Sinus migraines

Hi everyone

I haven't been around much lately but this is still my favourite place to come for advice. My migraines seem to have changed a lot lately. I've now been getting a lot of sinus migraines. It is the beginning of hay fever season here so I know that's probably aggravating it but I'm surprised how these are changing so much. I took an anti-histamine this morning and that seemed to help a bit - seems to have stopped it going into a full blown migraine but wondering if anyone has any other tips for dealing with sinus migraines?

Thanks,
Lissy

Hi Lissy,
Nice to see you again. Sorry about the new kind of pain, though.

I have a friend who also suffers from sinus migraines but often she just calls them headaches, since she suffers badly from hayfever, so I am never quite sure. She also uses antihistamines as she believes it helps her.

Here in UK, we also have something which is called Sinutab for sinus congestion which I had used in the past but it was some time ago, I think it was helpful. I think if you ask at the chemist they might be able to suggest something for you to try.

Antihistamines help with anything to do with alergic reactions, but sinus inflammation might be caused by other factors like bacterium etc.
Sorry I could not be of more help.

I too sometimes get aggravation of my normal headache by sinus pain. Antihistamines don't tend to help me, but they do for some people, so I'd test different types out. What helps me a bit is Sudafed (Pseudoephedrine). Here in the U.S. its the type behind the pharmacy counter (but doesn't require a prescription). I limit it to a couple days a week since it can cause rebound similar to analgesics. It does help take away some of that sinus pain and therefore some of the headache too. If you think any of this could be an actual allergy, getting the test could be helpful. They can treat them by building up your immunity to the allergen. My tests call came back negative so I was diagnosed with non-allergic rhinitis, which gives me a runny nose, congestion, post-nasal drip, etc, but seems separate from my sinus type headaches. Allergies would tend to respond to antihistamines but non-allergic conditions typically wouldn't. Since this is something new for you, you may want to run it by your doctor to see what they think. It could even be some sort of mild ongoing infection. Best wishes.

This may be off topic, but I went through a bed spell of sinus problems. Turned out it was rhinitis associated with one of the medications my doctor had me try - Zomig. It is a very rare side effect, but caused quite a lot of problems. You might look to see if it is a possible side effect of whatever you are taking.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm going to give some different antihistamines a go to see if that helps. Interestingly a few people have said this is going to be a particularly bad season of hayfever here in West Aus so not looking forward to that. I will mention it to my Doctor and see what he says as well. If its not one thing its another!

Migrainegirl wrote:This may be off topic, but I went through a bed spell of sinus problems. Turned out it was rhinitis associated with one of the medications my doctor had me try - Zomig. It is a very rare side effect, but caused quite a lot of problems. You might look to see if it is a possible side effect of whatever you are taking.

I had some sample packs of Zomig, and noticed sinus issues while I was taking them. I never really asked the Dr about it because I never got a prescription for it after trying the samples. Interesting to read that sinus issues can be a side effects from it.

Yes it was a very bizarre side effect. I became allergic to things that had not bothered me before. I had to replace all feather pillows and comforters, and had to request hypoallergenic rooms when I travelled. I could not sleep in the same bed as my husband, or would wake up with crazy coughing attacks. We finally figured out it was his deodorant and shaving cream which we had to replace with hypoallergenic products, but for a while there he thought I was allergic to him. I was a mess! When I finally figured out it was a possible side effec of the Zomig, I stopped taking it and all my problems went away.