If you live in the Beaverton area and this sounds familiar, I am so glad you decided to take the time to read this...and I'm ready to help.
Your head is throbbing, not just a little bit, jackhammers are pounding and someone is cranking a vice on your head...squeezing, throbbing, pain. Your neck is tight, your jaw aches, and you are beginning to wonder if something is seriously wrong. Everything has come to a halt because there is no way for you to continue like this, day in and day out when just turning your head makes you want to cry. You have had headaches before, but nothing like this. The pain is there constantly, it is keeping you from sleeping at night so not only are you in pain, but you are tired, irritable, and tense all the time. You know to go to your doctor because you are afraid this may be something serious. Your doctor will ask you a lot of questions: Do you have nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity and light sensitivity to rule out migraines. But that doesn't sound like your symptoms. Your headaches may have lasted more then a week and you could even have tingling down your arm. Your doctor will do a vision and balance test, may even talk about an MRI. But when he diagnosis you with a Tension Headache you somehow feel let down. Tension Headache. It sounds so unassuming. But with over 80% of people suffering with them from time to time it is a big problem. Some people find easy relief with use of anti-inflammatory medication. So why is this so much harder for you? The truth is that no one knows. Here is what we do know: women are more likely to have chronic tension headaches then men and there may or may not be muscle tension. There may be environmental factors, change in diet, sleep, work or school. Stress is usually a factor. Your doctor can give you literature on tension headaches and you will see that anxiety, depression, and even not having community can be contributing factors. Somehow this is supposed to make things clearer. Your doctor can offer you muscle relaxers or anxiety/depression medications that will need to be taken regularly to prevent the stress buildup that may have caused your headaches and this strategy may work for a lot of people. But maybe medication does not appeal to you. As common as tension headaches are they are not well understood by western medicine. Chinese medicine is at its core a medicine of observation and balance. We understand that the body is capable of telling us what is wrong if we just listen. Every piece of information from the location o the headache, time of day, pressure or none will give us a better understanding of what is at the root of the problem. Your Chinese medicine practitioner will use Acupuncture, Herbs, Cupping, and Moxabustion to help rid you of pain and help balance your body. If this sound like something you would like to learn more about I would be happy to meet with you to discuss how we can get you back to living your life pain free! Please Call: Lovall Acupuncture 503-451-3987 to start feeling better soon!!