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A New Look at Natural Acne Treatments
There's a confusing array of product claims and treatment
methods for acne that make it difficult for acne sufferers to
determine their best course of action. The fact that there are
several forms of acne, including cystic acne and the common...
Blood Pressure Medications: A Concise Guide
High blood pressure is unfortunately something that most people
have to deal with as they age. This is especially true for the
average person in the western part of the world. The national
average for high blood pressure is approximately 24% in...
Herbal medicine for cold
Many people on the hunt for nutritional supplements are concerned about what kind of herbal medicine for cold sicknesses are offered. From the period of November until March, cold season sets in and it can really ruin your day. While there isn't too...
Herbal Medicines - The Most Popular and Effective Natural Remedies
We've Come So Far - How Much Better Can Alternative Medicine
Get?
Herbal and natural medicine has gained so much more attention
than it ever had in the past seven to ten years. So, why is
that? There must be something to it other than a...
The Power of Capsulized Foods
For most people, the concept of capsulized food™ usually conjures up images of space travelers ingesting meals condensed into a compact pill. However, in modern-day reality, things are quite different. Capsulized foods are one of the most innovative...
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When a Sinus Headache Is Really a Migraine
The concept of sinus headaches runs so deep in the public mind that many people with pain in the fronts of their heads (and even some people with pain in the backs of their heads) automatically assume that it is caused by their sinuses. Moreover, their diagnosis seems confirmed when any of the following occurs:
- The headache is caused by a change in weather.
- The headache includes nasal congestion or sinus pressure.
- A "sinus" medication helps resolve the headache.
Yet most headache experts feel that sinus headaches are way over-diagnosed as a cause of recurring head pain. In fact, the author attended a conference of headache experts at which one seasoned physician stood up and said, "Everything I know about sinus headaches I learned from television!" So what gives?
The speaker's point was that we have all been brain-washed by years of pharmaceutical advertising to associate pain in the front of the head with sinus disease. Do you remember all those little triangles pasted around someone's nose, eyes and forehead in advertisements for Dristan(R) sinus pills? These pictures appeared for years not just in the media, but on buses and subways, as well. The company's marketing department did their job well.
Certainly, an acutely infected sinus can cause substantial pain. But in the far more typical circumstance of mere congestion of the nasal passageways and sinuses, usually there is either no pain or just mild discomfort. So if that's the case, what accounts for more significant pains in the front of the head? The most frequent causes are migraine and tension-type headaches. And when the pain is bad enough to interfere with or even prevent usual activities, migraine is the most common culprit.
An internationally agreed-upon system for diagnosing the most common form of migraine includes the following:
- Untreated or unsuccessfully treated attacks last for 4-72 hours each.
- Attacks have at least two of the four following features:
- present on just one side of the head
- pulsating quality
- moderate to severe intensity
- the pain is aggravated by exertion
- Attacks also have at least one of the two following features:
- the pain is
worsened by light and noise
- there is nausea or vomiting
If that system seems too complicated, then here are a couple of screening questions you can substitute. Do you suffer from recurrent, disabling headaches? When you have your usual headache, would you like to lie down? A "yes" answer to either question makes migraine likely (and sinus headaches unlikely).
Researchers at the Headache Care Center of Springfield, Missouri, screened 2991 clinic patients for individuals who believed they had sinus headaches and who had never previously been diagnosed as having migraine. The researchers excluded people with signs of infection. Using the system of diagnosis we already discussed, 80% had definite migraine and another 8% had probable migraine.
So what about those three items that seemed to confirm that a headache was due to sinuses? It turns out that a change of weather can trigger a migraine, probably via a drop or rise in barometric pressure. It also turns out that nasal congestion or pressure in the sinuses can be the effect of a migraine attack rather than its cause. Finally, it is always chancy to diagnose a condition based on what treatment works for it, because a single treatment might help more than one condition. In the case of sinus pills there are usually multiple ingredients, one of which is a painkiller. For example, in the various Dristan(R) formulations, aspirin, acetaminophen or ibuprofen is present. Sometimes caffeine is also included in the pills which can resolve migraine headaches, too.
The confusion between sinus and migraine headaches has an ironic component. While the drug companies used to work hard to convince people they had sinus headaches, now that some decent migraine medicines are available, the drug companies that sell them are just as intent on persuading people they have migraines.
I guess it should go without saying that you shouldn't let the marketing department of a drug company diagnose your headaches.
(C) 2005 by Gary Cordingley
About the Author
Gary Cordingley, MD, PhD, is a clinical neurologist, teacher and researcher who works in Athens, Ohio. For more health-related articles see his website at: http://www.cordingleyneurology.com
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