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Lightheadedness, pressure in head, headaches, sinus type symptoms

purrsian

Senior Member
Messages
344
I've been really struggling with my head symptoms in the past few months. I have pressure inside my head - sometimes it feels really deep, sometimes in my face, sometimes in the roof of my mouth. I sometimes get face pain, although only in certain periods. Sometimes I have periods of headaches, mainly occipital. One of the worst things is the lightheaded, dizzy type feeling. It isn't vertigo (as in room spinning). I have developed difficulty in seeing motion/flickering lights - I can't watch certain things on TV or play first person video games because the motion makes inside my head feel awful.

I told my doctor all of this and she initially was suggesting it was anxiety (which I adamantly refuted) and kept saying that anxiety can produce some very physical symptoms, even if you aren't specifically feeling anxious. Then she took my ear temperature and found a low grade fever, so prescribed me antibiotics and nasal sprays. The nasal sprays just produced nasal symptoms (blockage mainly) so I stopped after about a week when it was doing nothing to my actual symptoms.

So it impact this is having on my quality of life is really getting to me and I'm desperate for any kind of help. I've had a head MRI (re the headaches) which found nothing. Are there any other tests or medications I could ask for?

I do have POTS and was wondering if it was related to lack of blood flow. I had no head symptoms until a few years ago when I took a flight home from Sydney while I had a bad flu and during descent, my ears were really painful and then I couldn't hear properly for a few days. Initially, it was ear problems, then for about a year I had sinus and nasal symptoms, although my sinus CT scan showed no inflammation. It's been about 1.5 years since I had those symptoms. So maybe there is some kind of blockage or infection going on still... I don't know.

Any kinds of suggestions on tests, treatments, anything would be greatly appreciated. Doctors keep treating it like it's not a big deal, but it's ruining my life.
 
Messages
1,055
I get that sinus and head pressure sensation if I'm concentrating for too long, trying to read something dense or having a difficult conversation. Stopping to rest is the only thing I've found that helps.

I get sore sinuses, little nose bleeds, if something irritates my nose, like dust, smoke, perfume or pollen. It is slightly different to the pressure sensation you describe. I've found a salt water nasal spray really helpful, it cleans the nasal passages and removes the irritant.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
I find frontal sinusitis can be as bad as cfs itself. Cant sleep because of headaches or headaches wake me up. Fatigue is very different to cfs, hard to explain.

But i think many people even drs dont understand what chronic sinusitis is like and think its like a cold with a runny nose. Many times my nose isnt even running, maybe some post nasal drip down back of my throat but at its worst theres none of that as its totally blocked.

My blood pressure can shoot up quite high eg 170/110 sort of high, normal for me is 130/70. Sometimes just a sinus spray decongestant can help and my bp will drop some within 5 to 10mins and post nasal drip starts, probably a good thing.

Antibiotics definitely help as symptoms ease and bp returns to normal. I think sinusits is just a sign of our poor immune system and for some of us its up and down with cfs symptoms. I always have antibiotics on hand and can tell when its comming and hit it early. Its just a coinfection some get just like ebv can reactivate or some similar virus.
 

lansbergen

Senior Member
Messages
2,512
Frontal sinusitis is the worst. Luckely it was one of the first things that eased after starting taking the immmune modulator.
 

purrsian

Senior Member
Messages
344
I was on amoxicillin but it didn't help at all. Are there any specific antibiotics that help? I didn't have any relief from antibiotics even when the majority of the symptoms were strongly sinus related.

@lansbergen what immune modulator helped you? I was on LDN for it's immune modulating effects but did nothing.
 

pattismith

Senior Member
Messages
3,930
I had pressure in my head years ago, like if my brain was a baloon and was going to explode...Very difficult to functionnate with that.

For a few months, I started supplementing me with lots of stuff, and I was fine....Then I thought I could stop some of them, and this head pressure came back....I went back on amino acids since yesterday and quickly felt better!

Seems that my brain easily crashes if missing some amino acids...
 
