Acupuncture and it’s Success with Migraines
Migraines are headaches that cause, severe throbbing pain, or a pulsing sensation and they usually occur on one side of the head. They can also sometimes be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light. Some people even get a warning signal, which is known as an aura that occurs before the actual onset of the headache. The aura can cause visual disturbances, or even tingling on one side of the face or some people actually have difficulty speaking.
Western medicine will agree that while medications can prevent some migraines, or at least make them less painful, the right medicine accompanied with self-help remedies, lifestyle changes, and other modalities like acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can give the body what is needed to not just mask the symptoms, but cure it completely.
When we look through a Chinese medicine lens, we can say that most of the time migraines happen because of two scenarios or imbalances. The first is because of hormonal imbalance, the second is because of high stress.
Let’s take a closer look at both of these.
Hormonal Imbalance
In Chinese medicine imbalance can occur because of the liver, kidneys, or the spleen being out of balance and not being able to communicate properly with the brain. When this happens, hormone chaos can occur. In women, this can show up as erratic menstrual cycles, fertility issues, difficult PMS and challenging menstrual periods. Figuring out who the culprit is (Liver, Kidney or Spleen) depends on how and when the migraine presents. Let’s talk about the most common scenario which is when the liver is out of balance. A stagnant liver Qi can create tightness in the liver organ and channel which can become pressure, over time this can look like menstrual cramps, PMS and headaches including migraines timed around the period. When there is so much stagnation and tightness the pressure starts to travel upward resulting in a headache that usually follows the Gall Bladder channel, so in the trapezius, the back of the neck and around the ear.
High Stress
When a migraine is caused by high stress, the scenario that I mentioned earlier is very similar but can obviously happen in men or women. A similar trajectory of pressure coming from tightness and stagnation then mapping pain around the Gall Bladder channel. Why the Gall Bladder channel you might ask? I thought we were talking about the liver! It’s because the gallbladder and the liver are married, they are husband and wife and partners in crime, when there is a long-standing issue in the liver, the gallbladder acts as an overflow so to speak. This scenario commonly includes other symptoms such as insomnia, especially between the hours of 11pm-3am, overall irritability and possible digestive issues like constipation.
How to Treat Migraines with Chinese medicine
Once we have figured out what organ is contributing to the imbalance, it is simply a matter of rerouting the energy. When energy is building and going upwards in the body, we need to reroute it almost like a traffic jam, we bring the energy back down into the foundation and ground the patient with acupuncture. Patients feel a difference almost immediately. Chinese herbal medicine can also play a big part in helping the patient “hold and sustain the treatment”. By taking Chinese herbs daily this will create subtle shifts and will remind the system to keep that balance, hereby staving off another headache or migraine.
Maintenance for Migraines
Once we’ve worked with a patient for anywhere from one treatment to a handful, at some point early on, we’ve gotten the system out of crisis. The next step is to maintain the work that we’ve done. Overall, it’s much easier to prevent a migraine from coming than it is to get out of crisis. And then the longer we can prevent a migraine, the more attuned and balanced the body becomes naturally to where it doesn’t need ‘the reminder’ from acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine anymore.
For example, if someone comes to us and has a migraine every single day, we might see them for three days in a row to start off, then the following week we might see them twice, then once the week after that, and then every two weeks and so on. As we say in the office, “when the pain comes back, you come back”! All we are doing is working with the body, listening carefully for the signals in what it needs.
If you are struggling with migraines, and wonder if we would be a good fit for you, don’t hesitate to reach out to us, we’d love to help in any way we can.