Headache

Headache refers to pain in any region of the head. Headaches may occur on one or both sides of the head, be isolated to a certain location, radiate across the head from one point, or have a viselike quality.

A headache may appear as a sharp pain, a throbbing sensation or a dull ache. Headaches can develop gradually or suddenly, and may last from less than an hour to several days. A headache can be a symptom of many diseases or an independent disorder. All these variations in headache makes its diagnosis and treatments complicated.

Linda (for patient privacy protection, all patient identifiers in this article are fake) has chronic headaches. She lives in Kansas City but never had a chance to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor before me. Linda has been jogging for three years. She runs 2-3 times a week in part because her headaches. She has hoped her exercise would improve her health and relieve her from the suffering from the headaches. Every time when she has a headache, it may last for 2-3 days. Tylenol can bring her some reliefs but can’t totally get rid of it. She used to have headaches several times a year, but the headaches get more severe and frequently in the recent two years, and she has headaches pretty much every month. Sometimes her headache can last long time, when one headache is finally getting better yet completely gone, the next one comes already. That made her very frustrated and finally brought her to my clinic.

After listened to Linda’s complaint, Dr. Fung checked her pulse and tongue, and told Linda that her headache is resulted from the weakness of her lung functions. Dr. Fung gave Linda acupuncture treatment, and prescribed her some Chinese herbal powders for her to take twice a day for a week. After a few treatments, Linda’s headache is completely gone.

Mary is another example who has headaches. Rather than live in Kansas City, she lives in St. Joseph. She heard of Dr. Fung from her friend. Her headaches come and go for years, and she decided to try Chinese medicine treatment. Different from Linda, Mary’s headache happens often when she has stress, or after she gets angry or depressed. And her headache occurs at the right side of her head, which is also called migraine. Dr. Fung checked her pulse and tongue, and told Mary that her headache is caused by her liver dysfunction. This type of headache can be effectively treated with acupuncture and Chinese herbs. However, patient’s emotion is a very important causal factor for this kind of headache. Keeping calm and peaceful in the life would help to relieve the headaches. If patients can’t avoid the stresses and bad emotions in the life, even the very good traditional Chinese medicine treatment won’t be able to completely cure her headache problems.

Hanna is 49 years old who has hot flash, night sweats, high blood pressure, and headaches. Hanna doesn’t want to take high blood pressure medication and she prefers alternative Chinese medicine treatment. Dr. Fung strongly suggested Hanna to continue her high blood pressure medication to control her high blood pressure as quickly as possible. Once Hanna’s blood pressure is normal, Dr. Fung starts to help her to reduce the dosage of high blood pressure medication with acupuncture and Chinese herbs treatments, that at the same time relieve her headaches.

From these examples, you may see that headaches vary a lot in its forms and causes. Effectively treating headaches requires specific knowledge and experience for the relevant differential diagnosis and treatment strategies. Dr. Fung has successfully treated various headaches patients for years, and is one of the few top experts specialized in traditional Chinese medicine in Kansas City. If you need help, please contact her.