Patent Medicines, Botox and Migraines

[Guest guest]

After trying tea (decoction), granules and patent medicines, I have

decided to use the patent medicines. I know they are the least in

strength, but they make up for it in ease of use.

 

Right now I am using Xiao Yao Wan, Suan Zao Ren Tang, and Gui Pi Wan. I

have been for acupuncture many times and I always get a wicked migraine

afterward. I have fibromyalgia, migraines, IBS, Interstitial Cystitis,

rosacea, and TMJ. I've been sick for 25 years and I know, especially

from Victoria's posts, that it will take a long time to get better.

 

I was just recently approved for Botox injections to help " cure " my

migraines. It only took three requests to my insurance company and

about a year of waiting. I've also tried all of the preventative

medications and most of the triptans have quit working for me. If I

have a really bad migraine, I pull the shades in my room, put in my ear

plugs and try to sleep through it, usually with the help of vicodin.

 

I lost my most recent job three weeks ago due to a migraine and I am

trying to get approved for unemployment. I was on it earlier this year,

found a job in March, and was fired six weeks later. Their probationary

period for new employees is eight weeks, so I guess they thought it

looked like I wasn't going to make it anyway. The boss called me at

home and told me he had to let me go. This was on the third day of a

week long migraine that nothing, not even prednisone, could knock out.

When he called I said okay, good-bye, and hung up the phone. This was

the second job this year I lost because I could not pass the

probationary period.

 

I am hoping that with the TCM and the Botox, I will be able to find a

new job and not miss any days. I know that's a little optimistic, but

the alternative is just too depressing.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

Karen in San Diego.

[Guest guest]

Chinese Traditional Medicine , Karen Peterson <kpeterha

wrote:

>

> Right now I am using Xiao Yao Wan, Suan Zao Ren Tang, and Gui Pi

Wan.

 

For the beginning TCM students on the list, Xiao Yao Wan is Rambling

Pills. It's classified as a Formula That Regulates and Harmonizes

the Liver and Spleen. It's one of the most commonly prescribed

formulas for relieving constaint and promoting the free flow of Qi.

Students, since you'll be seeing this one a lot, you'll probably

want to go ahead and familarize yourselves with it.

 

Gui Pi Wan is Restore Spleen pills. You'll be seeing this one a lot

too. It's classified as a formula that tonifies Qi and Blood. Radix

Codonopsis Pilosulae (Dang Shen) sometimes is substituted for

ginseng in the formula. This is recommended for for people with

CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome).

 

Suan Zao Ren Tang is Sour Jujube Decoction (Tea). ( " Tang "

means " decoction " , and " Wan " means " pills " .) This is classified as a

Formula That Nourishes the Heart and Calms the Spirit. It also

nourishes the Blood and clears Heat.

 

> I

> have been for acupuncture many times and I always get a wicked

migraine

> afterward. I have fibromyalgia, migraines, IBS, Interstitial

Cystitis,

> rosacea, and TMJ.

 

You should not be getting headaches following acupuncture. Have you

talked to the acupuncturist about this? What does s/he say?

 

What are your TCM diagnoses?

 

There are more than one TCM imbalance that can manifest as

migraines. Migraines can be due to problems in the Gall Bladder

meridian, Liver Yang rising, Liver Fire rising, or Liver Wind

rising. (Giovanni Maciocia, The Practice of , p. 8.)

These migraines are in the temple area. Liver Yang Rising and Liver

Fire Rising migraines also can manifest on the side of the head -

the area over the ear. (p. 8.) If the migraine is behind an eye,

this may be due to Liver Blood Deficiency (dull pain) or Liver Yang

Rising (severe and sharp pain). (p. 8.)

 

This usually isn't spelled out in intro texts but Wind Cold Invasion

can result in migraines (if there are certain underlying Interior

imbalances).

 

I want to go into some basics for the list members who are new to

TCM. The term " Exterior " refers to the head, neck, arms, legs, skin,

muscles, meridians (paths of Qi flow), and bones. The

term " Interior " refers to the trunk of the body, specifically the

Organs.

 

Some people are vulnerable to invasion of " Pernicious Evils " - Wind,

Heat, Dampness, Dryness, and/or Cold. When weather conditions (or

artifical weather conditions like occur with air conditioning,

heating systems, fans, etc.) start to trigger changes in the body,

this is referred to as an Evil Invading.

 

When Evils invade, they start with the Exterior of the body - the

head, neck, arms, legs, skin, muscles, meridians, and bones. If they

are not expelled, they can invade to the Interior and affect Organs.

But sometimes they don't go deeper into the body nor are they

expelled. They can become lodged in the Exterior where they give

rise to chronic Exterior problems.

 

Some of the possible symptoms of Wind Cold Invading are headaches,

runny or stuffy nose, stiff neck, aversion to cold, muscular aches

and pains, and pain in the bones and joints.

 

What a lot of people don't realize is that Wind Cold headaches can

be either one-sided or full-headed. When they are one-sided, they

can have all the symptoms of a classic migraine headache.

