Part2 - Bringing my headaches under control

March 4, 2001

I sent the last message by mistake instead of saving it to draft. So I'm

picking up where I left off.

I didn't one day find out everything I now know about treating my headaches.

I gradually learned how to control them.

One of the first steps for me was reading about how the hand (or foot, but

usually the hand) of some migraine sufferers will be colder than the other

hand (or foot) right before the migraine headache develops. If one can warm

up the hand by wearing a glove or putting the hand in warm water, one can

prevent the headache from developing. I realized that I'm one of those

people whose hand becomes colder prior to a headache, and by warming up the

hand I was able to decrease the frequency of the headaches. I wasn't

getting quite as many, but I still was getting too many. Especially when

the weather was unsettled. Especially when it was cooler, windier, and

damper than usual.

Sometime during those years I discovered heating pads. But I was putting

the heating pad over my head and neck - where the pain was. It eased the

pain, but didn't make it go away entirely. It still took a couple of days

at least to make the pain go away entirely. But it was an improvement.

Then, one day I woke up with a headache, but I had energy and I wanted to do

some gardening. So I ignored my headache (it hadn't gotten bad enough to be

crippling at that point), and I puttered around in the garden. When I came

in I knew I had better use a heating pad on my muscles if I didn't want them

stiffening up. I had used so many muscles that I was moving the heating pad

around. To my big surprise, when I moved it over my lower back, the

headache which had been getting worse since I woke up began to fade

instantly. It was like water going down a drain or air being released from

a balloon. A few sections, and the headache was gone.

I removed the heating pad from my lower back and the headache started to

come back. I discovered that I had to lie there for a few minutes with the

heating pad over the lower back to keep the headache from coming back. I

also realized that day that yes, heat was the answer in my case, but instead

of putting the heating pad on the area that hust, I needed to put it on the

lower back.

Even before that day, I had realized that from time to time, I have a sore

spot on my lower back. It's right below the waist, right to the left or

right of the spine. I didn't have to press on the spot to tell it was sore.

It hurt so much I could feel the pain without pressing on it. After that

day I realized that when I was hurting on the left side, this correlated to

headaches on the left side, and when I was hurting on the right side, this

correlated to headaches developing on the right. It would be a few years

before I learned about meridians and acupoints and that if I worked Bladder

23 and Bladder 47 with either pressure or massage that this not only would

help me get rid of a headache (plus increasing my energy levels), it

increased my resistence to developing the headaches to begin with. (See the

book Acupressure's Potent Points, p. 55 for the Sea of Vitality. This one

is easy to work. Just use the knuckles of both hands to briskly rub across

the back just below the waist.)

I'm going into detail here because a lot of readers on this list are new to

TCM, and I want them to realize that this isn't information that is confined

to a foreign country and a time long ago. All over the world, people are

stumbling upon bits and pieces of it like I did. In some countries - like

Germany - bits and pieces of it have been passed down through the centuries.

Because TCM is real and works, no one culture or country has a monopoly on

it. Throughout history, many people in many different cultures

independently have discovered parts of it and even the whole. It's just

that it got really developed in China and survived intact in that country.

It didn't survive intact in Germany. There is some evidence that early

Europeans knew about and used acupuncture. Older Germans sometimes will say

things like, " My stomach is too cold. " There are marked similarities

between I believe Mayan medicine and TCM. There's at least one book

available on this. Etc.

The headache I had that day when I first began to discover that the heating

pad needed to go on another part of the body besides the area that hurt was

on the left side. For some reason I always have had more headaches on the

right, and the headaches on the right tend to be far more severe than those

on the left. In time, I had one on the right. The heating pad on the lower

back helped, but I discovered I needed a second heating pad on the shoulder

blade area in order to get rid of these.

In time, I discovered that a third area was needed to knock out some of the

worst headaches. By the time I discovered this, I knew about meridians and

acupoints. Remember what I said about early on I read about one hand being

colder than the other before one of these headaches developed?

Specifically, in my case it was the outer upper edge of the hand. After I

became somewhat familiar with meridians, I got to wondering, " Small

Intestine meridian problems? " Part of the SI channel is in this area. So I

began to experiment. I pressed on SI3, and instant relief. (I also can rub

the outer upper part of my hand briskly and get results.) At this time, I

didn't know that SI# is a point that does get used in some headaches. It's

not one of the headache points mentioned in many of the more available books

on TCM. I just knew the area of my hand where the SI meridian flows

sometimes is colder than normal, and this happened before headaches

developed. This is why it can be important for even herbalists to become

familiar with where meridians flow. It can be an analysis tool. If a

person experiences sensations of cold, heat, pain, numbness, tingling, etc.

along part of the course of a channel, this can indicate problems in that

channel.

