It is estimated that in UK alone, around 15% of the population suffers from migraine, out of which two thirds are women. Jane Elliot, a medical reporter at the BBC talks about migraine and acupuncture, to mark Migraine Awareness Week.

According to Jane, in ones childhood, migraine can give rise to a number of reactions such as vomiting and headaches, which might be triggered with the smallest of actions such as drinking too much juice, red wine, eating chocolates, exhaustion, or even getting too very excited.

Jane Elliot says “First comes hours of excruciating pain and feelings of depressing nausea, then a welcome relief as I eventually vomit and as the pain recedes and I can fall into sleep. “

Migraines normally last from few hours to few days continuously too. Jane relates that her migraines normally last for about eight hours on an average. Though she tried a number of drugs to prevent migraine, none of them were totally successful. Some of them worked on her attacks, but left her nauseated.

Jane was recommended Imigran Recovery, Sumaptriptan, the counter drug. Although it worked for her, she wanted to explore other alternatives as she did not want to be reliant on too many drugs. Jane was recommended and sponsored for acupuncture treatments by her mother, who heard about the relation between migraine and acupuncture in a TV show. Jane decided to give it a shot, without any initial hopes.

Christina, Jane’s acupuncturist advised her to change her diet habits. She was asked to cut down on caffeine and increase her water consumption instead. Acupuncture sessions involved gentle head massages and needles placed on specific points on her body.

The first week after the treatment was accompanied with two attacks and the week after that, one. During the third week, Jane was completely migraine free. After that, she was attacked by migraine about 3 months later only, which was also looked after by acupuncture.

The above is one of the many cases where acupuncture has proved to be successful in places where other drugs and medications have failed.