Chinese Medicine - migraine

In Chinese medicine it is your chi or bio-energy that is responsible for everything that occurs in the body. Western medicine has dismissed this idea and far too simplistic, always opting to choose the extremely complex over the simple. But this is really a very dangerous mindset because you can be just as blinded to the truth if your mindset is always looking for complex answers. The same holds true when only looking for simple answers too.

In Chinese medicine, anytime you experience;

• Headaches
  
• Dizziness
  
• Nausea
  
• Vomiting
  

These are characteristics of "ascending fire chi" rising up to the head. Recall from above that "Recent PET scans have demonstrated the aura to coincide with spreading cortical depression after an episode of greatly increased blood flow (up to 300% higher than normal)." In Chinese medicine there is an old axiom that states "chi is the commander of blood, but blood is the mother of chi. This means that wherever chi goes, the blood will follow." There have been many experiments done that show that if a person thinks about their feet; blood flow to the feet actually increases. If they think about their head, the blood flow to the head also increases.

Naturally such studies are rarely if ever are published in the western media since western medicine really doesn't want people to know that they can use their mind and thoughts to help alleviate their chronic illnesses that bring is so much revenue for doctors and drug companies alike.

This ascending fire chi is the true cause of serious headaches such as migraines and many other associate illnesses of excess fire energy that are so common today in the western world. Recall that nausea, dizziness (vertigo) and vomiting are also a main symptoms reported by many migraine sufferers over the centuries. This is in perfect accord with ancient Chinese medical theory of "ascending fire chi". When chi rises to the head, the blood naturally follows. Often this intensifies the symptoms due to the expansion of blood vessels in the brain caused by the presence of increased blood flow.

So what is causing this "ascending fire chi" to rise up to the head? There can be many causes but they all have one thing in common, they are all reflective in one or more of the four main characteristics of chi, those are the;

1. Flow
   
2. Strength
   
3. Balance
   
4. Purity
   

These are the four main chi characteristics in the body. When anyone or more of these "chi symptoms" are present, symptoms and disease will be manifest in the body to some degree. Energy may be in disharmony for weeks, months or years before any physical manifestations of symptoms arise. Chinese pulse diagnosis is fantastic at detecting these energy deficiencies and imbalances sometimes decades in advance when done by a skilled master healer. This is something else that is also laughed at in western medical circles.

Chemicals in foods such as MSG, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, various preservatives, artificial sweeteners and just about anything else artificial can causes excess fire chi to be generated in the body. If the kidneys (which control water functions of the body) are not strong enough or compromised in some way, they will not be able to balance out this excess fire chi and this energy can than ascend to the head uncontrollably. Where this chi goes, the blood will follow often resulting in the physical manifestation of the main migraine symptoms of pain, nausea, dizziness and vomiting, sometimes accompanied by "aura".

Excess fire chi rising to the head would certainly cause this "aura" that patients of describe preceding an attack. This aura can take place sometimes up to an hour or more before an attack of migraine. Visual aura is the most common of the neurological events. There is a disturbance of vision consisting usually of unformed flashes of white and/or black or rarely of multicolored lights (photopsia) or forma¬tions of dazzling zigzag lines. Sometimes auditory or olfactory hallucinations occur during this aura phase too.

These are all signs and symptoms of the ascending fire chi rising to the head, overloading the various senses and the brain itself, resulting in the various hallucinations and other symptoms that are regularly reported by migraine sufferers.

In advanced Chinese meditation, these same signs often accompany someone who is on the verge of attaining what's called a "Major breakthrough" in the meditative practice. In this case the symptoms are not a cause for alarm but celebration. That's because in this case they are a major sign that the practitioner has succeeded in leading huge amounts of chi to the brain, thus energizing the brain to a far higher level which is a major factor in enlightenment, increased mental power, wisdom and longevity. There is no pain or discomfort in a person who attains this level, but amazing joy, peace, happiness and significantly increased physical strength, endurance, immunity and longevity.

Methods to Cool the Fire

The triggers listed above can lead to a weakening of the kidneys and thus an associated increase in fire chi in the body. The heart is the fire organ of the body and even in western medicine it's known that the kidneys often play a role in people who suffer from various severe heart conditions, though they do not understand the exact mechanism behind this cause they reject the Chinese explanations of chi and chi theory as stated here.