In time I learned that the Bladder and Small Intestine channels are the

TaiYang (Greater Yang) channels. The TaiYang channels are the most

superficial of the meridians, and the ones that usually get hit first by

Exterior Pernicious Evils. You'll learn about these when you study the

Cold-Induced Evils, but these groupings also have relevance to things

besides feverish conditions. When an Evil is in the TaiYang-stage, it's

still completely Exterior. One thing I learned is that just because an Evil

is Exterior, it doesn't mean that it can't be extremely painful to the point

of being crippling.

When headaches are in the back of the head and the nape of the neck is sore

and tense, this does point strongly to some sort of blockage or problem in

the Bladder meridian. Exactly what that problem is can vary. There may be

Cold or Heat, Qi Stagnation, etc. Exactly which Bladder points need to be

worked may vary greatly depending on the entire clinical picture. The

points I have given so far work with me, a person who is Yang Deficient, who

has an unusual sensitivity to Exterior Evils (especially Cold and Wind and

Dampness), and who frequently has a sore spot just below the waist just to

the side of the spine. There may be other Bladder points that work for

occipital headaches due to other Roots. One general point to consider is

Bladder 36, aka Bearing Support. It's believed in TCM that Cold and Wind

enter the pores of the skin at this point. (Felix Mann, Treatment of

Disease by Acupuncture, p. 32, p. 37.) Actually, Cold and Wind can enter in

a number of places, but this one is a key point when it comes to resistence.

This also underscores why it's important to learn the TCM syndromes and how

to do a TCM analysis. The points that work for someone with occipital

headaches with my particular overall picture may not work for someone else

with occipital headaches with different TCM Roots.

In addition, if someone is experiencing frequent headaches due to Wind Cold,

certain lifestyle changes may be needed. Otherwise the person is just

trading trips to his/her acupunturist for trips to ER. For one thing, males

can forget about going shirtless even in the summer, and females can forget

about backless dresses like sundresses, lowcut gowns, halter tops, etc. The

sensitivity to Wind Chill may be that great. I learned I needed to sleep

with a sheet covering my head, neck, and back even in summer time. (I can

let my legs be bare.) I learned that even sweat evaporating off my skin can

be too chilling for me. One warning sign is that the area behind my ear

will start to fill chilled. I learned that I need to dry my hair completely

when I wash it. No more letting it dry on the go.

What helps from a herbal standpoint in my case is herbs to Release the

Exterior, specifically those that Relieve Wind Chill. Herbs that Warm the

Exterior also are needed. In addition, if Dampness is a factor, I need

herbs for Expelling Wind Dampness. Again, I want to caution is that this is

what works in cases of occipital headaches due to Wind Cold in the Bladder

channel (and problems with Dampness). Different TCM Roots would call for

different things.

Some very basic Qi Gong exercises work wonders in my case, and would in many

cases because they do get Qi moving.

Frequent headaches is one of those areas in which clients can benefit

greatly from learning some basic acupressure (which is appropriate to their

individual cases) and practicing it regularly. The thing about both

acupuncture and acupressure is that not only can they clear up a problem -

like getting rid of a headache - they can reduce the tendency to the

problem. I do acupressure regularly even when I don't have a headache. I

think of it as preventive maintenance. Even though I rarely have headaches

now, the Roots of the headaches still exist, and they still manifest in

other ways.

At some point healers may also need to ask why is this person so sensitive

to Exterior Evils and/or why is the person prone to problems in the Bladder

meridian (or any other channel)? In my case, being Yang Deficient for so

long is a big part of it. So in addition to the herbs for Releasing the

Exterior, the herbs for Warming the Exterior, and herbs for Expelling Wind

Dampness, I also need Yang tonic herbs to increase Yang in my body. If I

was doing acupuncture instead of acupressure, moxa definitely would be

indicated for me because of that Yang Deficiency. Moxa would not be

appropriate in all cases of occipital headaches.

Western herbalism: I take a nightly tea of thyme, fennel seeds, a dash of

basil, and some rosemary. I take it because of digestive system problems,

allergy-like problems, and bad dreams due to digestive system problems.

(Thyme can be great for the last.) For a long time I quit taking it. For

some reason this tea also gives increased resistence to headaches in my

case. During the period I slacked off taking it, I was having to take herbs

to Relieve Wind Chill regularly in order to keep the headaches from

developing. I've never analyzed why this particular mixture works this way

for me. I do know that in TCM fennel seeds are classified as an herb to

Warm the Interior, and they do have the property of circulating Qi and

relieving pain. Fennel seeds sometimes are used in both Western herbalism

and TCM for treating allergies. In India it is customary to chew a few

after meals to improve digestion and prevent gas. I don't know the TCM

properties of the other herbs.

Victoria

_______________

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

March 5, 2001

Someone remarked on this list about a book that indicated some similarities

between Mayan medicine and TCM. Any chance of getting a title and author?

Dr. Lev

----------

MED SCHOOL FOR $3,500 TUITION!!!

Ask me how or visit

http://www.nadiyainc.com

Judy Fitzgerald [victoria_dragon]

Sunday, March 04, 2001 10:05 PM

Chinese Traditional Medicine

[Chinese Traditional Medicine] Part2 - Bringing my headaches under control