Anyone who has experienced a migraine or knows someone who suffers from migraines knows how extremely painful and debilitating they can be. A regular headache has the strength to consume someone’s day, let alone take them out of daily activity altogether, as a migraine can.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a migraine can:
“cause severe throbbing pain or a pulsing sensation, usually on one side of the head. It’s often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. Migraine attacks can last for hours to days, and the pain can be so severe that it interferes with your daily activities.”
There’s really no other way to summarize a migraine other than saying they’re simply terrible and cause a significant impedance on the quality of life for people that suffer with them occasionally or chronically.
Thankfully, there are treatments available for migraines, from medications to acupuncture, the ladder of which is what this article will be covering! Firstly, we must understand the cycles of a migraine headache.
The Four-Stage Cycle of a Migraine Headache
Migraines don’t typically arise instantaneously out of nowhere; there are triggers and cycles that migraines sufferers know/feel. The better these cycles and triggers are understood, the better someone can self-diagnose, prepare, and work to alleviate migraine pains as they arise.
The Prodrome Stage
Some people will notice changes in their body and with their senses days before an upcoming migraine. Migraine suffers can detect depression, cravings, stiffness, dehydration, constipation, and mood swings during this preliminary stage of the migraine cycle.
The Aura Stage
Auras are symptoms of the nervous system that occur right before a migraine or during a migraine. Auras can affect speech, sight, and hearing abilities. These can include seeing visual phenomena, loss of vision, trouble speaking, tinnitus, jerking movements of the body, and the sensation of pins and needles in the extremities.
The Migraine Attack
Once the migraine attack has begun, it can last anywhere from half a day, all the way up to five days if not treated effectively. During the migraine, many sufferers feel debilitating pain on one side or both sides of the head, nausea, sickness, vomiting, and pulsating pain.
The Post-Drome Stage
A migraine is a physically and mentally draining experience; migraine sufferers might feel exhausted, confused, and hazy after it is done. After a migraine, it takes hours to bounce back to normal, functional activity, if not longer.
Hitting The Slopes This Winter? Check Out Our Blog: Your Local Chiropractor: The Unsung Hero of Ski Season
Can Acupuncture Help With Migraines?
Yes, acupuncture for migraine headaches can be an effective treatment. Acupuncture can help alleviate the pain and symptoms that accompany migraines. Recent medical studies have shown that acupuncture is effective as prophylactic drug treatment medications, without the adverse side effects.
Drugs prescribed to treat migraines can be very potent and not an excellent solution for long-term health. That is why it’s advantageous for those dealing with migraines to find natural, alternative treatment methods that don’t wholly rely on medications.
Both body acupuncutre and auricular acupuncture are effective treatments for helping patients find relief from migraines.
Body acupuncture works by inserting small needles into the acupoints and meridians all over the body or using non-insertive techniques. By creating some energy displacement at these acupoints, the nervous system is stimulated, helping with blood flow throughout the entire body, thus moving nutrients and promoting new cellular growth throughout the body. This energy calibration allows for the body to build better preventative measures against migraines and reduce inflammation throughout the entire body – including the head.
Auricular acupuncture focuses on the 39 acupoints in the ear, and 10 of these points are considered masterpoints. Auricular acupuncture is used to stimulate the lungs and liver to get the body functioning with a higher metabolic rate. As the body’s metabolic rate increases, it goes into self-cleansing and detoxification; this natural purging works to alleviate pain in the body. Also, auricular acupuncture is used to treat migraine pain as its happening. When points on the antitragus part of the ear are stimulated with acupuncture, patients can feel immediate relief in the area of the head that is most painful during a migraine.
If you are suffering from Migraines, don’t hesitate to find relief. Our in-office licensed acupuncturist, Jessica Grace Redfern MAOM, Lic. Ac. will work with you to curate the best unique treatment for your pain.
Contact us today!