Headaches and Migraines

I see lots of patients in clinic who come to me for help with headaches and migraines. Sometimes a few treatments does the trick and with other more chronic cases it can take a little more time.

From a Chinese medicine point of view the most common source of migraines that I see are aggravated by stress and anger which causes heat within the body, the heat then rises to the head and causes the sharp pain of a migraine often found on the sides of the head.

Stress and anger have a connection to the liver and gallbladder channels and surprise surprise the gallbladder channel runs along each side of the head where the pain manifests.

As these headaches and migraines are aggravated by heat, some foods and drinks can make things worse. Such as caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods and chocolate as they add to the heat in the body.

So add stress with these foods and we are making the perfect environment for heat to rise to the head and cause debilitating pain.

There are lots of things that can help, know your food and drink triggers - not eveyones’s triggers are the same. It’s helpful to keep a food diary whenever you get a headache to see if there is a pattern forming. Then avoid these triggers if possible.

Manage your stress levels - we live in a world of stress and this can be hard, but trying out activities that can lower your stress levels is important tool on the road to healing. I would recommend yoga, meditation, finding the right hobby for you, and acupuncture of course. Acupuncture puts the body into rest and digest mode not fight of flight which is where most of us spend our time hanging out. This helps lower stress levels.

Acupuncture can also help with headaches and migraines as it can help release the excess heat from the body and help lower pain levels too. It does this by stimulating the sensory nerves to release endorphins and ATP (the energy in our cells), which it then converts into adenosine which had a natural pain killing effect on the body.

Most people comment on how relaxed they feel after a treatment, and some even fall asleep and have a little Acu nap.

At first I may need to see you quite regularly to start with to get on top of the problem, but then I may only need to see you monthly or six weekly to manage your headaches and migraines and have lots of patients who keep their headaches at bay by doing this.

If you have anymore questions on how acupuncture could help your migraines and headaches please drop us a line. We would love to help.