Case Studies

HRV and Acupuncture Treatment: Pa.Co. edition

Kristen Sparrow • February 26, 2019

I’ve been testing my HRV protocol for years now looking at TAVNS, or transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation, since it made sense to me that I should be able to see more vagal enhancement, increase in HRV, and decreased sympathetic activity.  It is anything but consistent.  I wanted the protocol to show effect so that I could, in good confidence, recommend that patients use the device at home.
But since the results were inconsistent and I’ve yet to figure out which patients will benefit, I’m going back to previous protocols.  The study featured in that blog post showed that acupuncture at Liv 13 and Liv 14 stimulated the HPAA axis.  In this migraine patient you can see the dramatic effect using Liv 13 an 14 in addition to other acupoints for migraine.
Note the decrease in sympathetic activity.
 
 
 
 
 
Notice the dramatic drop in DFAα1.  His RmSSD and Pnn60 are both in the high range, so you would expect DFAα1 to be a reliable indicator.
In the next blog post, I will show another migraineur with a similar response.