Points for acute migraine?

[Guest guest]

Dear Group,

 

I had a patient this afternoon with an acute migraine attack. She was

sensitive to light, had a severe throbbing pain in her temple, had

nausea, etc.

 

I am familiar with acupuncture being used to treat lesser headaches, and

to prevent headaches. But are there any points useful for acute migraine

headache pain? I would think (offhand) that the last thing a patient with

a severe headache would desire would be for someone to stick needles into

them! <g>

 

 

Sam

 

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[Guest guest]

Sam

Again it depends on the syptoms of the patient and what is causing the migraine.

Mine were caused by heat therefore we extracted the heat out the heat and moved

it to the feet. They have been gone now for 2 years.

 

Shane

[Guest guest]

Hi Sam and Shane and others,

 

>Again it depends on the syptoms of the patient and what is causing the

>migraine. Mine were caused by heat therefore we extracted the heat out the

>heat and moved it to the feet. They have been gone now for 2 years.

 

The vast majority of mine were caused by Wind Cold. Occasionally in the

summer Wind Heat could trigger one. I know a woman who has a lot of Cold

headaches, but occasionally she will have a Hot one too.

 

This is one of the reasons why I stress to people new to TCM to learn about

Hot and Cold. This one concept will boost one's healing skills

considerably.

 

Sometimes the headaches (migraines included) are due strictly to Internal

imbalances (like Liver Fire Flaring), sometimes they're due to External

Attack by Pernicious Evil (Wind, Cold, Heat, Damp), and sometimes to a

combination of Internal and External factors.

 

When the humidity rises (Dampness) and barometric pressure falls (Wind), the

tissues in some people will swell a little. The fact that tissues will

swell in some people when humidity rises and barometric pressure falls is

something that Western scientists have found. It was in one of the

ag-extension newsletters I get. There were also some experiments in climate

control chambers at I believe Duke U in NC. Anyway, this slight swelling is

enough to set off severe headaches and other aches in some people. For one

thing, blood flow can be affected by the swelling.

 

In the case of Wind Cold susceptibility, the person often will be Protective

Qi Deficient. As you know but people new to TCM don't know is that one of

the things that the Wei (Protective) Qi does is to circulate near the

surface of the body and warm the muscles. Some of these cases of

susceptibility to Cold or Wind Cold will fit the criteria for Raynaud's

phenomenon. (Raynaud's phenomenon and Exterior Cold or Exterior Wind Cold

are not equivalent, but Exterior Wind Cold can manifest as Raynaud's

phenomenon symptoms. So can I believe Blood Stasis in some cases.) What

happens in some people - like me - is that when I get chilled (and it

doesn't take much to chill me because of that Internal Cold due to Yang

Deficiency and to my being Protective Qi Deficient), my muscles will spasm

and get rigid. For some reason it happens on one side of my body or on one

side worse than the other side. (You see unilateral effects in the case of

Wind.) In my case, applying heat and pressure to the TaiYang meridians

(Small Intestine and Bladder) will help. Western researchers have found that

some people who have migraines will have those migraines preceded by a cold

hand. The hand on the side where the migraine develops will be cold before

the headache starts. One Western treatment for migraines in these people is

to have them warm up the hand in order to prevent the migraine. People can

do this by wearing a glove or by soaking the hand in warm water. In some

cases biofeedback has been used to teach the person to warm the hand.

 

When you question these people further, you often learn that the cold in the

affected hand often is worse along the outer edge of the hand. For people

new to this, this is the path of the Small Intestine meridian. When you

question further, you often learn that they are sensitive to cold, and that

their backs are the most sensitive to cold. Some of them will have figured

out that in order to prevent the migraines they need to keep the back and

back of the neck warm. The Bladder meridian runs up the back.

 

When External Evils attack, they attack the TaiYang meridians - the Bladder

and Small Intestine meridians - first. TaiYang translates as Greater Yang.

 

The next stage is the ShaoYang (Lesser Yang) stage, and the ShaoYang

meridians are the Triple Heater and the Gall Bladder. When a migraine attack

is particularly bad, points on these two meridians also will be sore. Check

the indendation right behind the ear lobe. This is Triple Heater 17, Wind

Screen, and it sometimes will be sore when an External Pernicious Evil has

penetrated to the ShaoYang meridians. (In some cases of migraines, the

person also will have TMJ pain. This can come just from the Small Intestine

meridian being under attack though it really gets bad if the Evil has

penetrated to the Triple Heater meridian.)

