Dr. Egilius Spierings warns allergy symptoms can mask migraine

Neurologist and headache specialist Dr. Egilius Spierings says seasonal congestion and facial pressure are often mistaken for sinus pain when the real problem is migraine. He says the mix-up can delay diagnosis and treatment as allergy season peaks.

Why it matters: - Misreading migraine as sinus pain can keep people on the wrong treatment path while the underlying headache disorder gets worse. - Allergy season adds congestion and facial pressure, which can blur the line between sinus face pain and migraine for millions of Americans. - Migraine affects about 40 million Americans and more than 1 billion people worldwide, and it remains widely misunderstood and undertreated.

What happened: - Neurologist and headache specialist Dr. Egilius Spierings issued a warning that seasonal allergy sufferers may be confusing migraine with sinus pain. - Spierings is also the best-selling author of Headaches: Why You Have Them What You Can Do About Them. - The warning comes as allergy season brings congestion and facial pressure to many people in the U.S. - Spierings says the confusion can delay proper diagnosis and treatment.

The details: - Migraine is a genetically determined and inherited vulnerability to intense headaches, Spierings says. - Migraine attacks can happen more often and be harder to manage when other conditions are present, including insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, depression, neck or jaw muscle tightness, nausea, reflux, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome and allergies. - Facial pressure is not automatically a sinus headache. - Spierings describes sinus headache, also called sinus-vacuum headache or barosinusitis, as a low-grade pain generally centered in the face, especially the nose-cheek area. - He says the pain is often more accurately described as sinus face pain. - Seasonal allergies can cause nasal congestion that blocks passages between the nose and sinuses and creates pressure changes. - Closed-off sinuses can also make people more sensitive to weather changes, especially the drop in barometric pressure that often comes before rain or snow. - Nasal congestion can also come from crying, second-hand cigarette smoke or strong odors, even pleasant ones. - Spierings says migraine patients can develop a full migraine attack after first experiencing another kind of headache, including tension or sinus pain. - He says labels such as tension-migraine or sinus-migraine refer to migraine headaches and should be treated as migraine. - The article cites more information on Spierings and his work.

Between the lines: - The main risk is not just discomfort. It is delayed recognition of migraine, which can lead to repeated, ineffective treatment of congestion instead of the headache disorder itself. - Spierings is pushing for a more careful read of recurring facial pain during allergy season, especially when headaches keep returning. - Earlier identification of migraine may improve treatment and quality of life for people living with chronic headache disorders.

What's next: - Spierings hopes greater awareness will help patients notice when recurring headaches are more than seasonal allergies. - He is available for interviews as interest in allergy-related headache symptoms rises. - Better recognition of the difference between sinus facial pain and migraine could lead to earlier diagnosis and more effective care.

The bottom line: - Not every headache with facial pressure is a sinus problem, and getting that distinction right can change treatment fast.