I’m gonna give it a another go I think…
— Begin quote from “belgianwaffle”
I’m gonna give it a another go I think…
— End quote
Get a massage instead. More enjoyable and it actually does something. 
I’m getting a free body and face massage tomorrow.
Great having a journalist friend 
scott, you look like Lenny, love it 8)
Hi guys!
I just started seeing an acupuncturist at the Ontario migraine Clinic. A friend saw an article about him in the feb issue of Chatelaine and let me know about it. He clearly helps people, and has been named one of the two most successful migraine clinics in the world. I don’t know, it does seem woo but I will do anything to get my life back from
Daily migraines and monthly vertigo.
My personal theory is that it all boils down to trigger points in the neck and upper back. And maybe magnesium. (I recently had an 8 day stretch of zero head pain after a couple of weeks of using transdermal magnesium).
My new plan of attack is weekly acupuncture and the Clair Davies book on self treatment for trigger points. And magnesium. There are a lot of stories about how working on trigger points helped people, and no side effects.
I just read last night online about how acupuncture and trigger point therapy share something like 90% of the same points. Maybe THAT’s how acupuncture works!!!
To me, if you can recreate some of your symptoms by pressing on tender points in your back and neck, how can TPs not be the cause?
I’ll be sure to come and post when I am MAV free. That’s my plan. 
PS . " if one of these CAM treatments was really truly effective, scientists would have extracted the active molecule(s) by now and it would no longer be considered “alternative” medicine but just medicine"
No way!!! Heard of big pharma?? Seen the Burzinksy movie???
Just sayin’.
Hi,
It has become fashionable to not only criticise the pharmaceutical industry but to demonise them – and the term “big pharma” has come to represent this demonisation. Cynicism is a cheap imitation of skepticism – it is the assumption of the worst, without careful thought or any hint of fairness.
Here at mvertigo we promote science-based medicine and will criticise pharmaceutical companies along with everyone else when they place other concerns ahead of scientific validity, or promote bad science, for whatever reason. Nobody into “alternative” medicine seems to care that the manufactures of vitamins and supplements are also pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars every year. But because it’s “natural” it’s OK in their view. And actually, it is OK for people who sell any form of medicine to make money. If there was no money in it, nobody would be doing it. It’s the way the world works.
There are no specific acupuncture points. Well-designed studies have shown that it doesn’t matter where the needles are stuck or even if toothpicks are twirled instead of needles. The same placebo effect may be received regardless. Save your time and money and see a trained physiotherapist to address any trigger point issues in your neck. It will probably take you no more than 2-3 sessions to fix it.
Scott
There are also well design studies that have proven acupuncture has helped migraines.
Hi Hillsta,
You need to consider the plausibility of this modality first and then look at the evidence as a whole. Acupuncture is based on the premise of “meridians” for which there is no evidence. It then apparently works by sticking needles into certain points along these meridians. In short, it’s not plausible in this sense.
If you look at the entire body of evidence and we don’t cherry pick studies, the overall effect is nil. The effects reported on are generally background noise and do not differ from placebo effects. The newer studies are much better controlled and give us the most compelling evidence of its non-effect.
Scott
Scott,
I am not disagreeing with you. I sit in the middle on this one but if there are scientific studies that prove both sides of the argument then why adamant that there is no evidence that it are works?
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/puncturing-the-acupuncture-myth/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-149339/Acupuncture-scientific-evidence.html
Hillsta,
Sorry if my previous post came across as argumentative. I’m just being factual about this. There is no adamance in this for me at all – which suggests being resolute by virtue of being unyielding and inflexible. If very well designed trials started showing time and again that acupuncture clearly worked and there was a clear mechanism, I’d change my mind. No problem there at all.
For any scientific claim (regardless of plausibility) scientific evidence is considered well-established when it simultaneously (that’s critical) fulfills the following four criteria:
1- Methodologically rigorous, properly blinded, and sufficiently powered studies that adequately define and control for the variables of interest (confirmed by surviving peer-review and post-publication analysis).
2- Positive results that are statistically significant.
3- A reasonable signal to noise ratio (clinically significant for medical studies, or generally well within our ability to confidently detect).
4- Independently reproducible. No matter who repeats the experiment, the effect is reliably detected.
This pattern of compelling evidence does not exist for acupuncture.
I’m glad you have been reading Science Based Medicine. It’s a brilliant website. If you go through the site they logically examine acupuncture and continue to do so as new articles appear in the press – press articles that almost always misinterpret the findings from acupuncture studies and make grand extrapolations.
The answer doesn’t always lie somewhere in the middle, which for me is cliche. Sometimes there just is no other side (e.g. homeopathy) to be in the middle of in the light of overwhelming evidence. If you take ALL of the evidence for acupuncture as a whole (see the four points above) and also examine the plausibility, it doesn’t float. But it does point very strongly to a placebo effect (of which there are many – e.g. spontaneous improvement, fluctuation of symptoms, regression to the mean).
Scott,
My neuro recommended this as next treatment since there is one muscle that did not respond to 24 sessions of physical therapy and still affects my range of motion. My sister (an exercise physiologist with a PhD in epidemiology who is a researcher at Duke…right up there with you in terms of her objective research-based perspective ) gave me four sessions of acupuncture as a birthday present; she believes it could help. I thought about this for a while and even said to her that I didn’t want her to spend her money on something that might be just like a massage-make me feel better temporarily, but still not help with the root cause.
Nonetheless, I accepted the gift and begin on Monday. I will definitely keep you posted on my progress. Consider it anecdotal evidence !
Lisa
I know that this isn’t migraine related or particularly empirical but I have had accupuncture done for chronic pain. While I had it done all over my body, I had a significant response when it was done on my hip and lower back. My right hip was very stiff adn painful from lack of me walking. When the accupuncurist put a needle near my right hip, my hip immediately relaxed and I felt like I had taken a vicodin or something- it was truly amazing. It didn’t work on the rest of my body but I can 100% tell you that it helped my back and hip. It was crazy it was like my hip involuntarily relaxed. I am the biggest skeptic of things like accupuncture- I believe in taking pills LOL- but this experience made me a believer in it.
A previous therapist told me that she knew 3 people with vertigo (likely MAV) who went to this one accunpunture guy and he was able to supposedly eliminate their vertigo attacks. This lady was very factual and had taken her own mother to see this guy and he was able to significantly reduce her attacks. I am more skeptical that it can help with MAV but she had some pretty powerful evidence. As a side note this lady’s mother had been treated for “meniere’s disease” for years and years and even had gentamicin injections which killed the rest of her hearing. The lady didn’t get any relief until the accupuncture. I am positive she had MAV and unfortunately this was never diagnosed (the lady is now in her 90’s). Sorry I am rambling but yea so who knows maybe it really can help with MAV?
''There have been numerous studies for acupuncture in the treatment of migraines.
One systematic review demonstrated that traditional acupuncture is superior to sham acupuncture and pharmacological therapy for chronic headache treatment by improving headache intensity and frequency and increasing the response rate. The review which included 31 studies on acupuncture for chronic headache, including migraine and tension headache. This large scale study was conducted by Duke University Medical Centre, North Carolina, USA and published in (link below) ‘’
http://www.anesthesia-analgesia.org/content/107/6/2038.abstract
Scott,
i am going to try it and see what results i get. I will report back
— Begin quote from “hillsta”
Victoria,
You are also just repeating yourself
— End quote
You’re right, and I was rude too. My apologies. I’ve removed my post.