Migraine

Quick question for those of you who've found acupuncture a useful tool. I've received a few treatments... but so far--nothin'. I wouldn't even really call the experience that relaxing... unless I got a little high off whatever he was burning in the room. The first day I saw him he also did a treatment called "spooning" which is pretty intense, and left me looking bruised a battered--which is what's supposed to happen... and I felt like it had "changed" things, the patterns of my headaches moved around while I was there, and afterwards. But when I went back and just had needles, nothing happened at all really, during or after.

I thought I had maybe heard something like that if acupuncture is going to work for you, you'd know it right away... that you'd feel something while you were having the treatments done?? Or would you have to go over and over again before you'd know?

While I don't have any experience with it myself, I know several of our members have tried it. Hopefully, they'll be around shortly to share their experiences with you.

I did acupuncture for about 3 months at the end of last year/beginning of this year. I want to say I saw some improvement pretty quickly, but I honestly don't remember if that was after the first session or if it took a few sessions. My acupuncturist thought it would take about 4-5 weeks for me to get the full benefit.

It didn't end up working as well as she had hoped. (Then again, she also thought she could "cure" my "headaches" and she absolutely does not believe in any medication.) I had some initial success but it petered out after that.

You may want to ask your acupuncturist about it. And if spooning is anything like cupping I know what you mean - I looked like an abuse victim for most of the 3 months I did it.

Hi Candace

I have been having acupunture treatments and taking herbs (powdered and tablet form) once a week for a month, with some sucess (I think).

I started getting migraines in mid-January and was getting them every 4-6 days. Quite dramatic symptoms as I get the full aura/stroke symptoms and ultimately lose consciousness. Have been put on Inderal and Topamax by my neurosurgeon, had a horrendous reaction to Topamax - severe depression and quite suicidal. Luckily sane enough to recognise it wasn't me it was the drug.

Started acupuncture 4 weeks ago, had a massive migraine on the Thursday following the treatment then had 2 weeks until my next migraine. Felt so energised and healthy during that period, fantastic.

Unfortunately I have subsequently had a migraine 4 days after the last, but I'm hoping that I can get to a point where I only get the migraines once or twice a month.

My Acupunturist was extremely thorough in his examination. Bit daunting talking about one's bowel habits and regularity of menstruation when you are concerned about your head! But I appreciated his need to understand my health/system in toto.

The needles sometimes hurt and I am amused by the fact that I apparently have "phlegm", but I find the 45 mins relaxing and feel envigorated afterwards. Its worth a try.

Well, I've given it a bit of a try... and I did find a few things amusing.. apparently my belly button pulse was off last time. Of course, after being needled and having incense lit in said belly button, things had centered themselves. He acknowledged that he knew this meant nothing to me, but that it meant something to him. (sure enough mister!)

I spent my time along with the needles both times either thinking about 1. not catching on fire (he lit incense on my back which was full of needles and then left... I was concerned... and at one point in time, I think I felt some warmth!) 2. not breathing in too much of the fumes and passing out.

It hasn't been relaxing for me regrettably. I experience a lot of pain in most of my joints on most days, so laying in the same position for so long is very hard for me.

So I was debating going back one more time... maybe have spooning done one more time. MJ, it was truly brutal. My office knew I was having acupuncture done, but when I lifted my hair to show them my neck people were gasping and stepping back! He uses a chinese spoon and oil to rub along my neck and it draws up any blocked blood from your trigger points. I'm familiar with trigger point therapy, so I was open to it... and during the therapy I had a lot of changes in my headache patterns. However, it was the weekend after that I had the first real attack.

It's just hard to leave work, take a 30 minute drive and fork out cash to get poked with needles for nothin'! I've chosen this particular fellow because he's very very knowledgeable and highly recommended. In our conversations I can tell he really knows the body very well... which has made me question the whole acupuncture thing... and I've been hesitant to ask him about it because I'm so familiar with the fact that *everyone* believes they can *heal* me.

