Bid Farewell to Migraines with Acupuncture

Many of us may have experience an excruciating headache that literally turn us into a giant grouch. Although there's no cure for migraine, the pain can be avoided and managed using Acupuncture. Studies show that most migraine sufferers are women, and in Canada and United States, the recurring throbbing headache happens to 1 in 10 people between the ages of 10 and 40.


What exactly is migraine?

Ever experience a severe, pulsating pain on one side of the head? Well, that's migraine. Other symptoms like cold hands and feet, nausea (or even vomiting), and sensitivity towards bright light and sound are usually accompany the severe, recurring vascular headache. This explains why people who suffer migraine are often advised to switch off their computers and stay in a dark, quiet room. When migraine occurs, the pain could last between few hours up to 72 hours, very few chronic sufferers were even admitted to the Emergency Room due to prolonged vomiting.

Cause of migraine is arguable, but many suggest that some things we consume (like alcoholic drink, tobacco, fermented food, etc) could trigger migraine. Other common causes like change in sleeping patterns due to stress, barometric pressure change, hunger, and past psychological traumas are also cited as possible migraine causes.

Despite being common, migraine has no cure. Prescribed or over-the-counter painkillers are often containing substances that cause blood vessels to thin; it's their ultimate and sometimes only goal.



Acupuncture is so much better than pain relief medicines

Painkillers could be carcinogenic (transform normal cells into cancer cells) and dependency to analgesic medicines can trigger liver and kidney damage, also contributing to a long term and often lingering migraines.

Acupuncture, an ancient Chinese healing method by inserting sterile needles into different part of the skin, could bring brings immediate and sustainable effects that many antibiotics and painkillers could not. Why's that? Basically Acupuncture aims to promote and improve your natural immune system by managing the good flow of your Qi (sometimes written as Chi, roughly means "life force"). In short, acupuncture works better than drugs alone.



Finding the right experts in Canada

As health care costs increasing, Canadians embrace more and more the art and science of natural healing and disease prevention. Earlier this month, Canada celebrates Naturopathic Medicine Week. Natural healing such as Acupuncture, Eastern and Western herbal medicine, and other treatments gain popularity as health solutions to the mainstream ones.

According to Acupuncture Foundation of Canada Institute (AFCI), Naturopathic Doctors graduated in the British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario are licensed to use acupuncture method in the their practices according to the license they obtained from the provincial regulatory boards such in British of Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.

If you're considering a healthier and a more natural alternative to painkillers and would like to give Acupuncture a go? You can look up licensed Naturopathic Physicians practicing Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) closest to you on RateND's website.