What should you know about compound headache?

The phrase is not a single formal diagnosis. A person may have pressure around the face from nasal inflammation alongside tension in the scalp and neck, or a migraine-type episode alongside dehydration, poor sleep, heat exposure, or stress. The pain may feel tight, throbbing, heavy, or worse with movement. Nausea, light sensitivity, blocked nose, or neck tenderness can provide useful clues, but one symptom does not identify the cause.

Headache can accompany a common cold, allergic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, COVID-19, dehydration, dengue fever, generalised anxiety disorder, or heat exhaustion. These conditions have different associated features and need different assessment; a headache alone cannot confirm any of them.

Rest in a quiet, comfortably cool room, drink fluids if you can, and eat if you have missed a meal. Reduce bright screens and note when the pain began, where it is located, its quality, associated symptoms, recent heat or illness, sleep, medicines, and anything that helped. Use only pain medicine that is suitable for you and follow its label or a clinician’s instructions; repeated use can itself contribute to recurring headaches. Arrange a medical assessment if headaches keep returning, change pattern, or interfere with normal activities.

Seek urgent care for a sudden, extremely severe headache, new weakness or numbness, confusion, fainting, a seizure, trouble speaking, new vision loss, a stiff neck with fever, or a severe headache after a head injury. Prompt assessment is also appropriate when headache comes with persistent vomiting, marked dehydration, a high fever, unusual bruising or bleeding, or rapid deterioration. Do not drive yourself if you are confused, faint, or having trouble seeing.

Ask which headache patterns fit your symptoms, whether an examination or further testing is needed, which pain-relief options are appropriate for you, and how to recognise a change that should be reviewed urgently. Bring your symptom diary and a list of medicines, supplements, recent illnesses, and known triggers.