Sinusitis

[MRSAHILL]

About 5 weeks ago I developed a bad headache and felt very tired and kept having to go for a lie down. I then developed pain in my Jaws, teeth, cheekbones, temples and round my eye sockets. Also, my cheeks occasionally felt hot. At night I just couldn't get comfortable as even my pillows hurt my face. Everyday I woke with a headache, some days worse than others. During the night I kept waking up with a snort as my nose felt blocked but I haven't had a cold. If I look at my phone screen for more than a few minutes or read anything, the headache returns and only goes after I've shut my eyes for a while. I look absolutely haggard, particularly under my eyes. Weirdly though, eating seems to ease the headaches. I went to the GP who prescribed clarythramiacin?? antibiotics for 7 days and said its sinusitis. She also made me take blood pressure readings for 7 days. They were all in the high 130s and sometimes exceeded 140 over 80+. I had my eyes tested and the optician said there are signs of high blood pressure behind my eyes but not at a dangerous level yet. I've also got a prescription for reading glasses and also long distance glasses, I've never worn either before. After finishing the antibiotics I'm a bit better but still not well. My blood pressure has come down a bit and I'm desperately trying to lose weight,cut out salt etc. I'm back at the gp tomorrow and wonder, should I ask for more antibiotics? Sorry for the long post, but just wonder if these symptoms sound like sinusitis to anyone else particularly as I haven't a cold/green mucus etc just these awful headaches and face aches etc

It does sound like sinusitis, in that you have pain in your face/ears/teeth/eyes etc which is indicative of inflammation in your sinuses. You don't need to have mucus/be bunged up to have sinusitis, However the consistently high blood pressure readings are a concern - did you have high BP before you developed pain?

I've had sinusitis off and on for years. However I've never had high BP with it and as I'm not medically trained I don't feel comfortable with offering an opinion. However I know that high BP can cause migraine so it may be that your sinus issues stem from the high BP and not the other way around.

I will say that antibiotics never helped me, I am normally prescribed a steroid nasal spray to reduce the inflammation. The other thing that can offer relief if your nose feels blocked and its waking you is a saline nasal wash bottle (ie Neil Med or search sinus rinse bottle on Amazon etc) but do check with your GP before buying/using one.

@ScrambledSmegs thank you so much for your reply. The gp did say that after the antibiotics, if it hadn't cleared up, then she'd prescribe me a nasal spray. I suspect I may have had high blood pressure before as I'm a bit overweight, but I haven't checked it previously. I just wondered if it's common to get headaches after reading with sinusitis?

I don't know - it's not been my personal experience but then not everyone has the same symptoms.

But I haven't heard of sinusitis coming on so quickly from something like reading. There may be other causes ie tilting your head forward to read.

Please tell your GP all of this, if there's a chance it's linked to your blood pressure they need to know.

Hot horseradish, garlic and mustard can ease the symptoms.

I had chronic sinusitis and eventually had to have surgery for it. I have a lot of allergies, so take anthistamine daily, but even so I often get sinusitis attacks.

For me, the defining characteristic of sinus pain is that it hurts more when I bend forward, and that it's particularly bad first thing in the morning, when I wake up. A long steamy shower often helps, and sometimes makes the pain go away completely.

Anithistamine and anti-allergy nasal spray make a huge difference, and when they don't work, I take a Boots decongestant tablet, which generally sorts it out.

Reading has never made it worse. I'd be more inclined to think it's your BP.

Thank you for all the replies. I went to gp yesterday who has put me on another course of antibiotics and doubled the dosage. She wasn't concerned about the blood pressure and wouldn't put me on medication, even when I told her the optician could see it in my eye test. . Just told me to make lifestyle changes. When I look on the blood pressure readings chart I'm definitely in the stage 1 hypertension range. Reading and looking at the screen on my phone still hurts my head, perhaps when I get my glasses (first ever pair) things will improve. Gp said the next step would be to send me to a consultant about the sinusitis and I'd be prescribed a steroid nasal spray and surgery if things still don't improve. I'm hoping these antibiotics work. Thanks again for the replies.

Do you have any history of migraine?

This may be worth reading, even if just to discount it www.webmd.com/migraines-headaches/migraine-vs-sinus-headache

Blocked nose that comes and goes and facial pain are both classic but much-overlooked migraine symptoms.

@PineForestandSunshine no, I don't have any history of migraine. I wondered about that myself, but I thought the fact it was everyday for the last six weeks ruled migraine out? I was under the impression that migraines just happened occasionally, but I could be wrong as I know absolutely nothing about them. Bright light hurts my eyes and the headaches are worse after looking at the mobile phone screen. That's why I just check on here occasionally whereas usually I'm looking all the time. Many thanks for your reply, it's certainly given me something to think about.

Chronic migraine is a possibility, as is medication overuse headache. Migraines don’t always present in the way you expect. Just something to be aware of if you don’t respond to treatment for sinusitis.

Purely from my own personal experience of sinusitis and TMJ, my initial reaction is that that sounds more like TMJ. Could be a combination, but i would want TMJ excluded at least.