Your Headache could be telling you more than you think.
When they’re mild, headaches or migraines can just be an annoyance in the background. At their worst, they can be excruciating, drain your energy levels, leave you bed-ridden and incapacitated.
Some people find side effects of strong medications uncomfortable or take many paracetamol in a day. We still recommend with severe headaches to go to your GP first to be checked. Sometimes paracetamol will not alleviate all types of headaches or migraines, so then what?
What Headache Type are You?
Ever felt like there’s a tight band around your head?
Or heaviness around the forehead and under the eyes?
Even a sharp stabbing pain in one particular spot on your head?
When they’re mild, headaches or migraines can just be an annoyance in the background. At their worst, they can be excruciating, drain your energy levels, leave you bed-ridden and incapacitated.
Some people find side effects of strong medications uncomfortable or take many paracetamol in a day. We still recommend with severe headaches to go to your GP first to be checked. Sometimes paracetamol will not alleviate all types of headaches or migraines, so then what?
If you don’t want to rely on painkillers and are looking for a long term solution, that's where Chinese Medicine can help.
What Headache type are you? There IS a difference between headache types! A Chinese Medicine Practitioner will ask lots of questions about your general health, use tongue and pulse diagnosis to determine your headache type so they can prescribe the right Chinese Herbal formula for relief.
When clients present with headache, its good to find out what else is going on with your health. Other signs and symptoms presenting alongside headache OFTEN are related, such as eye pain, fatigue, thirst, visual spots or floaters, low appetite, avoiding bright lights and nausea.
So what can your headache be telling you?
In Chinese Medicine there are various headache types.
· A tight band around the head could mean your Liver needs a bit of support. We call this Stuck Liver & Gall Bladder Qi. Exercise helps this headache sufferer, as does the right acupuncture and herbal prescription.
· Heaviness around the forehead and eyes could mean Damp accumulating. This means it’s possible your sinuses are congested with phlegm and are referring pain. Local acupuncture points over the sinuses and herbs to resolve dampness and phlegm would be prescribed.
· A Sharp stabbing pain in one specific spot could mean localised Blood Stagnation. This means acupuncture and herbs would be prescribed to help blood flow and circulation locally in the head and neck muscles.
· Headache at the top of your head relieved with sleep could mean Blood Deficiency. Herbs and some supplements would be prescribed to help increase iron levels and nourish the blood.
Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs are natural, effective and an inexpensive method to relieve long term episodes of headaches. Herbal medicine formulas act to move stagnation, move circulation, stop pain, and where needed work from the inside at the cause of the pain, not just the symptom.
This is not medical advice. This is written from the experience of a fully qualified, registered Acupuncturist & Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner. As mentioned above, if you’re concerned or are suffering serious symptoms, always see you doctor first. Chinese Medicine however, is useful to manage chronic symptoms.
Contact us at Family Wellness Centre on 9938 1090 if you want to discuss how your headaches or migraines affect you and how you can find natural solutions.
