Can Allergy/Sinus Cause Constant Head Pressure and Tinnitus?

[Glenville86]

Background: Retired from the Army in Nov and had a complete physical. Everything was fine except for lower back degenerative disk diease and mild hearing loss. All bloodwork was normal. Took a job in Iraq where I am currently. Arrived in Feb. In Jun, I was sick with extreme fatigue, headaches, and dizziness. Saw a doctor in Jul and was given OTC headache meds. They did bloodwork that came back normal. Since that time I have had daily head pressure and tinnitus. The tinnitus comes and goes and can be really loud and annoying. Visited another doctor in Sep who thought it might be an allergic reaction and was given zyrtec for a month. No change with the head pressure. Saw an ENT in Oct who feels that it just a left-over from whatever made me ill in Jun and thinks it will get better with time. Have had this for 5 months.

NOTE: I am 44 and had never had a headache prior to this. Have never had any TMJ problems. Tinnitus was never a problem. Never noticed any allergies before this. Never had sinus problems. Am in decent health and walk daily for 45 minutes. Thought it might be some sort of reaction to something here in Iraq but do not have typical allergy or sinus symptoms.

Questions: 1) Can allergies or sinus cause the daily head pressure and tinnitus? No pain, just a heavy and tight feeling from my eyebrows, temples to the back of my head. Wake up with it. Only goes away when outside exercising. Constant dust inside and outside this place with pollution.  Extreme heat going from AC into 120 degree.  Has cooled off now, but symptoms remain.

[idesofmarch]

P.S again Drink as much water as possible. It will thin out the mucus. If you find something that works tell others you know to have the same sypmtoms. Also tell the doctor so he can tell his other patients.

[bweb]

First, thank you for serving us and protecting us.  It seems that your symptoms are somewhat environmentally based, as you received them a few months after you arrived in Iraq.

There is a possibility that your symptoms can be from an allergy or a sensitivity to something in your sleeping quarters, as when you wake up you seem to have the worst symptoms.  HOw old is the pillow you were issued.  Many times, dust mites are present in pillows, mattresses, etc.  

Good luck!

[nikkidarcy31]

With this pressure do you ever have any confusion,slurred speach, sensitivity to light or sound?

[Glenville86]

Hello - We sleep on issued beds that are not covered in plastic.  The pillow is mine and I buy a new one every few months.  The room is small with 2-people sharing.  There is a window heater/AC that I spray every other day to kill germs.  My new roommate has started getting occasional headaches since he moved in; however, may not be related.  Every morning when I blow my nose, it is a bunch of dry chunks mixed with pulpy blood.  After I come to work, the nose is dry and any dischrage is clear.  When my ears ring, certain noises bother me such as the chow hall when it is packed.  The head symptoms are a pressure tight feeling that increases and decreases during the day.  Always have it, but no real pain, just discomfort.  Sometimes I get a tingling on the sides of my head.  This place is loaded with fine dust.  I wipe my desk off every day and a few hours later it is layered again.  One doctor thought allergies and another chronic low grade tension headache.  It could be possible that allergies or non-alleries are causing the tension headache.

[ChloeTennitis]

Hey, I'm 35 yo. live with my girlfriend (GF) who has a pet Boston Terrier (BT - a low allergenic dog, supposedly) and have recently developed a mild-to-strong case of Tennitis. I am about to go to my Doctor, but I thought my story may help some sufferers. Basically, I realized before moving in with GF that I was allergic to the dog because I would get a dried out nasal mucus, which would after two-three days of exposure lead to cracking and bleeding in my nose, much as described above by other sufferers. The symptoms would dissapate totally when I avoided exposure to the dog for 1 week. Upon moving in with GF, we got a really good BlueAir filter for $500 which seemed to alleviate the worst symptoms. My nose was still getting slightly dry, but about 80-90% of the total nasal symptoms were gone, and the situation was totally bearable (no more bleeding). This continued on for 1 year. I should add that I work from home, so my pet exposure is 24-7, however, I work hard to clean and dust the apartment as much as I can. Two weeks ago, I started to get a mild high-pitched ringing in my ears, which I immediatly deduced could be from the BT dander: knowing that the inner ear is also mucus-lined and I assume the same drying/hardening of mucus in my nose is now beginning to affect my inner ear. After two weeks, the symptoms have gotten much worse, and overnight the ringing noise doubled-trippled along with some slight pulsatory ringing (possibly due to stress and sleeplessless compounding the problem). As I said, I am going to see my Doctor. My other steps will be: 1) to have someone take care of the dog for 1 week, 2) do daily saline nasal rinses, 3) drink plenty of water, 4) excercise, 5) clean the house again entirely, 6) spend more time outdoors, and 7) get another bedroom air filter. Besides all of this... Are there specific medications or other life-style changes you guys can recommend (besides getting a new girlfriend?? hahah..) ? I'm specifically interested in any allergy-related cures/treatments available for these symptoms, so I can ask my Doctor about them. Thanks very much.

[midwest50]

thank you to anyone that has served or is serving our country.i admire you for your patriotism and respect you for defending our country. i have a son in law in the air force,a lt., who is supposed to be heading to iraq this summer.i love him like a son and am worried.
now to the reason i am here.i've had tinnitus and sinus problems for many years.nothing seems to work for me.living near chi town our weather changes faster than the blink of an eye.with high bp i'm limited on meds i can take.if anyone has any suggestions i'd appreciate them.living with this eye/ear fullness and ringing is horrible and life disrupting.at 56 i am not ready to give up yet.got 7 grandkids i want to be able to not only see grow up but want to hear them also.thanks for your help.