Acupuncture for Migraine Headaches
Treating Migraine Headaches with Acupuncture
In my clinic, I treat a lot of patients with migraine headaches. In most cases, patients experience lasting benefits, sometimes a complete cessation of symptoms can result, but in many cases, symptoms are managed so that patients experience fewer headaches, with a reduction in frequency and intensity.
Over the years I have observed that patients who suffer from migraines experience the symptoms when under stress, and when there weather changes are imminent. Often they do not notice the connection because with stress, the migraine usually starts a day and half or two days after a stressful episode. When affected by weather changes the pain usually starts about a day and half or two days before a period of low pressure.
I have developed an herbal formula that combines herbs from three different headache formulas. I have noticed that migraine headaches often do not respond to some of the traditional treatments. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the type of oriental medicine I was trained in and practice, we treat patterns, not diseases. We ask the patients lots of questions and start to see a pattern emerge. We treat the pattern. There are about two hundred patterns, and approximately 200 disease categories, particular to Chinese medicine. This explains why, in most cases, we achieve a positive outcome with patients. If we focus on the main complaint (TCM disease) and treat the pattern (or patterns) we can help the patient move into a place of balance.
What does one feel when they are in balance? They feel emotionally and physically well. They are not focused on how they feel because they feel good. It is only when we feel out of balance that we are focused on our health.
