Acupuncture for Migraines

Migraines are the most common type of headaches. Headache attacks on one side of the head is the characteristic that distinguishes a migraine from other types of headache.

Not all migraines are the same. But many people experience throbbing pain, sensitivity to light and/or sound, and nausea or vomiting. About 1 in 5 people who get migraines have auras. An aura is a feeling or series of sensations that come about 10 to 30 minutes before a migraine attack and /or during the migraine attack. Common symptoms of aura include:

• seeing flashing lights, zigzag lines, or blind spots
• feeling numbness or tingling in the face or hands
• having a disturbed sense of smell, taste or touch
• feeling mentally “fuzzy”

When migraines attack, the person may experience chills, fever and sweating. Each migraine attack could last for several days.

Since migraines can be so severe and disable people from normal activities, almost every person will seek some type of treatment for quick relief. In addition to the over-the-counter drugs that are readily available to the public, physicians prescribe a variety of drugs to manage the pain or to prevent an attack from occurring. Available pain killers range from analgesics, narcotics, antidepressants, and anti-migraine drugs (i.e. ergotamine) to beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers. Unfortunately, many of these drugs have unwanted side effects.

What people really want is relief from their headache pain without harmful side effects. Can we find a way to help patients with either no side-effects or very limited side-effects? The answer is “Yes”.

The use of acupuncture, or acupuncture in conjunction with Chinese herbs, has demonstrated to the medical field their remarkable abilities for relieving migraines and treating the underlying cause of migraines. These treatments can bring patients to a healthy condition where migraines do not occur anymore.

Unlike synthetic drugs, acupuncture has virtually no side effects. As far as Chinese herbs are concerned, they are a safe, essential and efficient treatment modality that has been practiced for 5000 years in treating headaches.

In the past two decades, while treating patients with acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine in New York City, Dr. Feng Liang has treated many patients who suffered from migraines. According to Dr. Liang’s experience based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory, she thinks the migraine is caused by the toxins in our body blocked the correct Qi and clear Qi arising to the head and malfunction to nourish the head. Furthermore, the toxins cause inflammation of the nervous system in our head and the headache happens. So the treatment should focus on removing toxins from our body, opening the meridians which go up to head and brain, balancing Yin and Yang energy in the body and allowing the clear Qi and correct Qi arising to head and nourishing the head and brain.

Based on different migraine triggers, Dr. Liang will set up different treatment modality for preventing migraines from occurring. An example of this might be “hormone related migraine”. Dr. Liang will regulate the hormone for female patients in order to prevent migraines. Another example is migraines caused by long term lack of sleep. Dr. Liang will treat the insomnia problem for her patients to prevent migraines from occurring.

If a migraine is caused by eating certain foods or a patient has stomach problems, Dr. Liang will treat the stomach issues and suggest that the patients eat gluten-free foods and a no sugar diet as well as not skipping meals (which can trigger migraines).

If migraines are triggered by stress, Dr. Liang’s acupuncture technique will balance the energy flow and make the brain release the chemicals that help patients remain calm and relaxed.

Regarding other triggers including changes in the weather, physical activities, heat, perfume or odors, once patients have Dr. Liang’s acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine treatments, their body’s constitution becomes balanced and strong. Patients can then tolerate those triggers like normal people and those triggers will no longer affect them. Dr. Liang also highly recommends patients quit smoking and consuming less alcohol which could be triggers for migraines.

Dr. Liang will not only treat the migraine pain, but more importantly, she will treat the cause of migraine attack. Patients will get a whole body tune up and regain a healthy constitution.

If you suffer from migraines and are tired of taking high risk medications, or if you are seeking more efficient and safe methods to prevent your migraines, call Dr. Liang now. Your life will change forever.

Please read two testimonials contributed by Dr. Liang’s patients who once suffered from Migraines.