How Allergies Affect Migraines

No one has just one cause to their migraines, it’s usually a combination of things.

Did you know that allergies and migraines can set each other off?

When you have an allergic reaction, inflammation is triggered throughout your body. This inflammation, especially around nerves and blood vessels, can trigger migraines.

No one approach is best for everyone, what matters most is that you feel better!

So, if you have already started migraine medication, then you can add acupuncture or herbal allergy formulas. If you really struggle with migraines, you can even add both to your routine.

The key is to keep a window between medications and supplements/herbs and to

have some guidance around which things to take when.

If you have not started migraine medication, you may want to choose to work on

your migraines with acupuncture to see if things improve. A course of acupuncture is

12-20 visits, and it works best when you follow the diet, lifestyle, and exercise

recommendations that your acupuncturist gives you.

For example, if you have migraines that get worse when the weather changes, and you have some swelling at the bridge of your nose, avoiding sugar and dairy will help. You may need a full anti-inflammatory diet depending on your symptom severity. The acupuncture will reduce the swelling at the bridge of the nose and decrease the frequency, intensity, and severity of your migraines. Everyone has different results, but sticking the

course usually leads to the best outcomes.

We are all human beings who are not perfect. Sometimes you know you need to change something and have a hard time changing it. Sometimes you try a suggestion and it does not work for you.

The weakness I see with acupuncture for many people is the gentle shift, 10% of the improvement at a time is hard for our drug minded culture. If you take herbs or get acupuncture and things are 10% better, if you stick with it, soon you may be 50% better.

Many people will start getting frustrated and try to add more things to the treatment because they feel scared it will not work for them. In my 18 years of experience, acupuncture ALWAYS improves migraines, even if it starts as small relief. People may still experience the same intensity, but the frequency improves.

People may have many things improve around the item they are focused on. For example, their blood pressure normalizes, their mood improves, they start to tone up and lose weight, but they are extra focused on wanting to never have a migraine again.

Working with budgets makes us feel even more pressured to have results – both as a patient trying to spend their money wisely and as a provider, trying to make sure our patients get results.

If you can follow our recommended treatment plan, you will get further faster. I often will explain this to a patient, that we can pick at it with less visits, but this approach is much slower.

Sometimes a little care helps. It gives you ideas of what to change and try to change. It’s okay if you doubt. Acupuncture will work for your allergies and migraines if you keep going. If you start with the correct timeline and expectations, you will be better off at the end of the appointment series than you were when you started!

The sooner you get started, the sooner you can get relief. A free consultation with my Lakewood, CO acupuncture clinic is a great place to start. Come see me, and I can help you with a natural plan to overcome your migraine symptoms.