What Causes Headache With Pressure In The Back Of Head?
Posted on Wed, 5 Mar 2014
95679
Question: I have a headache that causes pressure in the back of my head if I bend over or pressure if I turn my head a certain way, and I also can get a rush of pressure if I clear my throat. I also sometimes get the pressure and my I will have a crackling sound in my nose...what is this?
Hello and welcome to health care magic,
I am Dr Sriram Nathan, an ENT surgeon and I will try to help you out with your problem.
Bye your description I would postulate that you may have a sinus headache and sinusitis or a sinus problem is the cause of your headache as your description is very typical. The postural increase and also increase during throat clearing is very characteristic of a sinus headache.
In any case I would recommend you to do these-
- do steam inhalation with menthol and see if this helps
- take a CT PNS that is scan of the nose and sinuses and get back to me or any ENT surgeon with the report
- try relaxation technique like yoga or meditation and see if that reduces the severity
- the most common cause of headache is tension and a sinus headache will get aggravated by tension. So try reducing your stress levels
- I am assuming that your blood pressure is under control and you do not have any respiratory infection which also can cause these headaches
Hope to hear from you after the scan and then I can help you out better
If you have any more doubts feel free to ask
get well soon
regard
Dr Sriram Nathan
What about the crackling in nose? And why would I need a scan for sinusitis? Do you think it could be something serious? It only occurs a handful of times a day, but my head feels like it might pop...;)
hello again,
Like I mentioned earlier it could be just a tension headache but a CT is the best way to get a diagnosis of sinusitis and also to grade the severity. It is now one of the baseline investigations in the management of headache and it's very helpful.
The crackling in the nose could be due to many causes most of them related to sinusitis and deviated septum. Alternatetively even Eustachian tube dysfunction can cause such noises. In any case if you do have sinusitis then the discharge and collection due to sinsusitis can also cause this sound. This is another reason why I asked you to get the scan done.
If the scan is normal then you have nothing to worry about.
Hope this helps
regards
Dr Sriram Nathan
I guess my question is what are they looking for in scan? A tumor? This occurs maybe 2 times a year for about a week each time. Would nasal spray help? We heat with wood in our home, could dry air cause this?
hello again,
I understood your concern about the scan! the scan for sinusitis is not to look for a tumour which is actually a rare cause of headache but to assess and diagnose the severity of sinusitis. Although the scan can also very well rule out the tumour so you don't have to worry
As I mentioned before, a CT of the PNS is the baseline investigation in any headache currently
Dry air can very well increase any type of headache, both tension and sinus headache especially if you are not very used to the same so I would advice you to try and avoid the exposure if possible.
Nasal spray is primarily used to relieve nose block which you have not mentioned and thus I will assume you do not have the same. If you do have nose block then even that can cause headache and this can be treated with a combination of nasal spray and medications but even this can be started after a baseline scan has been taken
In summary what I would suggest is that if you are having a headache which is bothering you at least once a week then it is better to get it evaluated by an ENT and a scan of the sinuses will be the basic investigation for the same. Even if the headache is happening rarely, there is no harm in ruling out any serious cause which though are rare but will at least put your mind at ease.
hope this helps
regards
Dr Sriram Nathan
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What Causes Headache With Pressure In The Back Of Head?
Hello and welcome to health care magic,
I am Dr Sriram Nathan, an ENT surgeon and I will try to help you out with your problem.
Bye your description I would postulate that you may have a sinus headache and sinusitis or a sinus problem is the cause of your headache as your description is very typical. The postural increase and also increase during throat clearing is very characteristic of a sinus headache.
In any case I would recommend you to do these-
- do steam inhalation with menthol and see if this helps
- take a CT PNS that is scan of the nose and sinuses and get back to me or any ENT surgeon with the report
- try relaxation technique like yoga or meditation and see if that reduces the severity
- the most common cause of headache is tension and a sinus headache will get aggravated by tension. So try reducing your stress levels
- I am assuming that your blood pressure is under control and you do not have any respiratory infection which also can cause these headaches
Hope to hear from you after the scan and then I can help you out better
If you have any more doubts feel free to ask
get well soon
regard
Dr Sriram Nathan