Migraine is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches (moderate to severe) that are associated with symptoms, such as vomiting, nausea, and sensitivity to sound, light and smell. A migraine attack usually lasts from two to 72 hours. Currently, there is no cure for migraine but there are some remedies and tools that can help people who suffer from this disorder including, cognitive behavioral therapy, diet changes, stress relief techniques and daith piercing.
What Is Daith Piercing?
Daith piercing is basically an ear piercing that passes through the ear’s innermost cartilage fold.
Can A Daith Piercing Help With Migraines?
Migraines are complex and doctors don’t know the reasons people experience the terrible headaches and all the other symptoms and they also don’t know the best way to treat and prevent them. However, acupuncturists think that acupuncture can help people who suffer from migraines and that really is the case for certain people. In acupuncture, some zones of the ear correspond to zones on the body and that’s why it is believed that a daith piercing can help people who suffer from migraine, especially if the migraine are relate to digestive problems.
Some people say the daith piercing helped them tremendously while others say they did not notice any difference. It obviously depends but if you suffer from migraine, you can try acupuncture for a few weeks and then decide if you should pierce you ear or not.
The Potential Placebo Effect
There are doctors who do not believe a daith piercing can relieve the symptoms of patients who suffer from migraine since there are no official studies that support this theory and they consider patients experience less symptoms or less headaches due to the placebo effect. One can argue that there are just a few studies on migraines so of course there are no studies on the effect of a daith piercing. And, if the piercing helps some patients, it doesn’t really matter if it works or it is just the placebo effect since people see improvements in their condition.
The risk of infection is high since the area for the piercing doesn’t heal very fast and there is also the risk of contracting an infection at the tattoo parlor where you can get the daith piercing but if you do some research before choosing the tattoo parlor and choose a clean one that sterilizes the tools before using them and you take proper care of the piercing the chances of contracting an infection are not that high anymore.
What Do Patients Say About Daith Piercings?
There are no formal studies conducted to see if daith piercings are efficient however, Carl Cincinnato from Migraine Pal conducted an informal study with 380 respondents to find out patients’ experiences. According to the study, 48% of the respondents did not experience any change in frequency of the migraines, 47% experienced a decrease in frequency, half of the respondents said that the daith piercing reduced the symptoms and severity of migraine attacks and 46% did not experience any changes in severity.
If you feel like a daith piercing can help you with migraine, you can give it a try, after all you can remove it if you did not see any improvements.