Acupuncture is an ancient migraine and tension headache treatment used in Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine holds that life energy Qi (pronounced “chee”) flows through the body along pathways or channels called meridians. When the flow of Qi becomes unbalanced and disrupted it causes health problems.
The main goal of acupuncture is to rebalance and unblock the flow of Qi by placing tiny needles in specific acupuncture points situated on your arms, legs or shoulders. This procedure is not as painful and terrible as it may sound. Usually a person experiences only a mild discomfort as the needle penetrates the skin, but after that all unpleasant sensations disappear and the person feels relaxed and sometimes even sleepy.
The duration and frequency of acupuncture treatment depends on multiple factors such as what type of headache do you get (migraine, tension and sinus headaches), severity and frequency of your headaches, location of your headaches, specific time of day or night when you get them and so on.
All these factors help an acupuncturist to determine the right meridians that are involved in your headache treatment. For example, migraine headaches often indicate the gallbladder meridian and are effectively cured with the “preventive approach”, which involves 8 to 10 acupuncture treatments along with incorporation of Chinese herbs and a healthy diet. While tension headaches are related to the blockage of the stomach meridian and require different treatment approach than migraines along with such lifestyle changes as incorporation of stress-reduction exercises like yoga or Thai Chi into the daily routine. This helps to reduce muscle tension and promote relaxation.
Some headache symptoms are relieved after the first acupuncture treatment that may last from 5 to 30 minutes, while chronic and severe headaches generally require ten or more treatments.
Even though multiple studies around the world have proven the effectiveness of acupuncture for headache treatment, the exact mechanism of action remains unknown. Some scientists suggest that it helps to stabilize levels of serotonin or neurotransmitter in the brain that thought to be important in mechanism of migraine headaches. Other theory believes that acupuncture promotes production of endorphins or natural substances that brain releases to relieve pain.
If you are tired of constant headaches that interfere with your daily activities and prevent you from enjoying your life, try acupuncture as a safe and effective treatment!
Alternative Treatments For Chronic Migraine Headaches
If you have been dealing with chronic migraine headaches and nothing has helped you, it is time to look at other options for relief of migraine pain. When you have chronic migraines, you are essentially dealing with the same recurring migraine every day. And in most cases, you will need to take your migraine medication pills faithfully for an entire year in hopes that it will give you lasting relief from those awful chronic migraine headaches. But doing this often leads to severe side effects so this is not a good situation for most people.
During this stage what you need is have a good chronic migraine treatment in place because once your body gets used to having the medication in its system, stopping that medication is likely to cause severe chronic migraines headaches pain. When this happens it is extremely hard for you to simply start using another medication in hopes of getting rid of the side effects, (or at least trying to get rid of the chronic migraines pain), because your ‘old medication’ seems to be in total control of your chronic migraine headaches. It also looks like age is a factor because older people seem to have the most difficulty replacing one medicine with another.
If you are trying to get a new drug to work at maximum strength in your body, the first thing you need to do is get a full medication detoxification treatment. This will rid your body of all traces of your old drug, but the process can be hard and painful so you want to get in touch with a treatment center that is geared towards the medication detoxification process.
It should take approximately three weeks for a full detoxification for migraine treatment. Also, personnel at the treatment center should look at how much medication you usually take and they will usually offer you other painkillers in order to reduce your migraine pain. You should be aware that you will still get migraine pain during the detoxification process because your body is losing all of the medication that it has grown used to.
Once your medicine detoxification process has been completed you should be free of migraine. In fact, your whole body will feel completely new and you will even experience increased energy. When you are in this phase, the only thing you can do is pray that the chronic migraine headaches that plagued you for so long won’t be back. Sadly though, some people do get their pain back and age seems to be a factor. The older you are, the greater your chances of having your migraine pain return but the actual amount of time it will take for your pain to return is different for everyone.
Even so, now that your body has been completely detoxified you are able to try a new migraine drug and get the maximum benefit from it the next time a migraine appears. Now is the time that you need to be testing those alternative methods of treatment, you don’t want to wait for your migraine attack to come back before you start thinking about a solution. Remember, the less amount of medication that you have in your body the better your body is going to react to alternative treatment methods.
It’s crucial for you to start the natural treatment before those chronic migraine headaches return. You don’t want to put this off. Don’t think that your recurring migraine is gone forever because that might not be the case. Usually the only people who will never have chronic migraines again are young sufferers or people who have never experienced chronic migraines.
Now the question becomes which alternative method should you choose to start with? My advice would be for you to start with acupuncture. Not only is this a natural treatment method but it has demonstrated amazing results for people with chronic migraine headaches.
You should know though that it will take a little time for you to find an acupuncture specialist that is right for you. You want to look for someone who has roots in Asia but is not very young. In fact the older the better, (with some exceptions of course). You also want to get in touch with your local migraine association. They are the ones who will be able to advise you on acupuncture specialists in your area.
So how many times should you be visiting your acupuncture specialist? Well every specialist is going to have their own style of needle placement as well as their own ideas on your healing process. Usually though, you can expect to go twice a week for about the first month. After that you will usually go once a week every other week for the next two months and then once a month for the next three months.
The total acupuncture chronic migraine treatment is going to be about a year for someone who suffers from chronic migraine headaches. This will all rely on how bad your migraine pain is and what your specialist thinks. But if you are trying to figure out how to get rid of migraines and you are suffering from chronic migraine headaches then this is the best migraine alternative treatment out there.
To be medically considered for chronic headache pain treatment, a person must have acute pain on a regular basis that is not cured by over-the-counter drugs, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil).
Medication
Your doctor may prescribe medications, such as Imetrex or Maxalt, drugs typically used to treat chronic headache pain associated with migraines and cluster headaches. And, in very severe cases, strong narcotic painkillers, like Oxycodon and Vicodine, may be used as part of your chronic headache pain treatment plan. However, many doctors agree that a chronic headache pain treatment plan cannot consist of medication alone.
Seddon Savage, M.D., a pain specialist from Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire says, “Treatment for chronic pain is about much more than medication. It can also involve stress relief and relaxation, physical therapy, improved sleep and nutrition habits, and exercise.”
Alternative Methods
Take note of the fact that medication is not for everybody and may not be for you. If you would rather find a more natural way to treat your pain, there are many alternative methods of chronic headache pain treatment that have proven to result in very effective pain relief.
o Acupuncture. Traditional Chinese acupuncture therapy uses small needles that are inserted into specific points of the body. Many people swear by this chronic headache pain treatment
o Acupressure. If acupuncture needles frighten you, you may want to try acupressure. Instead of needles, acupressure relies on fingertips to stimulate channels of energy in the body.
o Fragrant Oils. Some oils have been proven to be great chronic headache pain treatments. Try using peppermint oil, chamomile, rosemary, or lavender to alleviate your pain. Keep in mind, a little oil goes a long way.
Since pain varies from person to person, Chronic Headache pain treatment is individualized. While medication may work perfectly for some, acupuncture or acupressure may work better for others.
The point being you must find the magic treatment that works for you as an individual.