Help needed - please

ualaw99 · 08-08-2004, 01:46 PM

For the past month, I have suffered from allergy-like symptoms.....post-nasal drip, pain around orbitals, fullness in head, difficulty with contacts in eyes, etc......the only caveat is that there was no congestion, I could breathe fine and an x-ray showed no sinus infection.

My eye doctor gave me some allergy drops, which has helped with the eyes, but now I seem to have what feels like tension headaces - tightness and pressure at base of skull and upper neck - "ripple" headaches at the top of my head...a general feeling like there is a clamp around my head. Also, I am itching a lot around my face.

These head symptoms aren't necessarily any worse in the morning or evening.

No nausea....or dizziness. The headaches, on a scale of 1-10, are probably a 3 or 4, but they have come and gone for about a week now. The pressure in the back of the head/neck just sort of wears you down.

My question is - can allergies cause these kinds of headaches? And can allergy symptoms be devoid of congestion and runny nose? It is completely dry symptoms.

Any help would be appreciative. It doesn't help when I think the worst about these symptoms, and my anxiety issues causes me to go flush in a matter of seconds......

Kissa · 08-08-2004, 02:49 PM

Sometimes allergies can be devoid of runny nose and watery eyes. I have severe allergies and take Zyrtec but there are still times that I will have an allergic reaction to something and just get the headache without the nasal drip or watery/itchy eyes.
It could be possible you are having mild migranes as well, they can be at the base of the skull and last for days and weeks on end. There's also a very remote chance you could be having spinal cord problems at the base of your skull around c1 - c3. It is more common however to have problems with the cspine just a bit further down. But it's a thought.

What I'd probably try is one of the OTC allergy pills like claritin for a few days or week to see if that helps any at all. If it does chances are you are having problems with allergies. If it doesn't help at all you may be having a migraine. In either case if it persists I'd get it checked out again.