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The Efficacy of Acupressure on the P6 Antiemetic Point: Relief of Migraine-Related Nausea
Abstract
THE EFFICACY OF ACUPRESSURE ON THE P6 ANTIEMETIC POINT: RELIEF OF MIGRAINE-RELATED NAUSEA
Z. Medgyessy, G. Schmid-Ott
Berolina Clinic, Löhne, Germany
Background and Aims: After head pain, nausea is one of the most debilitating symptoms of migraine. The aim of the trial was to evaluate the efficacy of acupressure on the P6 point for the amelioration of migraine related-nausea.
Methods: 41 Patients, 39 female and 2 male, participated in the trial. The participants’ average age was 47 years. They had been suffering from migraines for on average 26 years and had experienced an average of 33,1 migraine days over the previous three months. The average migraine pain intensity was 7,1 on a score from 0 (no pain) to 10 (strongest pain); the average intensity of nausea was 6,2 on a score from 0 (no nausea) to 10 (severest nausea). Patients were instructed to use the SEA-Band acupressure bands instead of taking antiemetics during their next migraine attack and to complete and return a migraine attack diary.
Results: After using the acupressure band, 34 (83%) patients noticed a reduction of nausea. Reported nausea after therapy was 2,9 on the 10-point scale from 1 (significantly weaker) to 10 (significantly stronger). Eighteen patients (44%) reported that their nausea was significantly weaker. The relief of nausea was reported after an average of 28.7 minutes. The average duration of the migraine attacks was 21,5 hours. The Sea-Band was worn on average for 17.9 hours. Forty patients (98%) reported that they would use Sea-Band during migraine attacks again.
Conclusions: Results show, that the use of an acupressure band can reduce migraine-related nausea. The advantage of this therapy is that it is drug-free and has no risks or side-effects such as dizziness or tiredness. Its effect is rapid, and it is easy and inexpensive to use. A randomized trial comparing drug treatment and acupressure is warranted.
an update on the management of chronic migraine In 1672, Thomas Willis provided the first description of chronic migraine (CM) when he reported the case of the philosopher, Anne, Viscountess Conway, who was also treated by William Harvey and Robert Boyle without success. 1-4 Has our treatment of chronic migraine since improved? About 35 million people in the United States have migraines annually. CM, or transformed migraine, is a com-plication of intermittent migraine with 2.5 percent progress-ing yearly from episodic to CM. About 3.2 million adults have CM: 80 percent of women and 1.8 percent of adoles-cents. It may occur with or without medication overuse. The pain is often mild to moderate and not always associ-ated with photophobia, phonophobia, nausea, or vomiting and may resemble a mixture of migraine and tension-type headaches with intermittent severe migraine type head-aches. Depression is present in 80 percent. The International Classification of Headache Disorders 3 (beta) 2013 definition of CM is the following: headache occurring on 15 or more days per month for more than three months, which has the features of migraine headache on at least eight days per month. Patients meeting criteria for 1.3 Chronic migraine and for 8.2 Medication-overuse headache should be given both diagnoses. 5 Risk factors for transformation include medication over-use (especially opiates and barbiturate combinations), high caffeine consumption, female gender, stressful life events, anxiety, depression, baseline high attack frequency, individu-als with lower educational and socioeconomic levels, white patients, those previously married, lifetime injuries to the head or neck, obesity, snoring, and sleep apnea. 6,7
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