Food allergies commonly cause sinus congestion, which can lead to neck and facial pain. Neck pain from nasal congestion is a result of sinus pressure, which can be prevented by identifying which foods cause an allergic reaction and eliminating them from your diet. If you consistently experience neck pain, you need to be evaluated by a doctor to determine the cause. If you are eating foods that you're allergic to without knowing it, the consistent congestion can lead to a sinus infection.
Food Allergy
Food allergies are caused by a hypersensitivity of the immune system. The immune system protects against potentially dangerous substances entering the body. During an allergic reaction to a food, your immune system reacts as if the proteins in the food are dangerous when they're actually harmless. The most common foods that cause an allergic reaction include wheat, soy, eggs, milk, tree nuts, peanuts, fish and shellfish. Eating foods you're allergic to will cause various chemicals to be released throughout your body, such as histamine and antibodies.
Neck Pain
Neck pain associated with a food allergy is the result of sinus pressure. Excessive pressure placed on surrounding areas of the head can lead to sinus pressure pain. Sinus pressure pain may be felt in various parts of the body, such as behind the eyes, the cheeks, in the forehead and in the back of the head and neck. This is caused by the sinus cavity swelling, which restricts mucus from draining from the nose. The trapped mucus causes pressure to form, leading to further complications and symptoms.
Elimination Diet
Your doctor will want to diagnose which foods are causing an allergic reaction in order prevent nasal congestion and neck pain. MayoClinic.com states that three approaches are used to diagnose a food allergy: an elimination diet, blood tests and skin tests. During an elimination diet, you remove all suspected foods that may cause an allergic reaction for two weeks. After the two weeks you add one food per day to observe whether any of the foods cause adverse reactions.
Diagnosis
Blood tests and skin prick tests expose your body to suspect food proteins that may be causing an allergic reaction. If your body responds to the proteins by creating IgE, or immunoglobulin E antibodies, you are allergic to that food.
