Migraine and cardiovascular risk

Migraines affect about 15% of the population and greatly affects the quality of life. Migraine sufferers can be disabled due to their condition at times when severe and the condition is a substantial burden on the patient.

As if suffering with the migraine is not bad enough, new research shows that migraine sufferers have an increase in number of heart related conditions, specially migraine sufferers who have aura vs those without aura, and women more than men.!   The increase in cardiovascular events for migraine sufferers included increase in myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, venous thromboembolism (VTE), atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation. Essentially all cardiovascular events increase with history of migraines. This increase has resulted in migraine being considered as a risk factor for any of the above mentioned cardiovascular events.

The risk for CVD was highest during the first year, with an eightfold increased risk for stroke and an approximately twofold increased risk for MI, VTE, and atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter.

Association between migraines and cardiovascular events was a surprise.

Migraine is very complicated and does not have an easy solution or one specific cause. Most of the hundreds of migraine treatments I do per year are different from one patient to another, because the patients are different and so their migraines are caused by different underlying disharmonies.

The link between migraines and cardiovascular events needs to be found, but one possible mechanism involves the vasospasms of the cerebral arteries that are the cause of many migraines.   Presumably this vasospasm can cause stroke or a heart attack by constricting coronaries feeding the heart or carotids feeding the brain.

Acupuncture is very effective for migraines, however, it is no miracle cure. What I mean is that there maybe complete and long lasting relief after a few weekly treatments and then maintenance treatments are performed, but sometimes there is no complete 100 percent relief and the best that can be done is reduction in severity of pain and reduction in frequency of the attacks.   I have a client whose migraines were so severe and frequent that the migraine medicine didn’t work even 50% of the time and now after some regular treatments she is having less pain when she has the migraine and less frequent migraines, but her migraine medicine works in relieving the pain or aborting the headache as she feels it coming on and taking the medicine. That’s a huge improvement folks.

I think that migraines are really an auto-immune condition of the brain and my treatments are very effective in relieving migraines since I incorporate many immune strategies.

If you are suffering with migraines, let me help you.  Nothing is more effective for migraines than the holistic all encompassing approach with acupuncture and herbal medicine.