Messages
91
I've been really struggling with my head symptoms in the past few months. I have pressure inside my head - sometimes it feels really deep, sometimes in my face, sometimes in the roof of my mouth. I sometimes get face pain, although only in certain periods. Sometimes I have periods of headaches, mainly occipital. One of the worst things is the lightheaded, dizzy type feeling. It isn't vertigo (as in room spinning). I have developed difficulty in seeing motion/flickering lights - I can't watch certain things on TV or play first person video games because the motion makes inside my head feel awful.

I told my doctor all of this and she initially was suggesting it was anxiety (which I adamantly refuted) and kept saying that anxiety can produce some very physical symptoms, even if you aren't specifically feeling anxious. Then she took my ear temperature and found a low grade fever, so prescribed me antibiotics and nasal sprays. The nasal sprays just produced nasal symptoms (blockage mainly) so I stopped after about a week when it was doing nothing to my actual symptoms.

So it impact this is having on my quality of life is really getting to me and I'm desperate for any kind of help. I've had a head MRI (re the headaches) which found nothing. Are there any other tests or medications I could ask for?

I do have POTS and was wondering if it was related to lack of blood flow. I had no head symptoms until a few years ago when I took a flight home from Sydney while I had a bad flu and during descent, my ears were really painful and then I couldn't hear properly for a few days. Initially, it was ear problems, then for about a year I had sinus and nasal symptoms, although my sinus CT scan showed no inflammation. It's been about 1.5 years since I had those symptoms. So maybe there is some kind of blockage or infection going on still... I don't know.

Any kinds of suggestions on tests, treatments, anything would be greatly appreciated. Doctors keep treating it like it's not a big deal, but it's ruining my life.
I have chronic sphenoid sinusitis which i think varies from being awful to the point of nearing surgery to being clinically invisible (based on my MRI and CAT results). So maybe yours is the same? Depending on the day you go it will depend what shows on the scan depending on the level of inflammation?. An eight week course of antibiotics did help me and steroid nose drops had some improvement. I have to admit since coming off them the sinus symptoms have started again but it doesn't seem as severe this time. I hope you find some improvement. I'm still searching for a long term cure :) I've given up on doctors as all they do is shove cameras up my nose and say it's untreatable!
 
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purrsian

Senior Member
Messages
344
I have chronic sphenoid sinusitis which i think varies from being awful to the point of nearing surgery to being clinically invisible (based on my MRI and CAT results). So maybe yours is the same? Depending on the day you go it will depend what shows on the scan depending on the level of inflammation?. An eight week course of antibiotics did help me and steroid nose drops had some improvement. I have to admit since coming off them the sinus symptoms have started again but it doesn't seem as severe this time. I hope you find some improvement. I'm still searching for a long term cure :) I've given up on doctors as all they do is shove cameras up my nose and say it's untreatable!
Thanks, I do have to say that I feel it is very deep so sphenoid would make sense. I think it confuses doctors when I don't have the typical signs of sinusitis because I think it's just so deep that it doesn't really affect my nasal passages or even my cheeks too much. I'd like to try a good course of antibiotics - they're only ever giving me short courses, so it never seems to do much. I just wish they'd throw something stronger or longer at it!
 
Messages
9
@purrsian You wrote in separate thread you have "Sometimes a dull pop" in skull (didn't specify where), also you wrote nickel allergy. Lots of "chronic sinusitis" characterization yet CT scans clear (same here with popping/cracking sickness for long time and nickel allergy but things got better with treatments I won't detail unless asked). You have dental implants? Rod in root canal treated teeth?

There may be an abscess, dead tooth (cold/heat sensitivity?), or even root of tooth in maxillary sinus causing some microbe migration (one paper I read showed some evidence that having that connection led to microbes overwhelming body's immune system and were able to spread into bone along that route). Chronic inflammation anywhere around teeth/gums?

Tablet antibiotics don't really penetrate oral tissues that well and really aren't the greatest for the symbiotic organisms in your gut.

But you did say it had been 1.5 years since your last sinus symptoms. Do you still hear popping in your bone?