 

Also check the area between the 4th. and 5th toe bones. This is where the

Gall Bladder meridian runs. This area may be very sore when the person is

in the ShaoYang stage of Attack by Exterior Pernicious Evil. (This area also

can be very sore when the person has Internal imbalances affecting the

gallbladder itself - like stones.

 

The next stage is the YangMing (Yang Brightness) stage, and the YangMing

meridians are the Large Intestine and Stomach. This is when you get the

really horrible nausea with migraine and feel like you'd feel better if you

could have a bowel movement and throw up. When these meridians are under

Exterior attack, it can cause Qi to Stagnate in the meridians and even cause

Qi to flow the wrong way. (Actually, you start to get the constipation in

the ShaoYang stage when it's tending towards the YangMing stage.)

 

 

When just the TaiYang (Greater Yang) meridians are affected, the attack is

entirely External. (But just entirely External attack can produce some

horrific headaches.) In the ShaoYang (Lesser Yang) stage, the Pernicious

Evil has moved inward and is part Exterior, part Interior. In the YangMing

(Bright Yang) stage, the Pernicious Evil has moved entirely to the Interior.

 

Sometimes the Evil skips the ShaoYang stage and goes straight to the

YangMing stage. Sometimes it will move back and forth between the stages.

The treatments will be different depending on which stage the Evil is in (as

well as what the Pernicious Evil is). For example, if it's TaiYang Chill

(Cold), you need to promote sweating or Surface dispersal in order to get

the Protective Qi circulating and fighting the External Perncious Evil. But,

if it's TaiYang Wind, strong diaphoresis (sweating) will only damage and

weaken the Protective Qi. In TaiYang Wind Evil, the Nutritive Qi (Ying) and

the Protective Qi need to be harmonized. As the Evil moves inward, Heat can

build up because of the Qi Stagnation. If Cold is trapped, it will turn into

Heat and Fire. In the YangMing stage (Yang Brightness), treatment is

directed toward clearing the Heat, purging the bowels (which will get rid of

Heat), sedating Fire, and protecting Yin fluids.

 

You usually will see information about the TaiYang, ShaoYang, YangMing,

TaiYin (Greater Yin), ShaoYin (Lesser Yin), and JueYing (Absolute Yin)

stages when learning about some infectious diseases (Cold Induced Evils).

(Other infectious diseases will correspond to Virulent Heat Evils and the 4

levels of Virulent Heat disorders - Protective Qi, Qi, Ying (Nutritive Qi),

and Blood levels). But, the TaiYang, ShaoYang, etc. stages also describe the

progression of some non-infectious problems like some cases of migraines.

(Not all migraines are due to External attack, but some of them are.) Also,

in the case of non-infectious Evils, there can be evidence of multiple

stages at the same time.

 

I know the most about what to do in the TaiYang stage. I use Bladder 23 and

B47 and Small Intestine 3 plus a heating pad and massage over the shoulder

blades. The formula Minor Blue Dragon (also called Minor Blue Green Dragon)

works wonders for me. So do herbs to Expel Wind Chill. But when one of these

headaches penetrate to the ShaoYang and especially to the YangMing stages, I

can't knock them out as easily. Because this so seldom happens in me, I

don't know as much about treating these stages as I do the TaiYang stage.

 

A Pernicious Evil can move back and forth between these stages. Also, you

can get rid of the migraine (manifestation) but still have the Evil. When

this happens, the person is susceptible to the migraine recurring. It

doesn't take much to set off another migraine. This is a person who will

have frequent headaches. One of the ways to check to see if the Evil has

been expelled completely is to check some of the acupressure points that are

sore during the headache. If, for example the area between the 4th and 5th

toes is still sore, the Evil is still in the person and can manifest as a

headache again very quickly.

 

In TCM, a great deal of attention is paid to Evils that never were expelled

entirely. For example, a v-shaped fissure on the tongue near the tip often

is a sign that once upon a time there was Heat in the person's Lungs that

never got entirely resolved. Even though the person seemingly recovered from

the cold or flu or whatever, the Evil wasn't entirely expelled.

 

In cases where a person is extremely weather sensitive and/or catches

infections easily, suspect Protective Qi Deficiency.

 

The concept of Wind includes not only the actual wind but barometric changes

and an increase in positive ions.

 

Victoria

 

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[Guest guest]

>I had a patient this afternoon with an acute migraine attack. She was

>sensitive to light, had a severe throbbing pain in her temple, had

>nausea, etc.