Any illness severe enough to cause major symptoms in the body will always have part or all of it's root cause in the kidneys and kidney chi. The kidneys are your main organs that determine overall life force, sexual health, energy, and longevity. This is why Chinese medicine places such great emphasis on strengthening the kidneys. This is not only a factor in prevention of disease but in curing as well.

Here are several methods that are known to help cool down the fire chi in the body and greatly help reduce the frequency, severity or totally eliminate migraine headaches from occurring in the future.

1)Avoid fire inducing foods; Foods such as red meat, pork, processed foods, spices, alcohol, soda, refined sodium and sugars and all other refined foods should all be greatly cut down or eliminated from the diet as much as possible. These foods are very common in the western world and it's no coincidence that the majority of diseases were seeing in the west are diseases of excess fire energy and energy deficiency too. Processed foods are virtually dead in terms of their life energies.

2)Eat cooling (yin) foods from nature such as vegetables, fruits, wild fish, organic meats, whole grain breads and all other foods that are as minimally processed as possible; This also includes reading those labels to make sure that there are no chemicals in those foods at all.

3)Practice meditation 20-30 minutes per day to calm the mind and help cool down the fire energies of the body; Chinese meditations which focus on the "dan tien" area just below the navel are particularly helpful as that are is the seat of "water energies" in the body and can greatly help to not only cool the fire energies down, but strengthen the kidneys themselves.

4)Practice deep abdominal breathing several times per day; Breathing is another method that is used in Chinese medicine and martial arts to help not only cool down the fire during training or a battle, but to help increase endurance, health and longevity too. Breathing is one of the fastest and most effective methods of cooling down the fire. Practicing breath holding for 3-5 seconds every few breaths can go a long way to keeping the fire energies of the body in check.

5)Take herbs such as Ginger, Feverfew and Ginkgo Biloba; One case report suggested success using 4–6 grams per day of powdered ginger for migraines and the nausea that accompanies them.28 Ginger may also be taken as a tincture in the amount of 1.5–3 ml three times daily. Ginkgo biloba extract may also help because it reduces the formation of a substance known as platelet-activating factor which may contribute to migraines. Although Ginger is classified as a warming herb, in this case it helps to strengthen the water energies of the kidneys. The kidneys then have increased water energies to cool the fire of the body. This is a classic example of the "mother-son" law of Chinese medicine at work. Ginger is also excellent for the dizziness than often accompanies migraine headaches as well.

6)Use acupuncture and acupressure points to help balance chi flow; Acupressure points such as connecting valleys which is located on the webbing between the thumb and forefinger of both hands is known to be effective at relieving mild to moderate headaches and migraines. Press on this point with moderate pressure for 30-60 seconds of each hand. There are also points at the base of the back of the skull where the bone goes into the softer tissue of the neck that can be extremely effective at not only alleviating migraine attacks, but have been known to cure some cases of chronic migraines with only one application.

The exact location of these points is difficult to describe in words, but a general massaging of the lower part of the skull where the two thick chords of the neck disappear into the skull while looking down at the ground can often be just as effective as acupressure at relieving headache pain many cases.

7)Drink more water; Chronic dehydration is another major cause of headaches and in fact many other major illnesses were seeing today. Soda and coffee and even many teas do not count as drinking water. Water itself is pure, helps to ease the strain on the kidneys which again increases the strength of their control over the fire energies of the body. Not to mention water physically helps to purify the bloodstream, flushes out toxins and can help keep the blood thinner and flowing more smoothly throughout the system. This results in less strain on the heart and since the heart is the fire organ of the body that means less fire energies will be generated.

Also be sure to clean up your diet adding as much natural raw or at least lightly cooked foods to your diet as possible, avoiding chemicals and chemical triggers, reducing stress and exercising as much as possible as well as getting a good nights sleep. Slow motion exercises like Tai Chii and "The eight pieces of brocade" can strengthen the overall energy of the body and have a strong calming effect on all the organs of the body. This is especially true of the mind and can greatly help to reduce or eliminate migraine headaches.