Anyone get these in the afternoon? About lunch time I start to get a really blocked nose followed by a really, really bad tension/sinus headache. Makes the second half of the day at work pretty miserable and ends up with just about everyone commenting on how rough I look. Any ideas what might cause them/what might help ease it. Painkillers don’t touch it. I also get a lot of floaters in my eyes as well – like teeny black spots that float around when I get the headaches?

Drink a lot of coffee?

Sinusitis? I suffer quite badly every couple of years, usually around this time of year. Antibiotics are the only thing that clears it up. Steam might help too…

I only ask as I used to drink a few cups of proper coffee a day then quit. I tend to have one first thing then make sure I drink 2 liters of water thru ought the rest of the day. Feel much more alert and less tired. Plus I eat less at lunch time.

Mmmmmmmm I do drink coffee actually, well tea/coffee on the morning. Will try knocking that on the head see if that helps. Might be sinusitis but would have thought the headache would be there all the time if it was an infection?

I get these aswell, had an operation 2 years ago to remove nasal polops as these were causing the blockage and pain.

Got blood tests to discover what triggers the sinusitis, turns out im allergic to dust.. Quite handy as I spend a lot of time working in quarries!!

I use a aqueous nasal spray in the morning, 2 scoots up each nostril and do something called nasal douching (snigger), google it to see how it works.. Mix 1 tea spoon of salt and half a tea spoon of no carbonate of soda in 500ml of water, get a 20ml syringe, full it up and shove it up your nose and let rip.. Tastes yuk until you get used to it, I use it up to 3 times a day when it’s bad, along with steaming it helps.

Also use a Vicks nasal spray, try sinutab (I think) tablets from superdrug.
Sorry for being long winded but I know how tiring and uncomfortable it can be.. Still get the headaches but not as bad as I used to.

Mike.

Mike – I have a nasal wash thing! I think I know what the douching is, not pleasant but does help. Tiring is definately the best word to describe it. I also had some tissue remove from my nostrils years ago, didnt really help though and the sinusy headaches weren’t even as bad as they are now 🙁

I used to get proper sinus pains, right in the middle of the night had me crying with pain only way was shit loads of ibuprofen and inhaling the steam off a cup of boiling water with 6 drops of olbas oil.
after about 10 minutes of steam inhalation I would hear a clicking & creaking sound followed by horrible quantity’s of gunk out of my nose.

Turns out I was chronically allergic to house dust mites, my wife used to restore antique Oriental rugs which were full of them.
Since she stopped that I have had no real problems!

Oh yes I also discovered the salt water trick, think of when you used to accidentally snorted water up your nose while swimming. Now do that in a controlled manner.

I do remember my brother complaining of excruciating headaches for a while and his GP accused him of being a hypochondriac. I think my dad paid for a private x ray in the end which showed a large area where fluid was draining into. IIRC they drilled a hole in his face and sucked it out. Could be that?

Stressed?

Eeeewwwwww no fluid hopefully but yes, very stressed just at the moment…..Overshoot that sounds awful!

Sounds like stress related. The easy answer is to deal with the stress, which isn’t always easy. Go and have a word with your GP, and good luck, it will improve.

Tis easier said than done, perhaps I need to start meditating or something during the day because the stress is likely to get massively worse before it gets better 🙁

Tis easier said than done

Agreed, but it’s your head. 😕
I’m going through the biggest shitstorm imaginable, but the stress and associated headaches are all but gone. The main reason is because I’m beginning to understand the causes and dealing with it. It’s not easy, but it’s the best for me and in the long run, the best for all. It’s not a selfish thing.
If I remember you were having problems with course work, no? So it sounds all stress related.
Seriously, go and have a word with your GP, there’s nothing to be worried about.

emma82 – Member

Eeeewwwwww no fluid hopefully but yes, very stressed just at the moment…..Overshoot that sounds awful!

Trust me learning to draw salty water up my nose & hold it there for 10 seconds that would then clear things out & ease the pain, was so worth it.
The pain felt like someone had hold of my eyeballs and was trying to push them out of the sockets while stabbing my forehead with pins!

Blimey you’ve got a good memory. Coursework is all done for, just work that’s making me stressed at the moment/redundancies looming and a crazy amount of work to get through.

Overshoot, having thought about it, it does help when I drink fruit tea if I have it up to my face when it’s still boiling water. I’m sort of familiar with the cracking noise too…. this is all very gross :/ but that’s for the advice, from now on no caffeine at work and not getting stressed either. I’ve got to see the dr about a whooping cough vaccine soon anyhow so will ask then but the last time I went they say hay fever and take hay fever stuff. There’s no pollen around at the moment though, been to wet!

I also suffer. Completely support all the nasal washing and olbas oil. Also I have given up cows milk (switched to goat milk and cheese) which has reduced infection time and occurrence by about 50 percent. If your office is air con or dry heating then the dryness will make it worse, get a saline spray to use at work as often as you like. Low level dust mite allergies can also be an issue – so follow asthma based instructions for washing bedding at 60degrees, etc. have been to doc on many occasions – you’re right these things are agony and very debilitating – best thing so far is a daily steroid nasal spray. ENT consultant so far totally useless but I have got referral for CT scan.

Good luck with all that – it WILL make a difference !

Ps and yes I am also a stress sufferer, meditation is not only helping me deal with stress but is improving my biking too! 🙂

I suffered with sinus pain for years regular infetcions..does it hurt more when you bend over? any clear fluid coming out when you do..if so could be infection..i was always on antbiotics..i had surgery a couple of years ago and its much better now 🙂
ps i was advised not to use nasel sprays as it makes infections worse

No clear stuff really, pretty horrible stuff when I blow my nose. To be honest it’s whatever I do so bending over is much the same as walking around pain wise.

Maybe a trip to the docs is in order 😉

get your teeth x-rayed by a dentist.

dust mite allergy was the cause for me.
I found wearing a mask really helps, the onset of a headache can be delayed often by a day or more so it could be that sweeping round the back of the sofa last night or whatever.
also i wear it not just when there is dust in the air but also when i have a headache or when out riding in traffic. it seems the exhaust particulates dont help.
other thing about the mask is that it increases co2 in the nose which has the effect of clearing it, especially during exercise.
i use a bike specific one which is really comfortable, feels a bit weird to wear it not on the bike but its worked better than drugs and salt water etc for me.

Same here it kicks in at around lunchtime ( usually on Mondays)and also following a long ride. Ive had it for years and it’s very hard to function with a massive pain. When it gets very bad i have to get some antibiotics etc. Now I’m on a steroid spray.
Doc tells me that over the counter spray makes it worse as the passages are restricted.
Teeth grinding can produce similar pain I’ve beet told, be similar do you have ulcers both sides of your mouth ?

About lunch time I start to get a really blocked nose followed by a really, really bad tension/sinus headache. Makes the second half of the day at work pretty miserable

work in office with Air conditioning by any chance? usually causes low relative humidity (40% RH is bottom end for human comfort)
if it’s not set up right, which causes the mucal membranes to dry giving symptoms of sore eyes, respiratory irritation, feeling of blocked stuffy nose and sinuses, headaches etc…it it goes away or you don’t suffer when you are not in work on hols etc.. it may indicated that it’s and Indoor air quality issue. dead easy to find out and fix as well if it is.

no air conditioning in my office and I’ve got a headache now although no where near as bad as usual and its only come on in the last hr.

Thinking back a few actually when I went to the dentist he said I had a jaw click which I needed to just keep an eye on but that could cause tension headaches and be caused by stressed :/

Juggins what do you do to meditate? I’m not actually sure how you do it 🙂 I shall have a google.