Roxy's Blog
Do you have migraines? If you do, you know that they can ruin your day, or worse, several of your days at a time. Yesterday one of my patients mentioned to me that she had a migraine. Apparently, this happens to her quite regularly. Out of the blue a killer migraine will sucker punch her and she’s down for the count. Her day is basically over. She has to go home draw the blinds, and curl up in a ball of pain.
The truly miserable part is that she’s had to deal with this at least once a month for at least 10 years. Counting that up, that’s a lot of days that she didn’t get to go out with her friends, work on her garden, play tennis, or do anything else she enjoys. That’s a lot of missing out!
Oddly enough, though I’ve been treating this patient for 2 months now, this is the first time she had ever mentioned this problem to me. She has been seeing me for a entirely different health issue. When I asked her why she hadn’t mentioned her migraines before, she said that she didn’t know that acupuncture could help.
This moment struck me like déjà vu. This exact same scenario has happened to me before. It always goes the same way. I’m treating a patient for condition X, Y or Z, and then when they’re getting better and I ask them how they’re feeling with other aspects of their health, then off-handedly they tell me that they get migraines. Usually it’s said an air of futility almost as if they’re talking to a dentist about foot pain.
I decided I couldn’t let this happen again. So here I am letting you know, so you won’t be the next person to tell me they didn’t know, acupuncture is WONDERFUL for treating migraines. In fact, it’s one of the conditions where acupuncture is the most helpful.
I know this personally because I’ve been treating people with acupuncture for 12 years now, and in that time I’ve taken many people from the point of having chronic migraines, to having barely any, or none at all.
Why does it work? And what does it have over medication? If you’re like most migraine sufferers, you probably take NSAIDS or Triptans to control your symptoms. Like most pharmaceuticals these can come with some not to nice side effects. Long term use of NSAIDS can cause bleeding of the stomach or Leaky Gut syndrome. Triptans can cause nausea, dizziness and fatigue. And what’s really ironic about migraine medications is that they can lead to rebound headaches. That’s right! You can actually get headaches from long-term use of migraine medication.
Also as you were probably aware, migraine medications don’t actually treat your problem. They just cover up the symptoms. Acupuncture, on the other hand communicates with and balances your nervous system. It “retunes” your body. In other words, acupuncture works on the root cause of your migraines, providing naturally stable and long lasting relief. It is the most sustainable and healthful treatment for migraines you can find anywhere. That's why migraines are one of my most favorite things to treat. If you need help with migraines, it's time to stop suffering. Give me a call and let me help you get back to a normal pain free life.
