I have had a headache for several days a

Several days of headache is a "get it looked at" week, not a "push through" week — so message your endocrinology portal today (Monday) and ask for a clinician review this week. And if any red flag below appears at any hour, stop everything and call your local emergency number now.

I'm not diagnosing anything and I'm not changing your medicines. Two things worth knowing up front: a multi-day headache is worth a clinician's look on its own, and with Hashimoto's it is also worth a thyroid-level check — but only a clinician decides which.

1) What you've already tried vs. what tends to work better tonight

Also: take your thyroid medicine at its usual time if one is due — don't double it because you feel low, and don't skip it because of the headache.

For the caregiver part, this is the piece that usually decides whether the appointment actually happens: pick one named person for one specific window (e.g. "Wed evening, after dinner, you have the kids") and one backup. Say it out loud rather than as a favour request — "Could you take the kids Wednesday 6–8? I'm seeing a doctor and I need to be off screens." If nobody is free, book the appointment for a time when the school run is already covered, and tell the clinic that.

2) Constraints and avoid list

• No new medicines, no doubling, no swapping. No opioids, no borrowed migraine tablets, no triptans, no leftover anything from another person's bottle.
• No online prescription purchases, no mystery powders, no "supplement" stacks — several interact with thyroid medicine, and none of them are safe to start without your prescriber.
• Don't change, pause or restart your thyroid medicine on your own — including skipping a dose because the headache feels thyroid-related.
• Don't use a home thyroid number (or any home reading) as permission to stay home. A number is evidence for the visit, not a clearance.
• No aspirin if there is sudden one-sided weakness, speech trouble, or a thunderclap onset — it may be the wrong thing if it is a bleed.
• Don't drive yourself if you get a red flag; call the emergency service.
• No "sleep it off and see in the morning" if there's fever with drowsiness or confusion.

3) Red flags — the decision tree

Stop the home plan and call your local emergency number now if any of these is true:

1. The pain peaked within seconds, or is the worst headache you have ever had.
2. Fever together with a bad headache, a stiff neck, light-hating, vomiting, or being drowsy / hard to rouse / not making sense.
3. New weakness or numbness on one side, slurred or lost speech, new vision loss, double vision, or a first-ever seizure.
4. A red painful eye with rainbow rings around lights.
5. A new neck lump that feels hard or fixed, or a hoarse voice with it.
6. A heartbeat that races and will not settle, with chest pain or feeling faint.
7. Someone else in the house has headache and nausea too — everyone gets out into fresh air first, then call.
8. Very cold to the touch and hard to wake (with your known thyroid condition this is its own emergency).

While waiting or travelling: note the exact time it started and what you were doing; dim the lights; give nothing by mouth if swallowing feels unsafe or you're drowsy; keep every thyroid and pain-relief bottle in the bag; and say "sudden, worst ever, peaked in seconds" if that's the story.

If none of those are true, this is a same-week clinician matter, not an ambulance matter:

• the pain is new, or clearly different from your usual pattern, or the painkiller stops working;
• it's there most days, or it woke you, or it's worst on waking, or coughing/bending makes it much worse;
• you feel unusually sleepy, cold or foggy, your voice has changed, or your heart is racing (with your thyroid condition, these are worth naming out loud);
• more than a week in, or it keeps climbing.

A plain, steady, several-day headache in someone who is otherwise well is usually not an emergency — that is exactly why it still deserves a scheduled appointment rather than another week of screens.

What "success" looks like in 24 hours

Not a cure — a next step you can hold:

• the portal message is sent, and an appointment time is in the calendar or requested;
• one page of notes exists (start time, pattern, what you took, last thyroid dose);
• tonight included one screens-off block, a meal, and steady water;
• you know your red flags by heart, and someone at home knows them too.

Message to send to the endocrinology portal — fill the blanks and screenshot:

> Subject: Persistent headache for several days — requesting review
>
> Hello. I have Hashimoto's (diagnosed [year]). I have had a headache for [number] days, starting [date]. It is [one-sided / across the whole head / behind the eyes], [throbbing / tight band], about [0–10] out of 10, and [worse with light / noise / coughing / bending / not especially].
>
> I have had [no / a low] fever, [no / some] vomiting, no vision change, no weakness, no speech change, no confusion, no stiff neck.
>
> Current thyroid medicine: [name exactly as on the bottle], last dose taken [day, time]. Pain relief used: [name], [how many days], [how often per day, roughly].
>
> Please could I have the next available appointment for a headache review with a thyroid blood check? It would help a lot if the appointment fell at a time when the children are covered.
>
> Please also tell me which symptoms should send me to emergency care rather than wait.
>
> Thank you.

One thing I need from you: which country or city are you in? I don't give emergency numbers from memory — if you tell me the place, I can look up the correct service and number for this round; otherwise, call your local emergency number.

Keep this page where the adult who covers for you can see it. It has the red flags on it and nothing else to argue about at 10pm.