It sounds like you're doing exactly the right thing for it.

Yeah, I think I have acheived the right amount of paranoia to make it work.

Heh. I wouldn't call it paranoia. I'd call it vigilant self-care.

IOhealth-relatedN, does anyone know how to get rid of a sinus headache right quick? I woke up with it yesterday, and I've been pummeling it with sudafed and ibuprofen, and it just. won't. go. away.

I'm dealing blackjack at a casino night benefit-type thing tonight, and if this headache doesn't go away, I'm going to be miserable.

Any suggestions, up to and possibly including trepanning?

Take a shower, as hot as you can stand it Teppy, and let the hot water beat on your head, if you can take the heat on skin (rather than hair), try to focus it on the achy points.

Boil water in your kitchen, and get your place nice and steamy. Drink lots of orange juice and lots of water.

Sometimes, ibuprofen causes headaches--go figure. Try tag teaming the headache with Tylenol.

Avoid dairy and caffeine. Don't let your belly get too empty.

Steph, hot shower & wash your hair. Then eat something with lots of capsaicin; my husband swears by Thai seafood soup.

That's if it's really a sinus headache, not a migraine. If it's a migraine, make sure you get caffeine as well as pain relievers.

Avoid dairy and caffeine

Doesn't caffeine work for some people's headaches?

Yup. Many of the standard OTC migraine treatments have caffeine. Caffeine can help stave one off for me, although prescription drugs are better.

Caffeine is great for a lot of headaches, but not so great for sinuses. Also, it tends to dehydrate a person, and with a sinus condition, staying really hydrated seems to help.

Actually? I'm more worried about the Strep that's going around at the office, than the scrape at this point. I do not want to deal with that.

Oh Teppy, what Betsy said about soup or something else with lots of capsaicin (other hot stuff seems to help me, too). Also? A few times I have had a sinus headache while cooking, I've noticed that when I'm slicing a raw onion, it gets better after the onion induced tears start. I never remember to try the onion thing when I have the headache, but am not cooking, though.

When I was little and had sinus headaches, my mother used to make me tent a towel over my head over a bowl of steaming water with menthol crystals dissolved in it. It really worked well.

I was taking a big gulp of my coffee as I read the past 8 posts. I managed to swallow it before I laughed.

If I can't get my sinus headaches reined in, they turn into migraines. (I didn't think that was possible -- it seemed like apples and oranges -- but 2 ENTs told me that, yes, sinus headaches can turn into migraines. Which I'd like to avoid. [And 2 Ents told me to respect the trees. Which helped my headaches not at all.]) And it feels like this one is on the border of turning into a migraine.

I'll have to try the hot shower method. The problem, as near as I can tell, is that even though the sudafed un-stuffed my nose, there's a tremendous amount of pressure behind my right cheekbone. (It's always my right. I have no idea why.) If I press really hard on my cheekbone, it's like the internal and external pressure balance, and it stops hurting for a minute. But I can't really do that tonight, b/c I need both hands to deal. Meh.