Yep, the cupping left huge purple circles all over my back and neck. I had to wear collared shirts and scarves to work every day for months. And they hurt!! In talking to my mom (she's a therapist who worked as a program director at a child abuse clinic in the past, and a health clinic now) she told me that Chinese parents have gotten in trouble for years for practicing acupuncture on their kids because it can leave such awful-looking marks.

The cupping involves inserting a needle at the meridian point, then lighting a match under a glass cup to heat the air, then suctioning the cup onto the skin to draw the toxins out. Which means that I ended up with 3-4" purple bruises all over my back, neck and shoulders where she did the cupping.

I ended up giving up on acupuncture once I stopped getting enough relief from it, because my acupuncturist wanted me to come in 2-3 times a week, and I ended up missing a lot of work to make those appointments. She certainly seemed to know what she was doing but was very anti-drugs so she hated that I wouldn't give up on my preventives and kept blaming that for my lack of progress.

I'm including a little pic of my neck after spooning, just the one side, although the bruises went all the way around. You can see that it's definitely bruised all along trigger points in the neck, and not just "all over" although I can attest he did the technique all over.

He too was very anti-meds... I didn't mention my Topamax... but he frowned quite a bit over my birth control meds. I however, have no intention of quitting them, since I'm in suspicion of possibly developing some ovarion cysts and the meds may be keeping them at bay... something he accepted with a bit of a grimace. He did point out that they mess with your kidney, which I guess aids in soft tissue healing... which would be issue for me with my collagen issues... so I appreciated his insight, but he was kinda pushy.

I wish I knew more what to expect, but I guess just like anything it's all a guessing game. I have found that the natural docs are just as egotistical as the MDs, but they tend to believe in their ability to "cure" you more.

quote:

I wish I knew more what to expect, but I guess just like anything it's all a guessing game. I have found that the natural docs are just as egotistical as the MDs, but they tend to believe in their ability to "cure" you more.

LOL, Candace, that is definitely true in my limited experience. I should have taken a pic of my back/neck after some of my treatments, but to be honest, it looked so awful I didn't want to remember! You definitely have my sympathies - I remember trying to hide the bruising on my neck from my coworkers. At least it was the winter when I was going.

Hide??! Who's hiding? What fun is that? You get to suffer with a stinkin' headache... go to this acupuncturist who thinks they're "all that" who will abuse you (and you'll pay them to do so)... and then you don't even get the satisfaction of amusing yourself with people's shock and awe at the carnage? Naw, I want to enjoy everything I can! It's the little things, right? This one girl in my office had been talking to me about acupuncture for months... talking about how a friend of hers had such good results from it... to see her face when she saw my neck. I have no shame.

LOL, Candace, I think I would have done the same with that girl in your office.

OMG! I was thinking about trying Acupuncture. My Cranial Sacral/Massage Therapist's husband does Acupuncture and I;m going to ask her about her this. She is totally normal everyday gal and not too "out there".

I could just see my husband freaking out about the bruises and you know how Imitrex makes you bruises even worse. LOL!!

Claudine,

So will you be trying acupuncture with your Therapist's husband? If you do, keep us posted, k?

Well, Claudine, don't worry too much... everyday acupuncture won't leave you with those bruises in my pic! Those were caused by "spooning", or "Gua Sha" which not all acupuncturists do. Where I was "needled" it didn't leave any spot at all!

I've been seeing an acupuncturist since December. She's a bit more laid back. I went once a week(ish) - there were holidays and vacations for both of us - for a month, then every 2 weeks for a couple months now every 3-4 weeks as my schedule allows. And she's only tried to convince me to give up my diet cokes - LOL! No way! She does sell herbs but hasn't recommended any for me - maybe she doesn't want to interfere with the other meds? I don't know, she hasn't suggested and I haven't asked.