 

I gave a long post on Exterior Wind Cold migraines like I suffer, but I want

to reinforce some information here. The treatment is going to vary according

to rather they are due to Heat like Shane's or due to Wind Cold like mine,

or due to another cause. In the case of the Wind Cold migraines I suffer,

treatment is going to vary according to which stage the migraine is in

(TaiYang (Greater Yang), ShaoYang (Lesser Yang), or Yang Ming (Yang

Brightness)).

 

>I am familiar with acupuncture being used to treat lesser headaches, and

>to prevent headaches. But are there any points useful for acute migraine

>headache pain? I would think (offhand) that the last thing a patient with

>a severe headache would desire would be for someone to stick needles into

>them! <g>

 

If you get the right points - which depends on your identifying the Root

correctly - the patient is going to come up off the table singing your

praises, the praises of TCM, etc. In some cases the relief can be

instantaneous just from acupressure and/or heating pads correctly placed.

I'm still amazed at what just acupressure can do. The migraines I have

(used to have a lot more of) are true migraines - one-sided, the visual

effects, the nausea, the sensitivity to light, etc. These were headaches

that a shot of demerol in ER would only blunt enough for me to sleep through

the worst of it. When I discovered the acupressure points, it was like

water going down a drain (the sensation for me was of the headache quickly

draining away) or air coming out of a balloon. Within seconds the headache

is gone (if I catch it in the TaiYang stage). I still had to lie there a few

minutes more with the heating pads in place and/or applying the pressure

because if I stopped treatment too soon the headache would return.

 

One clue that you may be dealing with a Wind Cold Root for a migraine is

that the person's neck muscles may be rigid. This is really weird because

the muscles are rigid not across the entire back of the neck but only on the

side the headache is on. Cold contracts.

 

TCM also recognizes artificial Pernicious Evils. An example of artificial

Wind Cold is the blowing from an air conditioner. One question you may want

to start asking is if the person has cold air blowing on him/her at work or

home. This can produce migraines, other headaches, and a host of other

problems. Way back before I discovered TCM, I finally realized that cold was

triggering many of the severe migraines I had. I learned to sleep with a

sleet over my head, neck, and back in the summer time. I also learned to

make sure I dried my hair completely, or that could trigger one. I learned

to take it easy in the summer time because the sweat evaporating off my skin

was enough to trigger one. When this happened I would get a sensation of

cold behind and under the area of the ear. I learned to stop what I was

doing, dry the area of sweat, and warm it if I didn't want to get a headache

a few hours later.

 

Something else that can trigger migraines in some people is over-using an

arm. I don't know why this happens, just that it does in some people. For

example, I used to have a caulking gun that wasn't too good. Everytime I

did a caulking job with it, I would get a migraine afterwards. If I overused

either arm, I would get a headache on that side.

 

Fluid depletetion can trigger migraines (and other headaches) in some

people. It will for me, and I have a niece who gets headaches if she fails

to drink enough water during the day. I have an additional problem when it

comes to this because I am so Yang Deficient (Deficiency Cold) and have

Dampness problems to boot that I often will have an aversion to drinking

water. I used to dehydrate quite a bit. I also used to have a lot more

headaches and they were a lot more severe than now. (Caution: If a person

has epilepsy the person needs to be careful about water intake. The person

needs to always eat a cracker or something if s/he drinks a lot of water

because if the electrolytes in the blood become too dilute this can trigger

an epileptic seizure. Actually drinking too much water on an empty stomach

can trigger seizures in anyone. It's a real problem in this state because

people hiking the Grand Canyon or the desert get the bright idea they're

going to lose weight and save backpack space by not bringing any food. They

bring enough water but no food, and they end up going into seizures and

having psychotic behavior. Every summer the state ends up having to airvac

some of these people out of the Grand Canyon or desert areas, and TV

stations will run spots about the need for food as well as water.)

 

I'll be doing some research into possible Roots for migraines. Right now

I'm working on asthma information.

 

If the person's head feels empty or like it is going to cave in, this often

is a sign that the headache (migraine or otherwise) has a Root of Qi

Deficiency. In these cases you want to tonify Qi. Whenever you tonify Qi

(add Qi), be alert for the possibility of Qi Stagnation. Otherwise, the

extra Qi will just dam up or flow in the wrong direction, causing more

problems.

 

Victoria

 

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