>> Diseases
and Conditions Treated by Chinese Medicine
and Acupuncture
Headaches and Migraines
If you suffer from chronic headaches, tension headaches or migraines, even the simplest parts of life can seem painful and overwhelming. Serious headaches rob you of both time and joy in your life, and, depending on their severity, can prove debilitating. Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can help you reduce the frequency and severity of chronic headaches, or even eliminate headaches from your daily life.
Headaches may manifest in a variety of symptoms. Sufferers may experience dull pain and tightness throughout the head or in the head and neck area. Pain may feel like pressure or a tight band around the skull. Other types of headaches may feel more like a sharp, localized pain. Pain may seem to live only on one side of the head, or be limited behind the eyes. Other headache pain may have a pulsating quality. These headaches are often accompanied by a visual aura that appears as a blurred area in the field of vision, or even a blind spot. Each of these unique symptoms points to different categories and causes of headache pain.
The broad range of headache categories and symptoms reflects the broad range of headache causes. Because no two people experience headaches in the same way, Traditional Chinese Medicine is an excellent treatment modality. Each patient will receive a unique treatment specifically created for their triggers and symptoms. A TCM practitioner begins treating headache patients by conducting a thorough medical interview. In this interview, the acupuncturist will ask detailed questions about the specific characteristics and triggers of the headaches to determine the root cause of the symptoms. The same treatment is not given to everyone. Even people with stress and tension headaches are given individually tailored acupuncture protocols that take into account where and when their headaches occur. Once the imbalance leading to the headaches has been identified, a unique treatment program is created. In this way, the practitioner simultaneously addresses the overall health of the patient while alleviating headache symptoms.
Acupuncture is a natural and effective alternative to traditional prescription drug treatment. While Western doctors often treat severe headaches with drugs, these medicines may have harmful side effects, and can lose effectiveness over time. Drugs also carry the risk of dependency, and the potential of overmedication. Headache drugs can stress your liver, kidneys and other internal organs. Acupuncture and TCM offer fast, effective, safe relief without the complications of drug treatment.
