick. Now the meds the ENT gave for this, the steroid nasal spray and antihistamine, did not help. The Prednisone (steroid) did. Now I'm better...not 100%, but never know from day to day. The back of my head hurts when I sleep, waking me, but when I'm up it's ok. I did take 3 rounds of antibiotics before I was sent to the ENT. I don't have green/yellow sinus discharge and never did. So...the ENT is sending me for allergy testing. It's hard to function - when I was really bad I could not function at all. Now I'm never sure of myself, how I'll feel. It is depressing. I go back to the ENT next week and will be discussing this and will post.

lmnd
11/15/2006
 Glenville86
I have had constant sinus pressure for about 2 mos. now. it is very frustrating. im justing ending a 2nd antibiotic, been given steroids its just crazy. is there any relief in sight?

EMK
11/15/2006
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Read all these forums - I've been on all of them. So far Prednisone has given some relief to me...but none of us have gotten rid of whatever we have.

lmnd
11/16/2006
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Hi- There are a couple topics in this forun that seem to be similar. One thing that is a different approach I'll suggest is neck problems. It took me seeing 2 different ENTs and all the other specialists for me to even open up to the idea that it might be my neck. I had a clean CT and MRI and was on antibiotics without much gain. I'm not sure my neck is causing 100$% of my problems, but its a least a contributing factor.

See this page: http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/09/08/15.html

I have most of the symptoms you have - the biggest similarity being that I feel the most 'normal and well' when I exercise. My theory is that exericse loosens up my mucles, plus gets the mucus in my sinuses flowing. I feel the worst when I sleep and am still. This supports the 'stiff neck' theory.

Try to put pressure on various points on your neck around the sternocleidomastoid muscle and see how that affects the way you feel. You could try to see a Physio and have a bit of therapy on your neck. I usually don't go for Physios and Chiros, but the last couple of weeks I have. It seems to be helping. I even had the PT do acupuncture on my neck. I have never tried that, but it seems to release some of the tension.

Anyway, it still might be allergies or an infection, but I want people to know that this is another possiblity that medical doctors will overlook often. Like I said, I'm not 100% sold on the idea, but I'm convienced enough to keep going to the PT and chiro.

ejh
11/19/2006
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Just wanted to note that I've seen several websites which said that the color of the sinus drainage shouldn't be an indicator of infection or not. I did note some sites will say clear drainage means allergies and yellow or green means sinus infection. Here's a couple of links (the URLs may wrap). First one is about the color of drainage, second is a really in-depth article about sinus infection treatment (from Merck).

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:Nq5sA6O2N3AJ:www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/antibiotics/pdfs/tg_sinus.pdf+color+of+drainage+sinus+infection&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec08/ch091/ch091h.html

stacia123
11/22/2006
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Tags: d,sinus, allergy, head, pressure, ent, back, neck, headache, infection, steroid,
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