I am a BIG fan of acupuncture to help manage my migraine attacks. Unfortunately, where I am living currently, I am unable to receive the acupuncture treatments that I would like to have. My insurance will not cover treatments, so I would have to pay $200 out of pocket for treatments, which is just not feasible for our current budget. When we lived on the West Coast, I would receive 2 treatments a week, for migraine management and our health insurance covered them all! Differences in locations and health insurance always provide a challenge in migraine management!
Fortunately, my fantastic acupuncturists and friend from when I lived in Oregon, showed me several points on my ear that I can apply pressure to whenever I am having an attack which can ease the pain and nausea. In addition to applying pressure with just your fingers, you can purchase ear seeds to place on the points, and press on the seeds to provide an even more effective way of reaching the acupuncture points.
Ear seeds are a tool that can be used to place pressure on an acupuncture point without the needle. And you can purchase ear seeds off Amazon! If you are new to this alternative treatment, you may want to meet with an acupuncturists to find these points on your ears prior to purchasing. Or there are kits on Amazon that provide detailed instructions for placement of the seeds.
Ear seeds are SUPER easy to use, and a low cost alternative to acupuncture treatments. If you feel a bit intimidated by this, DO NOT! I have purchased ear seeds off Amazon, and placed them myself. The points are typically easy to find during an attack–they are typically VERY sensitive and sore! For more information about this, I found a great article, that goes into detail about ear seeds.
Here is a diagram of where the typical points are for migraine relief, I typically find that one seed on the Shen Men point and Point Zero will work for me. Once the seeds are in place, you can apply pressure to them throughout an attack, and can even leave them on for days at a time!
Again, I get that this can be rather intimidating! And may not work for everyone, but, I have always found good results with utilizing these points and I have added this to my migraine toolbelt anytime I have an attack.
If you are interested in acupuncture, there are several resources online to help you locate one near you. I have always found the NCCAOM (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine) website as a great place to start.
If you have questions, please reach out to me! I am happy to help provide more tools for your toolbelt!
Modern Migraine Mama 