Contact Headache

[Marvelous99]

I have a puzzling issue.  I have these quick onset headaches that I have found to be triggered by 2 things.  One is running and the other is using my CPAP machine to treat my sleep apnea.  I see the nose as a connection.  If I stay away from both I am fine, but I would love to treat my sleep ap.  

The headache, which can be different in severity, starts with pain in the sinus area between the nose and eye. The pain seams focused and can at times throb to what seems like the beat of my heart. It is always in the same location.  I then start to have bouts of sneezing fits.  Rhinorrhea(runny nose) begins to set in.  Then there is eye pain followed by lacrimation (watery, tearing).  This all occurs on one side of the face.  It can happen to either side of the face, but it doesn't move sides when irritated.  At times, breathing through the nose irritates that focused pain.  It can take up to a week for the headache to subside until it is triggered again.  

My guess is that it is a nerve (possibly anterior ethmoid nerve) that gets irritated and then it spreads (to the ophthalmic nerve branch possibly) causing the other pains.  Contact headache (anterior ethmoid neuralgia) seems like a possible diagnosis, but I don't see much information on it.  Any help would be great. Thanks.

[Marvelous99]

Thanks for your responses.  

I too initially thought this was an allergy for many years. I ended up seeing 2 allergist a few years back.  My tests came out negative and we tried a lot of allergy meds.  It wasn't until one allergist started asking questions like is it one one side of my face that he was lead to believe that it was more than just allergies. It seemed more like a migraine or headache.  Something dealing with the Trigeminal nerve.

If it was allergies why wouldn't both sides of my face be effected at the same time?

I did change the filters regularly with no help.  I even once triggered a headache during a run in the dead of winter when snow covered everything.  It seems it isn't season dependent.

This is very puzzling.  I feel that this is so rare that I will never solve this.  I don't mind not running outdoors.  My only problem is treating my sleep apnea.

I see my ENT tomorrow.  My next step is to devise a plan to trigger a headache and see him while I'm going through one.  

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

It seems more like an allergic reaction. The sneezing, watery eyes and the pain could all be related to allergy. Check to see that the filters are changed at regular intervals to prevent allergies.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.

[Londres70]

Can't speculate on the EXACT cause of this; does sound sinus-related, however, it could be a number of things.  

I would recommend consulting an ENT Specialist.