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sparkysmum

Acupuncture for migraines??????

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My lovely Hazie has suffered from the most debilitating migraines for about 4 yrs. She is now almost 15yrs. It all started with puberty and sort of settled down after a year or so to one or two / month. However for about the last 6mts or so they have increased in both duration and frequency. She can have 2 in a week and can last for two days. They are having a very detrimental impact on her school attendance. She cannot swallow tablets and I dont like the "preventative" drugs. They have potentially horrible side effects and I dont want her to be using them long term, even if she could bring herself to swallow a tablet.

 

I have heard some great things about the use of acupuncture for migraines and wondered if anyone has any knowledge or actual experience of this.

 

Dont know whether it is relevant or not but there is a family history on Simon's side but thankfully not mine.

 

Love to hear from you. Alli x

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So sorry to hear about this; its really miserable. Not sure about accupuncture but a friend of mine had great success with feverfew - she ate the leaves in a sandwich but, apparently, it was foul so she changed to tablets! You might want to do a bit of research on this if you decide to try it as, although its a 'natural' remedy youmay need to consult a herbalist for the correct dose.

 

Good luck!

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Thanks, soapdragon and L_B. :) I would love to hear more about your friend, l_b, if you dont mind. We are very excited :!: Have booked a session with an acupuncturist and had a free consultation earlier this evening. He seems to think that after a few sessions there will be a noticeable improvement in frequency/intensity/duration although he obviously couldn't guarantee this. Bad news is that he is going on holiday for almost 3 wks Counting the days till he is back :D Alli x

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I hate talking or even thinking about them, but I'll force myself to for your daughter's sake.

 

I started having vile and debilitating migraines as a teenager. The frequency gradually increased, until I was having a continuous migraine. I had an mri scan and saw a neurology specialist in London who trialled me on all sorts of drugs with horrible side effects. He wanted to do a nerve block at the base of my skull, with all sorts of potential bad consequences.

At that point, I politely discharged myself and did go to see an acupuncturist, on my friend's advice.

Acupuncture definitely did help - it stopped my migraine within the treatment session, which was like putting down a heavy rucsac - sudden relief, but only temporary - I had to see him at least every 2 weeks.

 

However, I saw a physiotherapist a few years ago, for an unrelated problem. During her initial assessment consultation, she asked me about a bad fall I had as a teenager. She then said, "Do you get..." and listed all the symptoms I had been having with my migraines. Basically, several of the vertebrae at the top of my neck had been pushed out of place and were stuck together with scar tissue in a position that was pressing on the blood vessels and nerves leading to and from my head. The treatment was excruciating, but worth it. Now, after 20 years of them, I do not get migraines. At all. (Unless something knocks the vertebrae back out of place).

I think the acupuncture helped because it was relaxing the muscles that were tensing to support my neck and in turn worsening the migraines.

 

I hope that helps? I cannot tell you how many Drs and specialists I saw over those 20 years, who could not diagnose the cause of the problem, nor help me at all. I think I have been extremely lucky to have been seen by the physiotherapist that cured me. Plenty of people think that migraines are a psychological problem. As the pain cannot be seen, I think people also do not take them seriously, even though the pain can be worse than if your leg was hanging off.

 

Good luck in finding what is causing your daughter's migraines - I hope they can be stopped soon.

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Not sure about acupuncture, but cranial osteopathy really works; I used to get really bad cluster headaches, I hadn't thought to mention it to my osteopath until I had one once when I visited. That first treatment really reduced the attack, and the next treatment has left them so mild that I hardly notice.

 

I used to find the pain excruciating (I have a high pain threshold) and only sumatriptan would touch it painkiller-wise.

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Along the same theme, I suffered from migraines for years, mine almost disappeared after I had Alexander Technique lessons. I think a lot of mine were caused by tension/poor posture, and it is definitely worth investigating this route or the osteopathy/physio described above. I have had acupuncture for something else and it was very effective - a reputable practitioner should be willing to sit down and talk you through it, to see if it is suitable. I'm fortunate enough to have a local physio who is also a qualified acupuncturist, I wonder if you can find someone like that who could offer both treatments?

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Thank you all for your kind replies :D Thank you esp Chicken Deficient for sharing your terrible experience. We will take things one step at a time and if acupuncture has no impact will try physio. Dont want to throw everything at her at once. What is interesting about everyone@s experiences is that conventional medicine ie doctors throwing drugs at a problem, has had little impact whereas physio/acupuncture/osteopathy has made a significant improvement.

Now why cant doctors think beyond drugs?? Will update you once we get started. Thanks once again. Alli x

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I spoke to my friend today about her acupuncture experience. She said that it worked really well at controlling the migraines but she had to go for treatment about every 12 weeks. She is currently on tablets instead at the moment in the hope that she can avoid the regular acupuncture but would go back to it if the tablets are not effective. Hope that helps.

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I managed my migraines for several years with Chinese herbal medicine. She would check me over once a month, even looking at my tongue, then make up bags of various dried herbs, roots, berries etc. I boiled these and drank the liquid - which was dark brown and tasted foul! It made a huge improvement to my migraines. She did suggest acupuncture as well. I tried it for a while, but it didn't really help me. Once they became more manageable, I switched to a daily preventative, a topiramate, (along with the sumatriptan I take when I get a migraine), as this worked as well and was a lot cheaper!

Migraines can be genetic. As well as myself, my mum, sister and brother all get migraines - but we are all affected in different ways.

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