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Three in the afternoon, eyes gritty from the screen, and that tight band round your head is back for the fourth time this week. A Prime Medic GP can go through it in a phone or video headache consult, ruling out warning signs before looking at what keeps setting it off

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Most head pain starts in tight muscles, tired eyes or blocked sinuses

A headache is pain anywhere in the head or upper neck, and usually nothing serious sits behind it. Tension-type headache is the common one. It feels dull and even, on both sides, and walking about doesn't make it worse. Long laptop days, skipped lunches and broken sleep feed it. Sinus pressure after a cold sits in the forehead and cheekbones instead, overlapping with sinusitis.

Headaches on more days than not
You're reaching for pain relief more than twice a week.

A pattern that's shifted over the past month or two
Waking with one most mornings, or missing work because of them

Thunderclap pain, slurred words or a stiff neck go straight to 000

Telehealth suits headaches you've had before, or a slow pattern with none of the signs below. Nobody can test your reflexes through a screen. Headaches that are new after 50, or building steadily over weeks, need an in-person GP that same day.

Sudden pain that peaks within a minute and is the worst you've ever had: call 000.

Weakness, numbness, confusion, slurred speech or a drooping face alongside the headache. Ring 000 straight away.

Fever with a stiff neck and sore eyes in bright light means the emergency department, now.

After a knock to the head, especially with vomiting or drowsiness: go to an emergency department.

Write down the hour each headache starts and what you were doing

Memory blurs these quickly. Healthdirect suggests keeping a headache diary in the weeks before your appointment, noting how many days you get them, how severe they are and anything that might have set them off.

Screen hours per day, and whether the ache builds toward late afternoon
Every pain reliever used this month, with a rough count of days.
Coffee: cups a day, and whether weekend sleep-ins bring a headache on.
When you last had your eyes tested. Old glasses can strain your eyes enough to cause one.

It's mostly questions. The GP asks where the pain sits, how long each episode lasts and what makes it worse, then decides whether it fits tension, sinus pressure, screen strain or something needing a closer look. Expect to be asked how often you take pain relief. Using it on lots of days a month can keep headaches going.

On a day the pain stops you working, a medical certificate for a headache if the GP finds you unfit.
Imaging only when your history calls for it, through a CT or MRI referral.
A neurologist specialist referral for frequent headaches that don't fit a clear type

Certificates and referral letters land in your email once the call ends. Book a review three or four weeks later with fresh notes, so the GP can see whether more water, regular meals or screen breaks shifted anything. Throbbing one-sided pain with nausea may point to migraine, which gets its own plan. If the headache changes character in between, call again, or ring 000 for any red flag.

Tension pain wraps both sides like a cap that's too tight. Screen headaches gather behind the eyes over a long day, often with a sore neck from leaning in. Sinus pain pushes into the forehead and cheeks, with a blocked or runny nose. Headache Australia advises seeing a doctor once headaches disrupt daily life or you need painkillers more than twice a week.