I've only done the needles. At first, I will admit that I was convinced that whatever she did to balance out my system (all part of the yin and yang and flin and flan of your body - great charts on websites but I don't get it in the least) and regulate my period (which at the time were irregularly regular with birth control pills thank you) messed me up totally and made me have periods every other week along with intense 3 day migraines. (And this was before I had that lovely Imitrex in my grubby little hands). Boy, was I ticked at her and I let her know. She told me it was highly unlikely that acupuncture could do that, so I asked if it was a sham and did nothing then? Ah ha!

In the end, I persisted, saw my OBGYN, stopped my BCP totally, and amazingly enough, my periods slowed to every 30+ days for a couple months though the last was only 24 days apart. Oh well, it was great while it lasted. But after several weeks of being off the BCP my daily HA also diminished and the migraines slowed down too. Maybe it was all about the BCP, or the acupuncture, or heck, maybe the planets are in perfect alignment - who knows? My brain is much happier!

Now I have her working on my neck which has also seemed to be a trigger for daily HA and hurts more during a migraine. I've been seeing a massage therapist for 3-4 years but the past couple months I haven't needed to use as many thermacare heat things. I was using them several times a week - now it's only maybe once a week. Can't say for sure that the acupuncture is the reason but something is making a difference recently. I was also seeing a chiropractor but haven't really been back since Christmas.

I do like the fact that they do take time at each visit to talk a little. The first visit is the longest and rather "intrusive" - all the bowel and girly talk and all. But it was rather enlightening about when all my "symptoms" started. I've really lived with most of my problems since college and I'm 41 now. So I'm a tough cookie (there, men of the world, we suffer in silence sometimes - hubby has no idea and we've been dating/married almost 24 years) in the big scheme of things. Honestly, I feel more "cared about" between her and the massage therapist, which is probably why I keep going back, even though I do have to pay cash. Sad, isn't it? That's why I work...... Daycare, groceries, and the rest for me.

So if you decide to go, decide what you want out of it. I like not feeling pressured. We discussed what treatments I wanted, she does them all, and I said I just wanted the acupuncture to start with. Call to get a feeling of what their philosophy is and check out the website too. See what their specialty is. My person's website says she specializes in muscular/HA/female + some other stuff. So that helped me choose her over 2 others that had been recommended. One mostly did infertility. The other did chiropractic also so that was my backup.

Good luck!
Diane

I had 3 people do acupunct. for migrain. NOTHING even though it helped allergies and other things. THEN I happened on a chinese Dr. who has been studying medicine since the tender age of 8. He actually knows what all the sore spots on the scull are. He leaves some needles in my scull, I take them out before bedtime. It has not only stopped a BAD migraine in its tracks but I believe has helped my overall mig. This Dr. father, grandfather, way back were Dr.'s. He has both eastern and western medical training. He works with cancer patients and their dr's. He also teaches. His wife has a degree also. He also gives me herbs that he mixes in his office. My throid quit working on me and I went from 155lbs to 240lbs. I was gaining 8-12lbs a week. I saw specialist after specialist and nothing. Then 1 month after seeing him and doing acupuncture and taking herbs I stared losing weight. At first I attributed the los to the herbs. However recently I could not see him for a few weeks, yet I took the herbs. I did not lose a ton of weight. Based on how much worse I feel without the acupunct. I am now realizing how much it helps.
My theory is that eastern practioners have a better knowledge of the acupuncture, because they are raised with the knowledge. I believe western dr. practicing it are well meaning but have nowhere near the knowledge. That has been my experience. Hope this helps.

quote:

Originally posted by Candace:
Quick question for those of you who've found acupuncture a useful tool. I've received a few treatments... but so far--nothin'. I wouldn't even really call the experience that relaxing... unless I got a little high off whatever he was burning in the room. The first day I saw him he also did a treatment called "spooning" which is pretty intense, and left me looking bruised a battered--which is what's supposed to happen... and I felt like it had "changed" things, the patterns of my headaches moved around while I was there, and afterwards. But when I went back and just had needles, nothing happened at all really, during or after.

I thought I had maybe heard something like that if acupuncture is going to work for you, you'd know it right away... that you'd feel something while you were having the treatments done?? Or would you have to go over and over again before you'd know?