Headaches- When to see a Doctor

It is not every headache you have to bother your doctor about. Indeed your doctor will become weary of you if you come into the emergency room every time you have a headache. There are over-the-counter medications you can use once you have a headache like paracetamol and ibuprofen. However, there are times such medications become absolutely useless. There are some headaches that warrant a hospital visit.

Case in point, the scenario below which was a patient I saw many years ago.

“Sir, will I be able to see again?”

“Yes, definitely,” I answered; then I caught myself, I had no assurance what I just replied was the truth.

“I’m having serious headache.”

He gazed into space, his eyes were bulging out of their sockets, and you could distinctly see the blood vessels glistening bright red against the white background.

He was a young man, still a boy by all standards, he’d been having very severe and constant headaches; now he could no longer see.

He had fainted earlier that day which wasn’t the first time he’d lost consciousness. He’d been discovered to have a very high blood pressure of over 200.

As I watched him drifting into sleep? And snoring loudly. I considered the possibilities, but none of them was good. All had a poor prognosis.
Was there some bleeding in his brain? Was there a tumor pressing on his brain? Was it a hemorrhagic Stroke?

When to see a Doctor for a Headache

1. Any unusual and severe headache not relieved by analgesics.

2. Headaches followed by vomiting.

3. Headaches with seizures.

4. Headaches that affect your vision.

One last Advice

Monitor your blood pressure regularly. A headache is not a classical symptom of high blood pressure and one can have high blood pressure without having headaches. However, when a headache persists and is unbearable, it is usually helpful to check the blood pressure.