Massive migraine-like headaches due to poor breathing

I have had these headaches most of my adult life. I would wake up with a headache and suffer debilitating headache all day until I went to sleep and slept the full night and woke again the next day. I suffered these headaches several times a month.

Accidentally, while staying at a family’s house in a pine forest in springtime, I discovered the cause of the headaches. I suffered from terrible allergy in the forest and used nose drops to keep my breathing passages open. The pollen season lasted a month and during its entire duration I did not suffer a headache once. But it returned as soon as the pollen season finished and I stopped using the drops. This was my clue: as long as I took the drops, I was headache free.

Apparently there is design flaw in my nasal passages (a common problem) which obstructs my breathing when I lie down: not noticeably – I don’t suffocate – but sufficiently to cause an occasional oxygen deficiency which in turn caused day-long headaches.

Nose drops (0.05% oxymetazoline hydrochloride) used once a day (before sleep) prove an effective treatment. Since I have been using them daily (last 5 years) I have cut down the frequency of my headaches to about twice a year. (Unless I booze, but that's a different story altogether, and easily diagnosed).

Warning: one has to be careful with the nose drops: if used too frequently they tend to lead to what is called “rebound effect” (a constriction of the nasal passages which requires ever-greater doses of nose drops to keep open). It is important therefore to use smallest effective dose. One may be able to use the 0.025% formula (marketed as “for children”); further, one may be able to only spray once per time (i.e. one puff) and only into one nostril. I use this method; I suffer from a minor rebound effect: my nasal passages are now somewhat obstructed during the day (when I do not use the drops) but not enough to case me any serious hardship. I am glad to suffer this minor discomfort in return for not suffering my terrible headaches anymore.