You may have to stop eating certain foods to prevent chronic sinus pain if you have food allergies. Nasal congestion is a common symptom of a food allergy that can cause sinus headaches and pressure pain. If you continue to ingest foods that trigger an allergic reaction in your body, you may develop chronic sinus pain, which could cause secondary infections, such as an ear infection or sinus infection.
Food Allergies
Food allergies may not be as common as you may think. The University of Maryland Medical Center states that food allergies only affect about 2 percent of the adult American population. While you can develop an allergy to any food, the most common foods that cause allergic reactions include wheat, soy, fish, tree nuts, eggs, milk, peanuts, tomatoes, melons, strawberries, pineapples and food additives. Food allergies mainly cause symptoms that result from increased inflammation throughout the body in soft tissues.
Sinus Pain
When you consume a food that triggers an allergic reaction, your body creates various chemicals to attack the proteins in that food. One of the released chemicals is called histamine, which causes inflammation in soft tissues, such as your sinuses. When your nasal tissue becomes inflamed, it swells, cutting off your ability to breathe and drain mucus. This blockage causes pressure to build throughout the sinuses, placing excess pressure on the surrounding areas of the head, according to the American Rhinologic Society. Sinus pain is commonly felt in the cheekbones, eyes, forehead, back of the neck and inner-ears.
Elimination
The only way to prevent chronic sinus pain related to a food allergy is to participate in allergy tests to identify which foods trigger an allergic reaction in your body. Once identified, you will need to eliminate those foods from your diet entirely. A small amount of an allergic food can trigger mild to severe symptom in minutes. For example, if diagnosed with a nut allergy, you will need to avoid eating peanut butter, candy bars, nuts, nougat and any other products that contain nuts. If you continue to consume food allergens, you will increase your risk of health complications.
Treatment
If you accidentally eat a food that you're allergic to, call your doctor and inquire about over-the-counter medications that can alleviate your sinus pain symptoms. Common medications include decongestants, to open the sinus cavities, antihistamines, to prevent your body from creating histamine, and pain relievers, to alleviate the pain.
