4 ms·
I was around 13 when I had my first migraine. A solid block of pain on the right side of my head. That occasional migraine became more frequent over the years.
by markx2 2y ago
I was around 13 when I had my first migraine. A solid block of pain on the right side of my head. That occasional migraine became more frequent over the years. I had a headache 24/7 in one specific place in my head.
In my early 30's, after blood tests, food elimination, x-rays and finally an MRI I was told that I had Chronic Daily Migraines.
Most days were 6-7/10 pain. Those days that were 10/10 I perfected the art of lying down and breathing in such a way that I barely moved. Noise / light were never an issue, the pain got worse when I moved.
Then I got a daith piercing.
I had read that a daith could help.
I got the daith ~14 years ago and I have not had any sort of headache since. Both my daughters who had migraines got a daith and they too have no headaches.
I get the sample size is not useful, but if you have migraines, go into your local proper piercing studio and ask for a daith - they will almost certainly reply "On which side of your head is the pain?"
- canadiantim 2y agofascinating, thanks for sharing
- ToDougie 2y agotruly fascinating comment..... will have to research this further!
- isoprophlex 2y agoIf this is because of the piercing doig some vagus nerve stimulation, do you think a simple, small clip or something placed in the right position could help as well?
- markx2 2y agoThat I do not know. It's worth trying but the positioning would be tricky. All I know is as I have posted - the daith piercing stopped the pain.
- isoprophlex 2y agoThanks anyway, I'm definitely looking into this. Suffering from the occasional migraine myself (3-4x year) it seems a bit too drastic for myself... but my wife has very frequent migraines, anything that could possibly help is worth investigating
- markx2 2y agoI got a new puppy - Dogue de Bordeaux - some months ago and she was/is on a raw food diet, so I had to get that delivered frozen. Couple of deliveries in and I got chatting to the guy bringing the food. He mentioned he had headaches constantly. I told him about the daith. Days later he messaged me - he'd got a daith after we talked and today, for the first time in 10+ years he woke in no pain, no need to take codeine. Just go to a proper piercing place, not some "Claire's" type place.
- spondylosaurus 2y agoTry https://safepiercing.org/ https://safepiercing.org/ !
- orthecreedence 2y agoI've heard of this piercing so many times and always wrote it off as some mass hypnosis quick fix that would change nothing. Your comment made me reopen that box I closed years ago. I'm very curious now. Did you get the piercing on your left or right ear?
- markx2 2y agoRight ear because the pain was on the right side of my head.
- jmhammond 2y agoI'm willing to try it! Are you able to wear earbuds with the daith piercing? Airpods Pro are one of my most-used pieces of tech both at work live-streaming classes and at home listening to books and music.
- markx2 2y agoYes! I have worn various and my current are Airpods 2 Pro. The daith is discreet, does not get in the way of anything.
- seattle_spring 2y agoWhat about wearing a winter hat? I was considering getting one for the exact reasons as you, but I live in a pretty cold area and not being able to wear a hat for 6 months during its healing process is unfortunately a dealbreaker.
- markx2 2y agoUnless the hat has a hard edge which sits right on top of the piercing you should be fine.
- whutsurnaym 2y agoThrowing in my anecdata: I had migraines at least once every two weeks for most of my life. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just that 7/10 dull pain in the center of my head that shut me down for 5 or 6 hours. I'm very skeptical about supposed instant fixes like this. I didn't expect it to work, but I wanted to start getting ear piercings and I figured I'd give it a shot with something not too flashy. I went with my wife to her piercing appointment and convinced them to pierce my left daith while we were already there. That was at least seven years ago. I haven't had a migraine since. I keep assuming it's placebo and it'll wear off, but it hasn't.
- LeoPanthera 2y agoResearch says it's no more effective than a placebo, but hey, if it works, it works. https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/head.14672 https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- dumbfounder 2y agoI have tried vagus nerve stimulation and it worked for about a week and then became mostly ineffective. That is consistent with this study. So, maybe try vagus nerve stimulation first and see if that works long term.
- willy_k 2y ago> Research says it's no more effective than a placebo, but hey, if it works, it works. The paper you cited doesn’t say this, if anything it says the opposite. It found that it reliably works for some amount of time, but the mechanism is unclear. “In all case studies and the retrospective study, patients reported substantial reductions in pain immediately after daith piercing; however, headache symptoms recurred several weeks to months thereafter. From the perspective of the Chinese and Western auricular systems, no sufficient explanation for the described treatment effect of daith piercing was found.”
- stuckonempty 2y agoA piercing that takes months to heal and has its own potential side effects (infection for one) does not seem worth weeks of relief after which pain returns. The authors of this study therefore do not recommend this piercing for migraines despite the transitory benefits “current evidence does not support daith piercing for the treatment of migraine, tension-type headaches, or other headache disorders.”
- willy_k 2y agoThat’s very different from being equivalent to placebo. And according to anecdotes in this thread, it may be permanent in some cases.