Chinese

herbalists use Tian Ma Gouteng Wan (which AG was taking) Description of Headache: Facial pain, toothache Fire in the stomach can be caused by stagnation resulting from poor dietary habits, spicy food, and other digestive issues. Heat rises along the path of the stomach channel to involve the front of the head. Headaches associated with nausea, toothache, or painful gums often fall into this category. Some headaches may be caused by a combination of liver and stomach excess. Description of headache: Behind the eyes When headache is chronic, it may also be related to the liver gallbladder but may be caused by liver but in this case, it will be a Yin deficiency rather than Yang excess. Chinese herbalists might recommend Ming Mu Di Huang Wan in this setting (which AG was also taking). Description of Headache: Whole head with fatigue A holocephalic headache check details is often due to an environmental challenge. The pathogen obstructs the normal flow of Qi in the skin and muscle causing pain. Chuan Xiong Chai Ta Wan is sometimes used in this setting, and if there is a concurrent fever, Zong Gan Ling. Description of Headache: Headache following menstrual period These headaches are usually

chronic and recurrent in women. They are often accompanied by fatigue, and may get worse with menses when there is less blood available in the head, as the available blood must be used in the uterus. Classical Chinese treatment for this is tong qiao huo xue wan. The purpose of this description was to illustrate the difficulties in transposing the Cell press treatments from one selleck compound medical system to another. In Classical Chinese Medicine,

there is no diagnosis of migraine. Headaches are diagnosed according to which systems (or channels) the pain is associated. In Ayurvedic medicine, the treatment depends not only on the symptoms but upon the body type (Dosha) of the patient. There are practitioners who meld systems. Most commonly seen are practitioners who use acupuncture to treat migraine, or Chinese herbs to treat nausea. Here is a brief list of herbs used to treat symptoms that I have seen in my practice: Red Peony – used as a mild tranquilizer, analgesic, anticonvulsive, or vasodilator Ligusticum – used for all types of headaches, acts an analgesic, and antispasmodic Musk – anti-inflammatory Safflower – analgesic and vasodilator Ginger – anti-emetic Finally, here is a list that I have compiled in my own practice of substances that have shown up often enough in patients for me to recognize as part of the shadow world of headache treatment (Table 2). Perhaps some of you will take it upon yourselves to study these in a way that can move them out of the shadows and either into conventional medicine or into the world of quackery. Of course, there are many more, and most carry a long oral, and in some cases written, history of anecdotal treatments. Whether a given practitioner chooses to incorporate these treatment strategies or not is obviously a personal choice.