A main complaint---headache can be seen by many different kinds of headache and there also are various degrees of pain from various diseases. Such as: Migraine is a headache which is caused from a constricted by the blood vessels in the brain and is easily invoked by a stress, vertebra nerve trapped, or possible genetic reason. Its headache should occur at a side of temples with throbbing feeling beyond of it and accompanies with vision disorder, blurring or double vision, nausea or vomiting; Tension headache can be occurring at sides of temples, the top, the front of head or whole of head which is always triggered by a stress, moody-swing or over-work; Headache is caused by a vertebra trapped which should be occurring at the occiput and radiates toward the top of head, or arm, neck and shoulder, according to which level of vertebra is involved and is commonly appeared from a injury caused by an accident and chronic damage in the person who is doing a desk job.
Whether the painkiller is needed, or not? Which kind of painkiller has to take for easing the headache should be a criterion to evaluate how stronger of the headache of this patient? For example:
Gentle headache: when the headache happens, the patient has a relaxation who can release the headache; or just bears for a while, the headache can disappear automatically.
Middle headache: when the headache appears, the patient has to take painkillers or anti-inflammatory drug to ease it.
Severe headache: when the headache happens, the patient has to take stronger, prescribed painkillers, or anti-spasm, or particular anti-migraine drug to reduce or release it.
So Dr Jiang’s experience, she is able to release and cure the headache in the gentle type with acupuncture and possible herbal medicine; she can release and stop the headache in the middle type with acupuncture and herbal medicine; she need a longer time to treat the case with a headache in severe type who needs to relax you and help you to reduce and gradually take off the stronger and special painkillers, then make you get less headache and get also less its occurrence.
Case 1: A Migraine in a middle type who is cure by acupuncture and herbal medicine
Miss L G, 29 years old of clerk suffers from Migraine for 5-6 years and get it more frequent, even constant appearance for three months. She has to take painkillers or anti-inflammatory pills to ease and release her migraine; also she was given anti-depression for a while from her doctors. But she has still been appearing this headache; all of medicines have worked only for a short time, so she visits Dr Jiang for an acupuncture treatment.
She is given acupuncture once a week; she is gradually appearing less headache which also less happens, but she can’t release the headache completely, so Dr Jiang pluses herbal medicines which move the Liver Qi and push the blood stasis through. Then she is gradually controlled in four months. After another two month of acupuncture maintains the good result, she has been keeping free migraine.
Case2: A migraine in a severe type and anti-migraine drug’s addiction:
Ms C M 47 years old of company manager has been suffering from Migraine since she was teenage and getting worse last a couple of years. She has to take Sumatriptan type’s anti-migraine drug to release her headache; all of general painkillers can’t ease to her migraine. Her Migraine almost occurs continuously, so Sumatriptan has to be taken 5-6 times per week. She also worries to take too much this kind of drug, so she comes to accept Acupuncture.
Due to such a severe case, Dr Jiang explains to her not enough treating power to get a significant result, if she takes only acupuncture, herbal medicine should be given to her to make a good enough treatment. After she agrees, a regular acupuncture is taken weekly and concentrated herbal powder is prescribed to her. Until her migraine occurrence changes from a constant to intermittent, she is given acupuncture every two weeks and continues to take herbal powder daily. She has been receiving this regular treatment for two years now, she is less pain and less migraine’s occurrence and less to take Sumatriptan but she can’t release her migraine and can’t take off the Sumatriptan completely.
Reference (in PDF):
Dan Jiang Management of Migraine Using Traditional Chinese Medicine is published in the Journal of Chinese Medicine No76 Oct 2004 P40-44
