Abdominal Migraines
forum post
I'm looking for information about abdominal migraines, as a search of Yin Yang House has not found any articles or discussions about them. I am an acupressurist.
I have received information from the mother of a girl suffering from what she identifies as abdominal migraines: She has had several unexplained episodes of tummy pain that is often hard to localize. She will then vomit a few times and is left really tired and always has dark circles under her eyes. Her eyes almost look sunken into her head. She is also extremely pale. It takes her at least 24 hours; sometimes 48 hours before she is completely back to normal. She has missed at least 10 days of school due to these episodes and has an upcoming appt. with a Pediatric gastroenterologist.
That's all the information I have so far, though I suspect an emotional component of worry/frustration/fears could be involved as well.
I had previously never heard of abdominal migraines. It seems to me that the abdominal pain points towards Spleen, Liver, Small & Large Intestine due to location, and possibly to Liver Wind due to the difficulty of localization.
Vomiting would indicate Rebellious Stomach Qi and fatigue would be linked to Spleen Qi Deficiency and Kidney Deficiency (Yang? Essence??). The dark, sunken circles under the eyes tell me Deficiency, as does the paleness, and of course Kidney. But that's as specific as I can be at the moment.
I understand that when meridian Qi is blocked, it goes sideways, creating horizontal tension bands. So it seems that, in addition to working with Sp Lv K, it would be helpful to work with the HTB of the diaphragm, abdomen and possibly the pelvis.
What I am less clear about is when to tonifiy, when to "sedate". It seems that Sp & K generally need tonification and Lv often needs sedation.
Does anyone have experience with abdominal migraines? I have read online that they tend to occur in children and can be a precursor for migraine headaches.
Thanks
Hulda, CAMT
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Acupoints: st 10, st 11, st 12
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Comments / Discussions:
comment by "archived-user"
on Dec 2011
Dark circle under eyes is Kidney essence deficiency pattern, she should tonify kidney "Jing", use points Kd3, Ren 4, Gb19, 39, Du 20, Sp6, Ub 23, Tai Yang, Yin Tang etc.
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comment by "Hulda"
on Jan 2012
Thank you, Feng Mei & Byodoinpilgrim, for your responses.
It's helpful to have clarity that dark circles under the eyes is a sign of depletion of Jing.
Chong Mai makes a lot of sense. I'll check into Maciocia's gynecology book. And think about whether the Dai Mai might also be helpful. At some point. I also love the reminder that Less is More.
Hulda
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comment by "Byodoinpilgrim"
on Jan 2012
Hulda,
Giovanni Maciocia talks about these kinds of problems in the context of gynecology. He once mentioned a case at one of his seminars just like what you describe, with a 14 year old girl with abdominal pain and vomitting. I don't know how old the girl is, but maybe her body is changing in preparation for menstration? The Chong extra meridian seems to cover a lot of abdomen and chest issues, and of course, plays a large role in womens issues. Rather than treat the individual syndromes and channels SP ST KI LV etc, you might have a bigger impact by chosing a few Chong Mai points.
Consider a minimalist treatment with SP4 on the right (main point on right for women), PC6 on the left, with a few points on the abdomen to move Qi, such as KI14 and/or KI16, bi-laterally. Of course, REN4, LI4 (subdue rebellious qi), ST37 and ST39 (nourish sea of blood), SP6 (nourish blood & pacify Liver), and LV 3 (subdue Rebellious Qi) are other good supporting points. I would do a minimal treatment first, because less is more when treating a whole bunch of things at once, and you can then more easily determnine the degree of success when there are less points.
I am not an expert on this; these are just suggestions. Look to Giovanni Maciocia's book on Obstetrics and Gynecology for more info.
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comment by "ChadD" (acupuncturist)
on Jan 2012
Medically speaking dark circles under the eyes is often a sign of allergies and even within Chinese Medicine it can be a sign of KD deficiency, not necessarily as deep as Jing deficiency. For abdominal migraines proper evaluation is crucial so I will wait to comment until you have physically inspected the patient and have a very clear diagnosis from a Chinese perspective. One point we use very often in these cases, however, is strong tuina in the ST 10, 11, 12 area (generally on the patients (L) side) which stimulates the vagus nerve (which innervates among many other things many aspects of the abdomen). Very helpful to open up this area, particularly as you practice acupressure.
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