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The trend of prescribing blood-thinning drugs such as warfarin as a preventive measure against strokes in those with heart rhythm atrial fibrillation, markedly increases the risk of bleeding under the skull, known as a subdural haematoma. Neurosurgeons now see as many as 10 cases per week that may require a major operation to evacuate the clot of blood pressing on the brain.

The diagnosis, readily confirmed by a CT scan, is relatively straightforward in those with neurological symptoms following a history of trauma or a fall. But the bleeding may also occur spontaneously and, as Dr Elizabeth Teale of the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences observes, "the clinical features can easily be misinterpreted".

It may, for example, result in behavioural or personality changes that can mimic a psychiatric illness or dementia. The hazards of a delay in diagnosis are obvious enough, and it is now advised that those taking warfarin (or other blood-thinning drugs, such as clopidogrel) should have a prompt CT scan whenever they have even a minor head injury, or develop novel mental or neurological symptoms.

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The conundrum of last week's "excruciating pains" has elicited several similar accounts. "Mine also arise in either ear or lower jaw, then progress across my neck and shoulders," writes a reader. "It is a very unpleasant experience."

The intensity of the pain and relatively short duration – lasting from 15 minutes to an hour – is also a feature of the syndrome of "cluster headaches", prompting the suggestion that they might respond to the anti-migraine drug Sumatriptan.

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Finally, further to the importance of fully emptying the bladder as a preventive measure against recurrent cystitis, a reader commends the simple if neglected remedy of potassium citrate (pot cit). Her first five years of married life was blighted by severe pain on intercourse caused by repeated bouts of cystitis – until an elderly relative suggested the treatment. "Pot cit possibly saved my marriage," she writes.

Email medical questions confidentially to Dr James LeFanu at drjames@telegraph.co.uk. Answers will be published every Friday, at telegraph.co.uk/health