Sinus Migraine Hypothesis 

I have this. I was diagnosed with chronic migraines and this helps put my symptoms into perspective. Botox makes a huge difference. Im also undergoing allergy immunotherapy because allergies are a huge trigger now.

I have migraines since my 20s and I am 54. When I turned 40 the migraine muted in a sinus migraine. I went to an ENT Dr and they did tests and told me that I have no sinus infection I then went to an allergy Dr and I test zero allergy. This sinus migraine makes me feel congested, creates sinus pressure in both sides as if I was having an allergy attack. It makes me nauseous, watery eyes, running watery nose, it also causes achy scalp, achy palm of hands and bottom of feet. Eventually the pain also goes to behind of one of the eyes and also in the middle of the back top of my neck. It is miserable. Some other days I also have the normal migraine that hurts one side of my head behind one of my eyes but but without sinus pain. These migraines alternates and recently I have been having pain every other day for over a month now 😢

I’ve been diagnosed with migraine because of the sinus symptoms. Feel fine in the mornings but as the day passes my ears feel full and my hearing diminishes, this coupled with worsening headache if I cough or strain. Once I lie down for sleep I can feel the sinus drain and the pressure begin to fall. Pain killers are helping.

Just something else to consider (for those of you searching for answers and reading through the comments), I had what I was calling “sinus headaches” for years, but without any associated discharge- other than a really liquidy clear nasal drip usually after taking a pseudoephedrine decongestant (after which I would feel better). Fast forward a few years and the headaches were more and more frequent, and at some point I thought- hey, I’m not congested when this is happening so they can’t be sinus headaches. So I started to call them “barometric pressure” headaches since I knew for *certain* that whenever there was a change of more then .1 in the barometric pressure I would have a headache. It continued to get worse and worse and then I started having some type of “vertigo” (that I wouldn’t really state as dizziness- more of a visual disturbance or sense of being “swimmy-headed.”). Fast forward a few more years and I’m experiencing constant fatigue as well. Turns out that my right maxillary sinus was essentially imploding (i.e. medically termed as atalactasia). It’s something called silent sinus syndrome, which can result in the eye starting to collapse into the imploding sinus space. It's either a very rare *OR* an underdiagnosed condition. (My hunch is that it’s underdiagnosed). I had no indications of a chronic sinus infection, I only had these increasing headaches that would be alleviated via the vasoconstriction effects of pseudoephedrine decongestants- and then when the fatigue set in I was essentially non-functional. I thought I was going to have to apply for disability since I just couldn’t sustain a reasonable work pace/ product. In any case, I had sinus surgery two weeks ago to “clear out” the collapsed sinus tissue, which hopefully will clear up my headaches and fatigue and return me to normal function. I hesitate to say I’m “cured,” since there is still a chunk of congestion resulting from the surgery damage & associated healing (not to mention I then had a hip replacement suddenly last week so am still recovering from that). But I strongly suspect I will be feeling better than I have in years once I’m fully healed. I can’t tell you how many different doctors and specialists I went to, each who looked at like “their” 5-10 things and declared me “fine”- even though I knew I wasn’t fine. It was very discouraging but I just kept going. I actually even went to ENT at the beginning of my journey and he stuck a scope into the collapsed sinus and declared it fine. I saw it with my own eyes and it looked fine too. But after getting several MRI’s searching for a cause and realizing that my right sinus was chronically opaque (for over three years) I went back to ENT (who once again scoped me and the tissue inside looked fine (again, as verified by my own eyes)), but he indicated that it was most likely silent sinus syndrome or chronic sinusitis (even though I had NO purelent discharge of any kind). So when he did the surgery the biopsy found an abnormal amount of eosinophils, even though my symptoms were actually headaches and fatigue. It’s been a wild ride. But if you’re suffering I strongly suggest a CT scan of the sinuses to see if they are chronically opaque and not alleviated via antibiotics or steroids. If yes, consider a sinoplasty and/or septoplasty. (I also had a deviated septum on that side which probably contributed to the collapsing situation). I’ll come back on here in another few months to update as to whether it fully worked- I’m hopeful it will!

Thank you, Dr. Weitzel and team and everyone else at NHF for making these podcasts. I know how much work it is to line up these interviews, I so appreciate your time and commitment. So incredibly helpful, and I, for one, enjoy the positive interjections of ok, mmhmm and wow 😉 keep it up, you're amazing

Great chat, thanks. Unfortunately the CRGP inhibitor meds have actually triggered and worsened my sinus symptoms :(

Thank you for this information and for this research you are doing. This video makes me feel seen as this sounds very much like what I experience.

This is exactly what I have. My journey started 30 years ago with chronic sinusitis. About 5 years ago my ENT suggested I was having migraines. My sinus migraines are well managed now. PTL

My nose does not run until the headache starts to go away. I am so tired of my life being controlled by headache.

Fascinating. I used to experience more sinus infections, usually after a cold, with the pus-like discharge. In the last 6 months or more, I have had the sinus pressure and pain, feeling stuffy but with clear discharge, if any, and tinnitus going back even longer. Also watery eye. But I have known it isn’t a real sinus infection. It was so interesting to learn about both sides of it and do hope it soon becomes a medical diagnosis that PCPs are trained.

This is good information. Patients are often not accepting of it though. The information becomes most important when surgery for sinusitis is being considered.

I have it when I was child and I developed depression and bad lifestyle due to strong incapacitated pain

This is really informative session, can you also suggest which Migrain preventive medicine will be useful in case of sinus Migrain.

I am in pain and can't concentrate on a 45 minute video. Even though it sounds interesting.

This sounds like me. Starting to think I am getting dementia. But for yrs I have fought this. I contracted hep c in 1982 from a transfusion. I al curednow for 4 yrs after taking mavyret. I think hep c triggered this. But symptoms are getting worse as I age. I pray for relief. So tired of this.

This is exactly desribe my symptom. I am 41 history of mirain with aura and now experincing sinus migrain across day. Please suggest preventive medicines

I've had migraine most of my life, in various forms... now I've thought I had migraine this past week, but with severe post nasal drip and green mucus tonight. Confusing. I go on abx occasionally.

Wonderful, I 'm making an apoint. SH RN

Thank You.

I have been having the sinus symptoms: eye, nose, teeth pain/pressure with my daily migraines for >8 mos. It’s horrible!!

is there any links to conch bullosas, rhinogenic contact points and migraines?

I think advil helps me better and aspirin. I get migraine when not taking allergy medicine or nasal spray

Histamine resistance?

I have sinus migraines 😢 my neurologist is keep on giving me pills with too many side affects 😢 now she is saying Botox . I am afraid 😱 to do it

What’s the solution please help 😢any advise ? My neurologist is saying Botox my ENT is saying deviated septum surgery 😢 I don’t know what to do my life is miserable 😢

I know she means well with the mhmms but it was very distracting. Please just let him speak.

I think this is very helpful information, but can we limit the interruptions of “ok” “mmm hmmm” “wow” while the doctor is speaking and talking over them? It’s a bit distracting. Some of us with migraines might be hearing sensitive or aware of these things, but it would make the video more listenable.

😂😢