An anecdote but a pretty strong one could be a solution for migraines. A woman that experienced terrible migraines all the time, simply got her ear pierced, the type of piercing on the ear is specifically called a daith piercing. Sheri Utecht had severe headaches that would interfere with her daily life. She has to take off work, they cause vomiting and a lot of suffering for her. So one day Sheri decides to pierce her ear, unrelated to the migraines, she just thought it would look nice. It turns out that this piercing, according to her, has cured her of these massive migraines that cause her great agony. The thought behind why this piercing could possibly rid her of her migraines is that it is similar to acupuncture therapy and it had the same kind of effect. Is acupuncture therapy even known help with migraines though? A randomized control trial was done to test this exact idea.
(daith piercing pictured to the left)
In the randomized control trial, there were four groups of around thirty people each (32, 30, 31, 34) to be exact. Every group received the drug Rizatriptan, the first three groups got a different kind of acupuncture (true acupuncture according to traditional Chinese medicine, ritualized mock acupuncture, and standard mock acupuncture), and the fourth group was the control that received no kind of acupuncture. The Migraine Disability Assessment Test (MIDAS) was given before the trial, at 3 months, and at 6 months, then the MIDAS Index was calculated. The results were that the true acupuncture according to traditional Chinese medicine was the only group that was “able to provide a steady outcome improvement in comparison to the use of only Rizatriptan” (Parry 2015)
This trial, while interesting is too small to take anything big away from it. The trial would need to be repeated multiple times, preferably with a lot more than 120 or so people in it. These results could easily be due to chance and the true acupuncture may not be the best method or it could turn out that none of the methods offer any additional benefits compared to the medication only control group.
As this relates to Sheri Utecht and her piercing solving her migraines, it would be interesting to run a large random control trial that tried to determine whether the daith piercing helps migraines. This would be a difficult study to do because first you would need to limit the pool of people to people with chronic migraines, then limit it more to people who would be willing to get the daith piercing (mostly women, I’m sure), and it would have to be people that do not already have this piercing. This limits the pool of people to a pretty small pool and this makes it seem like it would be difficult to execute.
What is the mechanism behind why acupuncture is an effective treatment for pain though?
In acupuncture, small needles are put at certain pressure points on the body. “The needles are then manipulated by an acupuncturist, either manually or electrically. It causes the blood vessels around the needle to open up and become wider, allowing for an increase in blood flow to the tissues in the immediate area” (Parry 2015)
“The results showed in conditions including chronic headache, acupuncture was twice as effective as the drugs and exercise recommended by most doctors” (Parry)
Questions I have for that claim, is what kind of data they have to prove that, were any studies done?
What are they basing this twice as effective rate on? This is only a relative rate, so if the drugs were not effective, being twice as effective as the drugs would not be a big difference. There are no numbers to support this claim.
If daith piercings and/or acupuncture turn out to be a legitimate help for migraines, that could be a big breakthrough in this area.
Isaac, thanks for your comment and feedback on my post. Hopefully your migraines can go away or you can find a solution that works for you. I was really skeptical of a piercing being able to cure a migraine at first too, until like you, I realized the link to acupuncture which is known to help with pain and cure other ailments. I have also heard that a person’s mindset can really help with migraines, and I found this study http://www.ryot.org/thinking-positive-reduces-headaches/524785 that seems to imply that a migraine can be controlled by your own thoughts and beliefs, and that this is more effective than medication. While this study was also small, which leaves a possibility that it was all due to chance, migraine sufferers had much improved conditions when they were told by doctors how effective the medication was, even when they were given the placebo instead! This is a very interesting revelation, and it seems there are ways a person can improve their condition just based on what they think and believe.
I suffer from migraines. I suffer from bad migraines, at that. And on top of that, too, I suffer from bad migraines relatively often, although I’m thankful they’ve slowed down (I needed to include that last part so I don’t jinx myself). So, while scrolling down through the class blog, this topic almost immediately caught my eye. A cure for migraines- it sounded interesting surely. But improbable as well.
As I read down through the blog…I can’t honestly say the improbability of the cure disappeared for me. Migraines being cured by the puncturing of… an ear…is a notion monumentally hard for my head to wrap around. However, the more I continued to read, the more I understood. Acupuncture has been a remedy for various illnesses that’s been around since the beginning of time- I’ve read about it on the internet and watched documentaries and more, and although I consider it to be very mysterious…it’s something that could actually work. I never thought about it’s potential application for curing migraines.
Regarding the experiment that followed the possible revelation, I completely agree with your critique. The numbers in the control were far too small…With approximately thirty individuals in each group, it’s hard to rule out third variables or any other chances- You’re absolutely correct. For me to believe the study, I’d need to see more individuals. I also think they couldn’t be told what was being studied- through another anecdotal story, I’ve realized that confidence…and believing you won’t get a migraine…can actually help you not get a migraine.
Overall, your analysis of the experiment was very good. You really did a great job implementing the materials and topics we learned in class. I also thought you did an excellent job exemplifying the notion of science’s “organized skepticism.” I think that if this were the case, and acupuncture does remedy migraines, it’d be worth while for scientists to put a lot more time into its study. The possibility of other ailments it could cure are limitless then, as many consider migraines to be a neurological issue. Maybe acupuncture could cure depression, or dyslexia, or other potentially neurological ailments.
But, too be honest…in a way I’m hoping this isn’t the cure for migraines.
Not only don’t I want my ear stabbed with a needle or pin…
But as a guy, I don’t think I could pull off that type of ear piercing. So if it came down to “migraine” or “ear piercing”, it’d honestly take a good while of pondering to make a choice.