Treating Migraines with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
Integrating TCM into a self-care program can be extremely effective in treating migraine headaches.  Using therapies such as acupuncture, Chinese herbs, whole food diet therapy, massage, meditation, and yoga can completely eliminate and/or greatly reduce the frequency, intensity, and duration of migraine headaches.. The benefits include:
  • no harmful side effects
  • reduction and/or elimination of migraine attacks
  • decrease in the use of medication and visits to general practitioners
  • improvements in the quality of life
Clinical Studies Show Significant Benefits for Migraine Patients
  • Two clinical studies conducted on the effects of acupuncture on migraine headaches demonstrated significant improvements. In one of the largest studies, a team of investigators examined the effectiveness of acupuncture versus a variety of pharmacological therapies in treating migraines. Their results, published in the Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine revealed that patients given acupuncture experienced fewer migraine episodes, missed fewer days from work, and suffered no side effects compared to patients on conventional drug therapy. They also found acupuncture to be more cost-efficient, estimating a savings of hundreds of millions of dollars in private and social health expenditures if it were used to treat headaches alone instead of drugs.
  • Another report published in the online version of the British Medical Journal has found that acupuncture is a useful, cost-effective treatment for chronic headaches, particularly migraines. The report found that over a 12-month period, headache patients who received regular acupuncture sessions reported fewer headaches, had a higher quality of life, and missed fewer visits to a general practitioner than patients given standard treatment for headaches.
  • In a report published in the December 2008 Anesthesia & Analgesia, Yanxia Sun, MD, and Tong J. Gan, MB, FRCA, from Duke University in North Carolina, combined data from 31 different studies looking at the effectiveness of acupuncture for treating chronic headache. Researchers determined that acupuncture was superior to the other therapies with regard to headache intensity, headache frequency, physical function and response rate.
Treatment complications Using Western Drugs
Using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, etc.) and aspirin, may cause abdominal pain, bleeding, and ulcers - especially if taken in large doses or for prolonged period of time. In addition, if you take over-the-counter or prescription headache medications more than two or three times a week or in excessive amount, you may be setting yourself up for a serious complication known as rebound headaches. Rebound headaches occur when medications not only stop relieving pain, but actually begin to cause headaches.
Migraine Symptoms
Some of the common symptoms of a typical migraine headache may include:
  • Moderate to severe pain, which may affect one or both sides of the head
  • Head pain with a pulsating or throbbing quality
  • Pain that worsens with physical activity
  • Pain that interferes with your regular activities
  • Nausea with or without vomiting
  • Sensitivity to light and sound
  • General feeling of malaise
Migraine Triggers
There are a number of things that may trigger a migraine. Common migraine triggers include:
  • Hormonal changes
  • Food and diet
  • Stress
  • Sensory stimuli
  • Changes in wake-sleep pattern
  • Physical factors such as intense physical exertion
  • Changes in the environment
  • Medications






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