 

These Wind Cold migraines usually start out on the " occiput " (back

of the head) with a stiff neck. " Chronic headaches in this area are

usually due to a Kidney deficiency manifesting on the Bladder

channel. " (p. 9.) Sometimes Wind Cold migraines will be preceded by

a cold sensation along the upper, outer edge of the hand on the side

of the body that the migraine will occur on. (This is the course of

the Small Intestine meridian.) If the hand is warmed up, the

migraine can be prevented.

 

When a migraine is due to Wind Cold, the muscles of the back of the

neck often will be knotted and stiff on the side the headache is

occuring on. One can feel the difference between the muscles on the

affected side and the non-headache side. Sometimes one can even see

the difference.

 

These are also Painful Obstruction Syndrome (Bi Syndrome, arthritic)

headaches. But they can be surprising easy to get rid of by the

application of heating pad to certain areas of the body like the

Bladder 23 area. (If the headache has progressed to the nausea

stage, they will take more acupoints and longer to get rid of.) POS

is triggered by invasion by Wind, Cold, and/or Damp.

 

When a person suffers from migraines and TMJ, I automatically

suspect that the headaches and the TMJ may be due to Invasion by

Exterior Evils.

 

" Headaches which get worse with heat may be due to Liver-Yang or

Liver-Fire rising, whilst headaches that get worse with cold may be

due to deficiency of Yang. If they worsen with damp weather, it is

a clear indication that they are due to Dampness or Phlegm. " (p.

11) " A headache that improves temporarily with the application of

cold (for exampe, cold water) may be due to Liver Yang or Liver

Fire. " (p. 11.)

 

" Headaches that get worse with activity are due to deficiency of Qi

or Blood, whilst headaches that improve with light exercise may be

due to Liver=Yang rising or Phlegm. " (p. 11.)

 

If the head feels like it's empty (like it's caving in), this can

indicate Kidney Yin or Kidney Yang Deficiency. (p. 10.)

 

" Stabbing, boring " pain (often described as a " splitting " headache)

can be due to Blood Stasis. (p. 10.)

 

This just a few of the basics concerning headaches.

 

A person can have multiple causes of headaches. The same person can

get different kinds of headaches, and treatment will vary according

to the cause.

[Guest guest]

Karen Peterson wrote:

> After trying tea (decoction), granules and patent medicines, I have

> decided to use the patent medicines. I know they are the least in

> strength, but they make up for it in ease of use.

>

> Right now I am using Xiao Yao Wan, Suan Zao Ren Tang, and Gui Pi Wan. I

> have been for acupuncture many times and I always get a wicked migraine

> afterward. I have fibromyalgia, migraines, IBS, Interstitial Cystitis,

> rosacea, and TMJ. I've been sick for 25 years and I know, especially

> from Victoria's posts, that it will take a long time to get better.

>

> I was just recently approved for Botox injections to help " cure " my

> migraines. It only took three requests to my insurance company and

> about a year of waiting. I've also tried all of the preventative

> medications and most of the triptans have quit working for me. If I

> have a really bad migraine, I pull the shades in my room, put in my ear

> plugs and try to sleep through it, usually with the help of vicodin.

>

> I lost my most recent job three weeks ago due to a migraine and I am

> trying to get approved for unemployment. I was on it earlier this year,

> found a job in March, and was fired six weeks later. Their probationary

> period for new employees is eight weeks, so I guess they thought it

> looked like I wasn't going to make it anyway. The boss called me at

> home and told me he had to let me go. This was on the third day of a

> week long migraine that nothing, not even prednisone, could knock out.

> When he called I said okay, good-bye, and hung up the phone. This was

> the second job this year I lost because I could not pass the

> probationary period.

>

> I am hoping that with the TCM and the Botox, I will be able to find a

> new job and not miss any days. I know that's a little optimistic, but

> the alternative is just too depressing.

>

> Thanks for listening.

>

> Karen in San Diego.

>

>

>

>

>

> Hello Karen,

>

Go to www.medicalnewstoday.com there is some of the latest research on

migraine inluding acupuncture. type in " migraine " in the archive section.

Mike

[Guest guest]

Chinese Traditional Medicine , mike <rey wrote:

>

> Go to www.medicalnewstoday.com there is some of the latest

research on

> migraine inluding acupuncture. type in " migraine " in the archive

section.

 

Once you use their search function to find all articles on

migraines, you can use your Internet program " find on this page "

function to narrow the search further. If you're using Internet

Explorer, click on " edit " at the top of the page and then on " find

on this page " . You can then type in " acupuncture " or whatever search

term you want to use to further narrow the search. (I don't know

how this is done with Netscape or other browers.)

 

I want to caution readers that Western studies usually fail to take

into account the TCM diagnosis when examining acupuncture or herbs.

Even when they claim to be using TCM, they often are not. It's not a

valid study of TCM acupuncture unless every single test subject has

received a TCM diagnosis from a trained TCM healer and each person

is receiving TCM treatment based on his or her TCM diagnosis instead

of the Western diagnosis of migraine. That is a valid study of TCM

acupuncture or TCM herbal medicine.

