Did you know that sinus headaches are the number 1 misdiagnosis in migraine? There are many other headache disorders as well that can mimic a sinus infection. The trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) are a group of headache disorders in which sinus type symptoms and allergy type symptoms are characteristic. In the New York Times article written by Lisa Sanders, seen below, an example of this is explored.
By: Audrey L. Halpern, M.D.
Her Allergies Were Getting Better, So Why Were Her Sinus Headaches Getting Worse?
– By Lisa Sanders, M.D.
“It was the pain that woke her that night — the worst pain the 60-year-old woman had ever felt. It was as if a C-clamp were tightened around her head and face, punctuated with pulsations of what seemed like an electrical current.
The feeling eased after 20 excruciating minutes. All that was left was a dull ache. And exhaustion: Her husband found her in a fetal position on the floor of their home in a suburb of Baltimore. He helped her into bed. She had to go to the E.R., he said. “What am I going to tell them?” she answered. “That I had a headache?”
The pain returned many times over the next two weeks, usually when she was asleep. Her eyes would water, her nose would run and then she would get this intense pressure behind her cheekbones and eyes. It felt like the worst sinus headache she’d ever had — and she’d had many since her bout with cancer 30 years before.”