Many patients with migraine are often seen in clinical practice. Although they have taken many painkillers, the treatment effect is not obvious. They often relapse frequently after the pain is relieved. This makes the patients miserable. In fact, acupuncture has a good effect to treat a migraine, and has the advantage of direct access to the disease. Clinically, it can significantly alleviate symptoms and reduce the frequency of attacks. Patients with migraine may wish to try acupuncture therapy.
What are the clinical manifestations of migraine?
Headaches are mostly on one side, often confined to the forehead, temples, and occipital area. The pain begins with severe fluctuating pain, and then turns to persistent dull pain. It can occur at any time, but it often occurs after getting up in the morning, or after being nervous or angry, and the symptoms can last for several hours to several days. A typical migraine has aura symptoms, such as flashing dark spots in front of the eyes, visual field defects, single blindness or ipsilateral hemianopia. During the attack, the painful part can be transferred to another part, and it can radiate to the neck and shoulders at the same time.
What is the cause of migraine?
From the perspective of western medicine, in addition to surgical headaches caused by intracranial organic diseases (such as intracranial masses, etc.), most common migraines are medical headaches, which are diseases caused by neurological and vascular dysfunction. With recurrent head pain on one side, it is even accompanied by nausea, vomiting, or allergy to light and sound. This disease has genetic factors, and some patients can appear after head trauma.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that this disease is mostly related to anger and emotional tension. The pathogenesis is mostly from emotional insufficiency, depression for a long time to turn fire; or irritability, hyperactivity of liver yang, and disturbance of clear orifice; or failure of spleen to promote health, phlegm and dampness endogenous, and clear orifice obscuration; or long-term illness enters the collaterals and veins. Arthralgia causes pain.
How is TCM acupuncture treatment?
According to the theory of syndrome differentiation and treatment in traditional Chinese medicine, the method of combining visceral syndrome differentiation and meridian differentiation is adopted, and different treatment sources are determined according to different syndrome types. For those caused by Qi stagnation and transforming fire, it will dissipate stagnation and heat and relieve meridians; due to hyperactivity of liver yang, To clear the orifice, suppress the liver and suppress the yang, nourish water and constrain the wood; if the spleen loses its vitality, phlegm dampness is caused by the dampness of the spleen, the spleen is invigorated and the phlegm is reduced, and the spleen is reduced to clear the meridian; Obstruction of the collaterals and collaterals leads to pain. It promotes blood circulation, removes blood stasis, promotes qi and relieves pain, and at the same time it is used to relieve the local meridians of Shaoyang, Yangming or the sun to achieve the purpose of treating both symptoms and root causes.
Commonly used clinical acupuncture points: Ashi point, Xiegu, Jiaosun, Fengchi, Hegu, Taichong, Waiguan.
Matching points: Liver-yang hyperactivity plus Sishencong and Xingjian; phlegm dampness plus Fenglong and Zusanli; blood stasis headache plus Xuehai, Geshu and other points.
Auricular acupuncture points: temporal, ear tip, subcortical nervous system, sympathetic, and diplomatic sense.
At the same time, it can also be combined with traditional Chinese medicine decoctions or Chinese patent medicines with the main functions of soothing the liver and relieving depression, promoting qi and blood circulation, etc., to achieve the purpose of expelling chronic diseases and treating both symptoms and root causes.
Notes: Acupuncture and moxibustion of traditional Chinese medicine have a good effect in the treatment of migraine. Some female patients whose migraine attacks are related to the menstrual cycle should be treated before menstruation; patients should ensure enough sleep during treatment to avoid excessive stress to reduce attacks.
