Tag: acupuncture and migraine

Case Studies

Heart Rate Variability as a Biomarker for Resilience and Prevention: Data

In the latest issue of Medical Acupuncture they highlighted the importance of Acupuncture as a preventative and a way to optimize health.  I’m preparing a journal article to show that HRV improves, stress decreases in migraineurs who have been successfully treated.  This data is over patient visits for at least a year.  I tried to…

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Case Studies

HRV and Acupuncture Treatment: Pa.Co. edition

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…

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Medical Research

Complementary and Integrative Medicine for Episodic Migraine: an Update of Evidence from the Last 3 Years.

In this review of the literature, acupuncture was found to be helpful and superior to sham acupuncture or controls.  This information is particularly welcome –> “melatonin, vitamin D, higher dosages of vitamin B6 (80 mg)/folic acid 5 mg combinations, and the combination of magnesium 112.5 mg/CoQ10 100 mg/feverfew 100 mg” Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2019 Feb 21;23(2):10. doi: 10.1007/s11916-019-0750-8. Complementary…

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Case Studies

Clinical Case Intractable Migraine and HRV

This data is from a young patient with intractable daily migraines for 1 1/2 years.  She has tried any and all treatments.  Drugs from betablockers, to anti-Alzheimer, to anti-depressants, to tryptans.  Chiropractic, acupuncture… Everything.  She came in for consulation and treatment and in the end decided to continue with what she was doing rather than…

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Uncategorized

Vagally mediated heart rate variability in headache patients–a systematic review and meta-analysis.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed Cephalalgia. 2016 Mar;36(3):265-78. doi: 10.1177/0333102415583989. Epub 2015 May 11. Vagally mediated heart rate variability in headache patients–a systematic review and meta-analysis. Koenig J1, Williams DP1, Kemp AH2, Thayer JF3. Author information 1 Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, USA. 2 University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil School of…

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Case Studies

HRV Stress Levels in Migraine:Sa.Be edition

This data is from a patient we’ve discussed before.  She was a profound responder with almost immediate resolution of her headaches with acupuncture.   This is her summarized Sympathetic Activity or Flight/Fight activity during acupuncture minutes 6 to 12.  This prolonged decrease in sympathetic activity over time is one of the things I find so compelling…

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Non-Invasive Neuromodulation for Headache Disorders.

Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2016 Feb;16(2):11. doi: 10.1007/s11910-015-0620-7. Non-Invasive Neuromodulation for Headache Disorders. Zhu S1, Marmura MJ2. Author information Abstract Migraine and other chronic headache disorders are common and if inadequately treated, can lead to significant disability. The effectiveness of medications can be limited by side effects, drug interactions, and comorbid diseases necessitating alternative methods….

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Health & Fitness

Migraine Pathophysiology: Video from Association of Migraine Disorders

A bit long, but informative video on the nitty gritty of migraine cause.

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Case Studies

Abstract for NANS meeting. TAVNS and Autonomic Balance in the Acupuncture Clinic: Clinical Case Study

This is my abstract for the upcoming NANS conference in NYC.  It was accepted!  So to NYC for me in August. Introduction: Improving autonomic balance (increasing parasympathetic activity and decreasing sympathetic activity)leads to better immunity, pain tolerance, mood, longevity and inflammation. Both Transcutaneous Auricular Vagal Nerve Stimulation (TAVNS)[i] and acupuncture[ii] [iii] [iv]have been shown to…

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Medical Research

Acupuncture modulates the abnormal brainstem activity in migraine without aura patients.

A sizable portion of my practice is devoted to migraine patients, finding best treatments and researching their physiological response.  This paper looks at the role of abnormal brainstem activity in migraine patients without aura and how acupuncture affects it.  As with most Chinese studies we can only partly draw conclusions since they treated 5 x…

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