 

TCM diagnoses rarely correspond to Western-defined medical

conditions. People can have the same Western-defined medical

diagnosis but have different TCM imbalances. Not all cases of

migraine are due to say Liver Yang Rising. Some of due to Liver

Fire Rising, some to Blood Deficiency, some to Wind Cold Invading,

and possibly some to other TCM imbalances. The TCM treatment - the

acupoints chosen or the herbs used - are going to differ according

to the TCM Root of the migraines. Because the TCM Roots are the key

factor in using TCM, what helps one migraine sufferer may do nothing

for a second sufferer and may even make a third person sicker.

 

I only have personal experience with migraine due to Wind Cold

Invasion so I can't give you in-depth info on migraine with other

TCM Roots like Liver Yang Rising, Liver Fire Rising, or Blood

Deficiency. (I'm not a clinician, only someone who got so much help

from TCM that I began to learn all I could about it and help others

to understand more about it.) In my case acupressure and heating

pads not only were able to knock out most of my migraines in

seconds, regular use of acupressure reduced my tendency to have

headaches. I went from either having a severe headache or having one

building almost constantly to going months without a headache even

threatening. In my case I didn't see an acupuncturist or use

needles. I used pressure and heating pads over certain areas. The

heating pads worked because the migraines were due to Wind Cold

Invading. If the Root of my migraines had been something like Liver

Fire Rising, the heating pads probably would have made me sicker.

 

There is no chance of a placebo effect because at the time I first

began to discover where to put the heating pads, I didn't know

anything about TCM or acupuncture or acupressure. Also, I wasn't

even trying to treat my headache. I was trying to keep my muscles

from stiffening up.

 

I had woke up with a headache that morning. Since that wasn't

anything unusual for me, since it hadn't yet gotten too bad, since

it was a nice day, and since I like to garden, I decided to do some

work in the yard. I gardened for a while (didn't have the energy to

do much), and when I came back in, I knew from experience that I had

better put a heating pad over my muscles if I didn't want them to

stiffen up.

 

It was a large heating pad, but I had worked a lot of muscles so I

had to move it around after a few minutes on each area. To my great

surprise, when I placed it over the lower back, the headache that

had been worsening since I got up that morning vanished in seconds.

It was like water going down a drain or air escaping from a balloon.

I felt it lessening, and then it was gone. That had never happened

in over 3 decades of having these headaches. (They had started in

junior high.)

 

I had been using heating pads on these headaches for years, but I

had been placing the heating pad first over the head and then over

the neck. Learning to put in on the neck was an improvement over

placing it over the head. It cut recovery time down to a day or so

of lying in a dark room. Learning to place it over the lower back

resulted in instantely being able to knock out a headache on the

left that hadn't gotten too severe. For the ones on the right (they

always were more severe and more frequent than the ones on he left),

a second heating pad over the shoulder blades area was needed. If

the headache had progressed to the nausea stage before I could do

it, I still got some relief but it wasn't total. I also was still

having a lot of these headaches.

 

Then I saw a TCM herbalist for something else (the CFIDS and FMS),

got some very dramatic improvement, and started to learn everything

I could about TCM. When I began to look at meridians, I realized

that two spots on my back that had been giving me trouble for years

were the Bladder 23 spots. When two spots on your body have hurt as

often and as severely as these two had for years, they stick in your

memory. I also learned that the B 23 spots will be sore if a person

has Kidney imbalance. (That was my main problem.)

 

I time I learned what points to use if the headache had progressed

to nausea. I also added Small Intestine 3. When Wind Cold invades

the body, the first two meridians affected are the Bladder and the

Small Intestine. It was adding the regular working of SI 3 to the

regular working of B 23 that reduced the tendency to having

headaches. BTW, SI 3 also helps in cases of Wind Heat Invasion.

You just don't want to put any heating pads on it if it's Wind Heat

instead of Wind Cold.

 

When it comes to using acupressure on oneself, people with FMS

(Fibromyalgia Syndrome) have an advantage over other people. So many

of the acupoints are sore to touch that they're easy to locate. I

have yet to know a person with FMS who doesn't have a lot more sore

points than some of the 18 that are used to diagnose the condition.

In the case of B 23 for me, I didn't even have to press on it to

tell it was sore. I could feel the soreness even when it wasn't

being pressed.

 

These were migraine headaches complete with being bothered by light,

having severe nausea, and having a visual experience before they

began. When one got really bad, a shot of demerol in the ER

wouldn't stop it, only blunt it enough so that I could sleep through

most of the worst of it. Nothing ever really stopped them.

Eventually most of them progressed to the severe stage.

 

These were also arthritic headaches or what the Chinese call Painful

Obstruction Syndrome or Bi Syndrome. BTW, a doctor I saw for the

headaches while still in my teens had diagnosed arthritis in the

neck as the cause of the headaches. (TCM views arthritis and

rheumatism as Invasion by Wind, Cold, and/or Damp.)