South Palm Beach Today

• If you're dealing with chronic headaches, it may be a result of inflamed sinuses.
• It's important to figure out what type of headaches you are dealing with so you can get the correct treatment.
• Dr. Cody Aull and his team at West Palm Beach Breathe Free can help to figure out if your headaches are a problem resulting from sinus issues.

Dr. Cody Aull of West Palm Beach Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers said headaches and facial pain are common symptoms of sinus issues.

"We talk about facial pain a lot, and the root cause of it usually has something to do with the sinuses,” Dr. Aull told South Palm Beach Today. “The pain itself is often from the nerves that go through the sinuses. We fix the sinuses, then work with the nerves to calm them down.”

Aull said it's important to figure out what type of headache someone might have in order to receive the correct treatment. Is it sinus problems or migraine? Aull and his team are trained to figure out whether facial pain might be the result of inflamed sinuses.

“There's a multipronged approach to how we can take care of facial pain, sinus headaches, etc.,” Aull said. “That's the advantage of having it all in front of us. We sit there and think, ‘Your symptom is pressure right over here.’ We look at the CT and see an obvious problem there. That sinus isn't working; there's something pushing over here on that sinus. Now we've got the reasons for it, and we can fix those reasons."

Distinguishing between migraines and sinus headaches can be difficult because the symptoms can be similar. According to the Mayo Clinic, both migraine and sinusitis headache pain often get worse when bending forward or laying down. Migraines can simulate sinusitis by displaying nasal symptoms that include congestion, facial pressure, and a clear, watery nasal discharge.

One obvious difference between the two is that sinusitis isn't usually associated with nausea and vomiting or aggravated by noise and bright light. All these are common symptoms of migraines. Sinus headaches can include a fever and often last days or longer. Migraines normally last for hours or a day, possibly two.

Sinusitis usually occurs after a viral upper respiratory infection or cold. It can trigger thick, discolored nasal mucus, a decreased sense of smell, a runny nose, a feeling of fullness in the ears and pain in one cheek or upper teeth. The treatment could include a combination of antibiotics, antihistamines or decongestants, according to Mayo Clinic.

To learn more about the symptoms of sinusitis and allergies, take this Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz.