I know there's probably been a lot of topics about this before, but my doctor presented me with this possibility today. After hearing all my symptoms, she told me that I sound more like I have migraines or cluster headaches than a sinus infection. I know nothing about migraines, including how they start and how they're treated. For those of you (if any) who have had experience with this, I would love any feedback. Have you ever developed migraines that were mistaken by yourself or your physician as sinus headaches? Here are my current symptoms:
- burning tenderness in the forehead, usually between the eyes, on either farthest side of the forehead, or both
- pain that is dull to mild during the day and flares up incredibly at night
- light fullness/pressure around the eyes; feels kind of like my eyes are a bit heavy from exhaustion. *no vision problems*
- occasional pressure in the ears, as if they need to be popped; feeling is worsened after being in a moving vehicle for more than ten minutes
- tenderness/tightness on the top, back, and sometimes sides of the head (not as bad as forehead pain); also felt moreso on the right side than the left.
- tenderness in the nose and around the eyes (in all the sinus areas, pretty much); feels moreso around the right eye than the left.
- slight to mild sensitivity in upper front teeth that is not affected by hot, cold, eating, brushing or flossing
With my last sinus infection, I did not have any sort of drainage from my nose or mouth...and the same applies to my current condition. The only thing that really strikes me as being unrelated to a sinus infection is the flare-ups at night. As I type this, my head has begun to ache far worse than it was a couple hours ago. I am also considering the possibility of a dental problem...don't know what exactly, but I suppose it's possible. My oral hygiene is not horrible, but it's also not perfect.
In any case, my ENT put me on a very potent combination antibiotic (amoxicillin/clavulanic acid) and said if I see no improvement on this medication that I most likely am suffering from cluster headaches or cluster migraines and that I should see a neurologist to find out what to do next. At the very least, she told me that if I were suffering from something very serious like a tumor, cancer, abscess or so forth, my symptoms would be different. It doesn't help my pain go away, but it keeps me from having nervous breakdowns after hearing her say that. For the record, my family has no history of brain problems and I have never sustained any head injuries.
Edited out this last paragraph. I've been reading about cluster headaches while researching migraines and a lot of the symptoms sound like what I have. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for success with the new antibiotics, but if not, I'm leaning toward the possibility of cluster headaches; it would explain the unilateral head pain.
Last edited by Dark Stranger; 01-03-2007 at 12:44 AM.
I have been diagnosed with classic migraines and I am not sure if those are different from cluster migraines. Your symptoms do not at all sound like my migraine symptoms. Mine are as follows:
Blind spots appearing for about 15 minutes
Distorted vision in one eye (looks like rain running down your windshield when your wipers aren't on) for about 15 minutes
15 minutes of no symptoms
pain and pressure on the opposite side of the visual disturbances followed very quickly by nausea, vomiting and light and sound sensitivity.
A few hours later, as the other symptoms subside, I am left with a pressure type of headache which is really uncomfortable when I bend over, etc.
I am exhausted physically the next day, but the pain is gone
As I said, those are classic migraine symptoms. I know some people do not have the visual disturbances preceding the pain, but your pain does not at all sound like the type of pain I have. You might want to do an internet search specifically on cluster migraines and see if those are different.
I am going to share what I take though because who knows, maybe it will help you too.
I take Three Mortrin or Aleve and a Bendryl, with a Coke for the caffeine. That all seems to make the pain much more bearable and it eliminates the other symptoms, except for the next day exhaustion.
Good luck and let us know what you find out! You might also try taking a Sudafed or some other type of decongestant and see if that helps. If it does it is likely to be sinus related.
Thanks for all the input, BioAdoptMom3. You say you suffer from changes in your vision - may I ask if you notice a change in the appearance of your actual eyes? I made a post in the Vision forum about my pupils being different sizes, and now I'm starting to wonder if it's related to my headaches. During the day my headaches are dull or mild yet constant pain, and from what I've seen my pupils are normal in size. At night, they pain gets noticeably worse and the pupil in my right eye becomes notably larger. It still contracts in the light, but it's larger. I've been looking for about an hour specifically for any correlation between unevenly dilated pupils and migraines or cluster headaches. I'm not having any vision problems, so I can't imagine it's a problem with my eye.
From what I've read (and seen, courtesy of medical diagrams), cluster headaches seem to center more around the eyes, whereas migraine pain takes up the whole side of the face and head. I feel pain more on the right side, but I do feel it on the other as well.
I started those new antibiotics today, so hopefully they'll help because I really don't want to go to a neurologist. I'm going to feel weird if I do need to see a neurologist because I'll be 300 miles from home by the time I'll be able to tell if the new meds are working or not. In any case, I shall keep you updated if anything comes up. All I know is I'm going to lose it if I get told it's anxiety (like when these headaches first started and I ran to the nearest emergency room thinking I was having a stroke).
I have been reading your post. I actually suffer from Cluster Headaches and have done for about 15 years. My symptoms are:
Pain around the eye (always on the right side) as if someone is stabbing it. My eye usually starts to water, terrible pain in my nose, pain in the neck and shoulder (again always the same side), I get very hot when I get these attacks, I feel very sick and usually have to throw up (sorry for sounding disgusting). Most of my attacks are late at night when I'm actually sleeping, I wake around 2-3 in the morning, the attacks usually last anything between 15 mins to an hour. I go back to sleep but can wake again to the same cycle around 1 - 2 hours later. I suffer 2 - 3 months like this and they can disappear as quickly for upto a year. I went to see a Neurologist who diagnosed me with C/H's. When I am in cycle of these attacks, I was prescribed Verapamil tablets, which once in the system, usually work. Also 02 has helped a lot of sufferers. Hope this helps. Any more info you need, let me know
Pain in my nose
I don't know about the changes in pupil size because I have never thought to look, but that may be interesting to do next time. Usually I get in such a state of panic when I start to have those migraine symptoms because I know what's coming that I cannot think to do anything else but take the medicine.
I think the PP might be on to something if your antibiotics don't work this time. You might want to consider cluster headaches. Let us know what happens.
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