Headache

Headache is one of the most common reasons for medical visits worldwide. Most fall into primary categories — tension-type, migraine, cluster — with normal lab and imaging work-up. Secondary headaches (caused by another medical condition) are the minority but include the dangerous ones: hypertensive crisis, subarachnoid haemorrhage, meningitis, temporal arteritis, intracranial mass, sleep-disordered breathing, severe hyponatraemia or hypercalcaemia, and analgesic overuse. The clinical reasoning hinges on red flags: sudden 'thunderclap' onset, fever, neurological deficit, age >50 with new headache, change in headache pattern.

• Tension-type headache — the everyday band-like pressure; stress, eye strain, poor sleep.
• Migraine — unilateral throbbing, often with nausea, photophobia, aura; hormone-linked in women.
• Cluster headache — short, severe, around one eye; almost exclusively male.
• Medication-overuse headache — paradoxical from frequent analgesic / triptan use.
• Hypertension — only at very high BP usually; not the cause of most chronic headaches.
• Anaemia, dehydration, hypoglycaemia — systemic triggers.
• Temporal arteritis — age >50, scalp tenderness, jaw claudication; ESR/CRP elevated; sight-threatening.
• Hypothyroidism / hyperthyroidism — modest but real link.

Routine bloods rarely diagnose a headache cause directly. The screening panel: CBC (anaemia), comprehensive metabolic (sodium, calcium, glucose), TSH, ESR + CRP in any patient >50 with new headache (rule out temporal arteritis), and HbA1c if hypoglycaemia is on the differential. Imaging is driven by red flags, not by bloods. Mediora.AI interprets the haematological and metabolic markers in the context of your overall panel.