Fwd: Headache - Nonvascular

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http://www.healingpeople.com/ht/EN/articles/2000/3/29/803.tmpl

 

This article says that occipital and nape pain often is due to blockage of

the Bladder channel.

 

For those new to TCM, the location of the headache can be very important in

analyzing the Root of the headache. So can the time of day that the

headache develops or worsens.

 

The proper treatment of headaches could be a specialty in both TCM and

Western medicine. There can be so many causes of headaches both from a

Western and a TCM perspective. For example, allergies, sinus infection,

constipation, low blood sugar, toxins, tumors, dehydration, certain foods,

circulation problems, vision problems, etc. What works on one type of

headache may not work on another, and may even worsen a headache due to

another cause.

 

When it comes to treating frequent headaches, with the exceptions of those

due to tumors and a few other things like vision problems, TCM is far, far

superior to Western medicine. Note that I said frequent headaches. If

someone only has a headache once in a while, then in most cases an OTC pain

reliever is appropriate. However, when someone is having frequent headaches

and having to take something for it often and the cause of the headaches is

not something like a tumor or needing new glasses, then medication to treat

the pain is not the answer. The underlying imbalance needs to be identified

and corrected.

 

There is not an OTC pain reliever that won't trigger other problems if a

person is having to take it regularly in normal or high dosages. Possible

liver and kidney damage, digestive system problems, etc. Even aspirin if

taken in high, frequent dosages can wreck havoc and create or worsen other

problems in the body. For example, ulcers, Leaky Gut Syndrome, irritation

of the lining of the digestive tract, etc. In addition, some headaches are

so severe that OTC medications and even prescription drugs, including

narcotics, have no effect or have an inadequate effect.

 

Frequent headaches always are a symptom of a deeper, underlying problem. In

the case of a once in a while headache, treat the symptom itself. In the

case of frequent headaches, always work to identify and treat the underlying

cause - be it tumor, a need for new glasses, Blood Deficiency, Qi

Stagnation, blockages in the Bladder channel, or whatever. The underlying

problem is not going to go away on its own, and even if a healer succeeds in

controlling the pain adequately (which isn't always the case) the underlying

Root just keeps getting worse and worse and creating other problems in

addition to the frequent headaches. Also, if the underlying Root gets bad

enough, it will be impossible to even control the pain. In some of these

cases narcotics won't even stop the pain and at best will only blunt the

pain some.

 

On the personal side: I had headaches like these. In my case becuase I had

so many problems, it wasn't just the occipital (back of the head) area that

hurt. The entire side of my head hurt. These headaches were crippling and

extreme painful, and in my case either one-sided or worse on one side than

the other. On the side where I had the headache or had it the worse, the

muscles sometimes would be so rigid and tense that one not only could feel

the difference, some people could see the difference. It looked like one

side of the nape of my neck was larger than the other or swollen.

 

What worked for me were acupoints on the Bladder meridian (plus Small

Intestine 3). I was using acupressure instead of acupuncture. The problem

for me was Wind Cold invading the Bladder meridian. If Dampness also

invaded along with the Wind Cold, I had my worse headaches, and severe

nausea became a prominent feature along with the crippling pain. I want to

caution readers that Wind Cold is not the only thing that can go wrong in

the Bladder channel. Wind Heat also can cause problems for some people. In

my case, I am extremely sensitive to cold, due in large part to my being

Yang Deficient for so many years. (BTW, on-going, severe Yang Deficiency is

one of the factors that can cause a person to be sensitive to Exterior

Pernicious Evils like Wind, Cold, etc. Protective Qi Deficiency also can

cause this.)

 

I also want to stress that at the time I first started bringing these

headaches under control via points on the Bladder meridian, I knew nothing

about acupressure/ acupuncture or even about TCM. So there is no chance of

this being a placebo effect or suggestibility.

 

 

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