Can acupunctureget rid of the recurring migraines and improve nurses health? Nurses with migraines usually try several different treatments before finding something that helps them. Some people have luck with traditional analgesics, others with migraine-specific medications, or off-label drugs.
Others have no luck with medications at all or they don’t want to take medications. This leaves alternative medical treatments, such as biofeedback, chiropractics, and acupuncture, to name a few.
Acupuncture is gaining popularity in North America which is a good thing for the thousands (millions) of people who could benefit from it. As the treatment becomes more mainstream, training and confidence in the treatment will grow.
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Millions Suffer
According to the National Headache Foundation, as many as 29.5 million people in the United States experience migraine headaches each year. Some of those migraines are avoidable by avoiding known triggers but, many are not. Because it’s so difficult to work if you have a migraine, migraines are one of the major causes of missed work days.
Study Findings
In 2001, the Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine published the results of a study done in Italy that compared traditional Western medicine with acupuncture for the treatment of migraines. The researchers found patients given acupuncture experienced fewer migraines and, because they didn’t take medications, they didn’t have the medication-associated side effects. They also missed fewer days of work.
Another study, published in the British Medical Journal in 2004, came up with similar findings. Those researchers found, like the previous study, the patients experienced fewer migraines and took fewer sick days, but also that they used fewer medications and made fewer doctor visits.
How Does It Work?
Why is acupuncture successful? It could be because traditional Chinese medicine sees migraines not as one specific illness or problem, but as something that occurs because of the qi, or energy, being blocked. By putting acupuncture needles into specific areas of the body, depending on the problem, the qi can be re-established, reducing the pain of migraine and the frequency.
Finding an Acupuncturist
If you’ve been thinking of finding an acupuncturist but don’t know where to start, begin by asking people around you if they know an acupuncturist. Don’t be shy about asking your doctor because many doctors do believe in complementary medicine and some may even be going for acupuncture themselves.
When meeting with an acupuncturist for the first time, look at how the office appears, is it clean? Does the acupuncturist use sterile, one-time needles? Is he or she licensed and certified? Check to see if your state or province has an association that licenses acupuncturists and see what type of education they need.
A qualified acupuncturist will go through your medical history to see what your problem is and what you have done for it. This is an important step. If at any time you don’t feel comfortable with the person or the office, leave and look for someone else.
Doesn’t Have to Be One or the Other
Finally, your treatment doesn’t have to be either/or. There’s no reason why you can’t do both traditional Western medicine and acupuncture to improve nurses health. But as always, be sure that both practitioners, your doctor and your acupuncturist, know what you are doing.