Originally posted by: cirthix
whenever i have a headache (i have sinus problems and migranes too
http://forums.anandtech.com/i/ratingicons/sad.gif
sad.gif ), it gets much worse when i stand up. it must have something to do with blood flow, balance, or pressure. my brother says that it may also be neck muscles. i just lay down and take a nap when i have a headache
It's hard to say what's going on without a doctor checking it out. However, I'll relate my own experience and you can determine if it matches what you're experiencing.
I've had sinus problems for as long as I can remember (I'm 29 now). Several times a week, I would wake up with such bad headaches that even after I took acetaminophen (Tylenol) and pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), it still took 2-3 hours for my headaches to subside enough to the point that I could actually be productive. It also made my sleep not very restful at all, so I was frequently tired. I also used saline spray several times a day, which was one of the few things that actually helped much.
After going to two different ear, nose, and throat specialists, they finally figured out that I had a huge (almost an inch in diameter) retention cyst (no, not a tum-ah) in my sphenoid sinus, which is the one that is straight back behind your nose and goes half-way back through your head. My turbinates were also so irritated and swollen that I basically couldn't breathe through my nose very well at all. Because of both of those things, I had horrible drainage problems, and when the sinuses can't drain, you get pressure build-up which can feel a lot like a migraine.
I had surgery a little over a month ago, had the cyst removed, and some of the turbinates removed so I could actually breathe through my nose again, and it's definitely a night-and-day difference. I still get headaches occasionally, but I think they're probably just tension headaches from looking at the computer for too many hours a day.
My suggestions are as follows:
- Use saline spray as often as you need it. You can get a big bottle of the stuff for about $3 at Target (cheapest I've found). Spray it up your nose, four times on each side, and don't go easy on the stuff. You basically want to get enough in there to soften up what's causing the pressure and get it to drain out. It's going to feel kinda nasty, because it will run down your throat, but you will feel so much better.
- Talk to your doctor about it. If you have chronically inflamed sinuses, they can give you a nasal steroid spray that will make them shrink down and not cause as much pressure. If that doesn't relieve the problems, they'll probably do a CT scan to see what's really going on in there.
- The headaches getting worse definitely sounds like it's blood pressure related. Do you get light-headed when it happens? If so, about the only thing you can do is get up more slowly so that the pressure has a chance to equalize more quickly.
I hope the information is helpful. Headaches suck big time.
Facebook
Twitter