Sinus headaches make your face hurt. You may feel a constant, dull ache behind the eyes or in your cheekbones, forehead and the bridge of your nose. The pain gets worse when you move your head suddenly or you bend over.
With acute sinusitis, it might be difficult to breathe through your nose. The area around your eyes and face might feel swollen, and you might have throbbing facial pain or a headache.
Sinus pressure might feel like tightness or achiness in your face — particularly around your eyes, nose, forehead or cheekbones. Sinus pressure can even radiate to other areas, like your scalp, teeth and jaws.
You can also have headaches, tooth pain, coughing from the post nasal drip, fever, fatigue, a bad smell in your nose or a bad taste in your mouth and bad breath. Symptoms such as a fever that won't go away, a change in your eyesight, severe headaches and neck stiffness need immediate medical attention.
Antibiotics are not needed for many sinus infections. Most sinus infections usually get better on their own without antibiotics. When antibiotics aren't needed, they won't help you, and their side effects could still cause harm. Side effects can range from mild reactions, like a rash, to more serious health problems.
This condition is rarely life-threatening, but it can be dangerous at times. Infections can spread beyond the sinuses into your bones, brain or spine.
Untreated sinusitis can cause the thickened mucus to continuously drip down the back of your throat, which, over time, can irritate your voice box and contribute to dry cough and hoarseness.
Acute sinusitis lasts for less than four weeks. Chronic sinusitis can last for more than 12 weeks. The majority of sinus infection sufferers will see their symptoms start to resolve after about 10 days. While one to two infections a year is considering normal, more than four requires medical attention.
“It is often best-and many times, company policy-that employees stay out of work until they are fever-free for 24 hours, especially with the flu.” Nasal congestion with sinus or facial pain suggests a sinus infection. Sinus infections can be viral or bacterial. “Either way, it's best to stay home,” Wigmore says.
For adults — See a health care provider if:
You have symptoms for more than 10 days. You have a high fever. What's coming from your nose is yellow or green. You also have sinus pain or fever.
When sinus infections won't seem to go away or continue to return, there may be a more serious problem going on. These particularly painful infections are known as chronic sinusitis and they need more attention and care than just over-the-counter medications.
Chronic sinusitis may have several different causes. People with asthma or allergies are more likely to develop this long-lasting inflammation. This is often exacerbated by smoking, second-hand smoke, and environmental factors. It can also be caused by an infection of some sort.
The bacteria confine themselves in stubborn “biofilms,” making it difficult for your immune system or antibiotics to find and attack them. An overlap of additional factors such as smoking, environmental pollutants, and deviated septum, further complicate the picture of chronic sinusitis.
While it is true that some level of pain and discomfort is to be expected if you have a sinus infection, if you are experiencing pain that is severe, then you should seek emergency care for your sinus infection. You should also take note if the pain seems to have spread to other parts of the body.
Viral infections are spread the same way as bacterial infections. The difference is that the viral infection will start to improve after 5 to 7 days of the initial onset of the symptoms. There is no one definitive way for a doctor to determine if you have a bacterial or viral sinus infection based on symptoms alone.
Moisten your sinus cavities.
Drape a towel over your head as you breathe in the vapor from a bowl of hot water. Keep the vapor directed toward your face. Or take a hot shower, breathing in the warm, moist air. This will help ease pain and help mucus drain.
If this is the case, a sinus infection left untreated may cause further complications (as chronic sinusitis can actually spread to the eyes and the brain). When sinusitis spreads to areas around the eyes, you may experience redness and swelling, which can reduce vision.
As your body works hard to fight off the sinus infection, you'll feel more tired than usual. Fatigue can be also be caused by head pain, a lack of adequate sleep, and difficulty breathing due to sinusitis.
If your symptoms aren't improving after one week, it's important to see your doctor. If a bacterial infection is suspected, you'll probably need to take an antibiotic to clear up the infection and prevent further complications.
A headache - or pain in your ears, jaw, teeth and cheeks. Symptoms such as headache or earache are common with sinusitis because of the swelling and pressure that it causes.