What to do for a headache, and when to see a GP

It started behind your eyes mid-morning and by lunchtime it's a tight band round your head. You've had a coffee, maybe a couple of tablets, and you're wondering whether to push through or go home.

For most headaches the answer is simple: take a standard painkiller early, drink some water, eat something and step away from the screen. Tension-type headache affects up to 80% of people at some point and migraine about one in seven in the UK. Both respond better than most people expect once the pattern is understood.

If your headaches keep coming back, you can see a GP at Harley Street for £150. The appointment includes a neurological examination, with prescriptions and blood tests available the same day.

What to do for a headache right now

• Take paracetamol or ibuprofen at the first sign, at the dose on the packet. Painkillers work best early, before the pain builds.
• Drink a glass or two of water, and eat something if you've skipped a meal. Low blood sugar and dehydration are common triggers.
• Step away from the screen, drop your shoulders and stretch your neck. A warm compress on the neck or a cool one on the forehead helps some people.
• For a migraine, lie down in a dark, quiet room and take your painkiller as early as you can. If you feel sick, a pharmacist can suggest an anti-sickness medicine.
• Keep painkillers to two or three days a week at most. Using them more often than that is how headaches start coming back daily.

Which type of headache is it?

The common headache types, at a glance.

Migraine is a neurological condition, not just a bad headache, and it's the leading cause of disability in under-50s worldwide. About a third of people with migraine have aura, visual disturbances such as flashing lights or blind spots, 15 to 60 minutes before the pain. If you can carry on with normal activities during a headache, it's less likely to be migraine.

Why do I get a headache every day?

Doctors call headaches on 15 or more days a month, for more than three months, chronic daily headache. The usual causes are medication overuse, chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache, and often more than one at once.

Medication overuse headache is the one to know about. It develops when paracetamol or ibuprofen are used on 15 or more days a month, or triptans on 10 or more, for three months or longer. The brain adapts to regular pain relief and produces a rebound headache as each dose wears off. Reducing the overused medicine is the treatment, and headaches usually get worse for 1 to 2 weeks before they improve, which is why it's easier with a doctor's plan.

Other everyday drivers include caffeine withdrawal in heavy coffee drinkers, poor or irregular sleep, and long hours of screen work. If headaches come on with reading or screens, an eye test at an optician is worth booking, and a GP will check your blood pressure.

Waking up with a headache most mornings has its own list: alcohol the night before, caffeine withdrawal overnight, teeth grinding, and sleep apnoea, where breathing stops and starts through the night. If you also snore or feel sleepy by day, our guide to falling asleep during the day is worth a read. Headaches with dizziness are often migraine, which can affect balance, though dehydration and low blood sugar do it too.

What your overall health has to do with it

Headaches rarely happen in isolation. Irregular sleep, both too little and too much, is one of the strongest triggers for tension-type headache and migraine, so consistent sleep and wake times help, even at weekends.

Skipping meals drops blood glucose and triggers headaches in many people. Regular meals, 1.5 to 2 litres of fluid a day, and no more than 2 to 3 cups of coffee all help. Regular aerobic exercise, 30 minutes three to five times a week, has evidence for reducing headache frequency comparable to some preventive medicines. Neck and shoulder tension from desk work matters too, and a better workstation or regular screen breaks can cut tension headaches noticeably.

Can frequent headaches be prevented?

Yes, and it starts with the pattern. Keeping a simple headache log for 6 to 8 weeks, noting what you ate, how you slept, your stress level and any painkillers taken, gives your doctor far more to work with than "frequent headaches".

If you're having four or more migraine days a month, NICE recommends considering preventive treatment, taken daily to reduce how often headaches happen over weeks to months. First-line options include propranolol, topiramate and low-dose amitriptyline, and candesartan is also commonly used. Since 2024 the MHRA has said topiramate must not be used to prevent migraine in pregnancy, and women who could become pregnant can only take it within a pregnancy prevention programme using highly effective contraception. For chronic tension-type headache, low-dose amitriptyline is the main preventive.

For frequent migraine where several preventives haven't worked, newer treatments that target a migraine protein called CGRP are available through a neurologist or headache specialist.

When is a headache an emergency?

Most headaches aren't a sign of anything serious. Call 999 for a sudden, severe headache that reaches its worst within seconds to minutes, sometimes described as the worst headache of your life, as it needs emergency assessment.

Get urgent help the same day through A&E or NHS 111 if a headache comes with fever, a stiff neck, a rash or confusion; new loss of vision or double vision; or a recent head injury, especially with drowsiness or vomiting. See a GP soon about a new pattern of headache after the age of 50, or headaches made worse by coughing, straining or lying down. Our guide on when to see a private GP sets out the difference between those situations.

How we can help

GP consultations at 117a Harley Street (£150) can focus on headache assessment and management. That means a thorough history, a neurological examination and a review of your headache log if you've kept one. Blood tests can be arranged on site if an underlying cause such as anaemia, a thyroid problem or inflammation needs excluding.

For migraine, we can prescribe acute treatment and standard preventive medicines, and refer you to a neurologist or headache specialist if needed, including for the newer CGRP treatments. If medication overuse headache is the problem, we'll put together a supported plan for reducing the painkillers. Our guide to private prescriptions explains how that part works. Prefer to talk first? Call 0207 499 1991.