Many diseases of the nasal cavity and sinuses often have headache symptoms, commonly acute or chronic rhinitis and atrophic rhinitis, which are the more common clinical causes of headache.
In acute or chronic rhinitis, the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity is swollen, the sinus openings are easily obstructed, ventilation and drainage are poor, and nasal obstructive headache occurs. If the sinus openings are blocked for a long time, the sinus air is gradually absorbed, which can cause a severe “vacuum headache”. The use of nasal vasoconstrictors or nasal spray to open the sinus opening, improve ventilation and drainage, the headache can be gradually relieved. The accumulation of pus crusts in the nasal cavity of atrophic rhinitis can also cause poor sinus drainage and headache, but mainly because the nasal cavity is too wide, too much air enters the nasal cavity, and the mucous membrane is impacted by airflow, resulting in headache symptoms, clinically known as “wide open space syndrome. The headache can be relieved significantly if the nasal cavity is gently plugged with cotton to reduce the airflow into the nasal cavity.
Therefore, if you encounter a headache caused by rhinitis, you should first consider acute or chronic rhinitis, and if it is accompanied by nasal odor and dry crust, it may be atrophic rhinitis.