Symptom pathway
Emergency
Acute Headache
Acute headache is common, but the job is to catch subarachnoid haemorrhage, meningitis, raised intracranial pressure, temporal arteritis, and secondary causes without over-calling benign primary headache syndromes.
4
Red flags
6
Differentials
4
Pathways
Rule out danger first
This pathway is organized around escalation, first-pass differentials, and linked topics rather than a flat list of causes.
Red flags
- Thunderclap onset or worst-ever headache
- Fever, meningism, rash, or immunosuppression
- Focal neurology, seizure, altered consciousness, or papilloedema
- New headache in pregnancy, anticoagulation, cancer, or age >50
Common causes to keep in the differential
Subarachnoid haemorrhage
Meningitis / encephalitis
Migraine
Tension-type headache
Medication-overuse headache
Raised ICP / intracranial mass / cerebral venous thrombosis
Linked MedVellum pathways
Acute headache
EmergencyStructured acute headache workup and emergency red flags.
Open topic
Migraine headache
CommonMigraine patterns, treatment, and prevention.
Open topic
Tension headache
CommonCommon benign headache patterns and differentials.
Open topic
Medication-overuse headache
CommonRecognize rebound headache and withdrawal strategy.
Open topic
Next practical steps
- Use the linked topics to split dangerous secondary headaches from common primary syndromes.
- Escalate fast for thunderclap headache, fever with meningism, or focal neurological deficit.
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Use MedVellum search when the presentation is mixed, atypical, or you need a broader differential before narrowing into a topic page.
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