Clusterheadaches.com Message Board


    
      
        Clusterheadaches.com Message Board
        (http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies >> Accupuncture and yoga?
        
(Message started by: kcopelin on Jan 11^th, 2006, 6:16pm)

Title: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by kcopelin on Jan 11^th, 2006, 6:16pm

Saw another neuro yesterday at the VA-there's no consistency there on who you see-this guy prescribed accupuncure and naprosyn-the resident added yoga. Now, I've got nothing against alternative or non-western meds, but it looks like accupuncture didn't do well on the medication survey. Any input on that, naprosyn or yoga?
kathy
P/S. my 8 year old son got a real kick out of the idea of me standing on my head-and my husband is still snickering at this.

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by nani on Jan 11^th, 2006, 6:26pm

on 01/11/06 at 18:16:28, kcopelin wrote:

Any input on that, naprosyn or yoga?

No results, no results, my body won't "do" yoga. ;)
Maybe if you add some kudzu or seeds?

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by Kris_in_SJ on Jan 11^th, 2006, 8:06pm

ANY neuro who prescribes Naprosyn (an anti-inflammatory) and accupuncture for clusters is totally and completely either a quack, or totally out of his league in terms of stupidity.

I'm with Nani. If you have to go the alternative route, do it with the things that just might work!

YOGA????!!!

Hugs,

Kris

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by BlueMeanie on Jan 11^th, 2006, 8:56pm

I,m sure we all learn to meditate to stay focused during a CH hit. It seams if you learned Yoga, it would at least help distract you until the pain wears off. I don't think I could do all that leg bending over you head stuff. [smiley=laugh.gif] I do my own accupuncture during a cycle. It's called lots and lots of Trex. ;)

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by chewy on Jan 11^th, 2006, 9:17pm

Quote:

Saw another neuro yesterday at the VA-there's no consistency there on who you see-this guy prescribed accupuncure and naprosyn-the resident added yoga

Are you sure you didn't mistakenly wander into the psche ward where they play Doctor?

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by kcopelin on Jan 11^th, 2006, 9:22pm

Thank y'all so much for your responses...you have all verified my thoughts on the matter. I did try some yoga neck exercises this afternoon-no legs behind head stuff...it triggered a friggin' headache. I am a little pissed off right now.... sorry for venting so much but thank you for listening.
kathy

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by chewy on Jan 11^th, 2006, 9:30pm

Yeah well. Chalk that one up.

It would suck doing Yoga with all those needles stickin in ya anyway.

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by floridian on Jan 11^th, 2006, 10:35pm

In terms of immediate medical treatment, not good advice. Meditation can increase melatonin levels and might have some preventive value, but it is something that episodics should pick up when they are out of cycle. Acupuncture has been shown to raise endorphin levels (which are low in clusterheads) but it hasn't been shown to reduce the number or intensity of hits.

http://www.med-owl.com/clusterheadaches/tiki-index.php?page=Meditation
http://www.med-owl.com/clusterheadaches/tiki-index.php?page=Acupuncture

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by sandie99 on Jan 12^th, 2006, 8:49am

Practising yoga regularly didn't prevent me from getting ch in the first place. I do yoga occasionally, but pilates regularly. :)

Sanna

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by Gator on Jan 12^th, 2006, 9:29am

While it will never be high on the list of things I want to try for clusters, acupuncture has actually been shown effective in treating some of the symptoms of MS and Fibromyalgia, which several clusterheads here on this board report having.

http://www.mstrust.org.uk/publications/opendoor/0008_11_12.jsp

http://www.umm.edu/ms/heads_up.html

http://www.arthritis.org/resources/arthritistoday/2000_archives/2000_05_06_acupuncture.asp

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10086765&dopt=Abstract

Edited to add one more from the Mayo Clinic.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2005-rst/3000.html

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by BK on Jan 12^th, 2006, 2:00pm

on 01/12/06 at 08:49:35, sandie99 wrote:

Practising yoga regularly didn't prevent me from getting ch in the first place.
Sanna

Ditto.

But yoga can be a good thing even if it doesn't help ch. If practiced regularly, one can have an overall improved sense of well being. It can help reduce stress which is an issue with many ch'ers. There are many forms of yoga and just about anybody can perform some aspect of it. It can be modified for overweight people or those with physical limitations. I'm not trying to sell it. Just saying it's not outrageous to consider incorporating it into a healthy way of living.

Of course if my neuro had suggested it as the only form of treatment, I would have probably decked him.

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by Karla on Jan 12^th, 2006, 2:49pm

I think the dr is a quack! I would be looking for a different neuro who specializes in ha. Or if your stuck with the same dr do what he says and then tell them it didn't work because my gut tells me it won't work. I tried biofeedback and accupuncture and neither did a thing for me. But it made the dr happy and we moved on to some other things to try that were more likely to be effective like verapamil 960mg, lithium900mg, topamax900mg, neurontin, oxygen(10-15lpm), imitrix,etc. Good luck.

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by seasonalboomer on Jan 12^th, 2006, 3:27pm

i'm all for alternatives. hell I'm a damn cheerleader for alternatives.
and, at one point, i thought i could meditate my way out of my CH.
then reality hit.

i do practice yoga, but not for cluster headaches.

get some O2
get some Kudzu
and as a back-up get some imitrex

then enjoy yoga for what it is really for.

scott

Title: Re: Accupuncture and yoga?
Post by kcopelin on Jan 12^th, 2006, 6:50pm

Already on verapamil, melatonin at night, have O2...been down the long road of meds folks (literally everything except topamax) tried HBWR seeds-nada. The only reason for this visit was to change staus of diagnosis from episodic to chronic which sucks enough. But what I got instead!!!! I have ordered kudzu, and am considering clusterbuster methods. I am not considering yoga-relaxation triggers these headaches-and have tried meditation and biofeedback in the past-sure fire fire trigger. Thanks for all your feedback.