Why migraine should be treated with Chinese medicine

       Migraine is a common and frequent disease. According to the national epidemiological survey report (except Taiwan Province), 3,837,597 people were surveyed, with a prevalence rate of 985.2/100,000 and a male to female ratio of 1:4.  The incidence rate was 79.7/100,000, with 35/100,000 men and 124/100,000 women respectively (1:3.5). From the above data, it can be seen that the disease is very common, especially in women.  The disease usually starts in adolescence and is triggered by mood swings, fatigue, food allergies, consumption of cheese, chocolate, coffee, alcohol, and menstruation; the attacks are cyclic; intermittently the patient may be completely normal.  The pathogenesis of migraine is unclear and therefore difficult to cure. Many patients suffer from chronic migraine due to prolonged headaches. Chronic migraines cause a great deal of physical and psychological pain and seriously affect the ability to work.  Recent studies have shown that migraines also cause damage to the white matter of the brain, and patients experience cognitive decline. As a result, patients seek medical help everywhere, which results in a significant loss of money, resources and time. Patients take daily medication to relieve their headaches, and some patients take large amounts of medication, which results in a number of problems.  First, many patients prefer to take compounded preparations containing caffeine, such as headache powder and most cold medicines. In fact, caffeine has a certain therapeutic effect on headache, but long-term, large amounts of caffeine can cause patients to take drugs gradually lose their role, and patients have to increase the dose of drugs to relieve headache and form dependence, or insensitivity to most western drugs.  This situation is called drug-dependent headache. In this case, patients should stop using western medicine in time and take Chinese herbal medicine for a period of time to achieve good results.  Secondly, the main drugs used to treat migraine are antipyretic and analgesic drugs, including Fenbendazole and Sanlidone, which are available in the market or in advertisements. These drugs are generally not a big problem when taken for a short period of time, and can be used by migraine patients who have fewer attacks.  However, if patients have frequent headache attacks (more than 2 times a week), some side effects may occur if they take antipyretic and analgesic drugs frequently, including indigestion, nausea and vomiting, peptic ulcer and bleeding, elevated transaminases, kidney function impairment, drug allergy, etc.  In addition, if migraines recur frequently, there are many physicians who will recommend the use of drugs such as flunarizine, cyproheptadine, and insulin for prevention, and some physicians will recommend patients to use anti-epileptic drugs such as sodium valproate and Toltea for prevention.  These drugs are usually used for a month or more. Again these medications have more side effects. Flunarizine, for example, may cause extrapyramidal symptoms, drowsiness, obesity, and depression in patients, while antiepileptic drugs may cause liver function impairment, memory, decreased responsiveness, and dizziness.  In contrast, TCM has more advantages in the treatment of migraine.  First of all, there are many Chinese medicines available in the market for migraine with few or occasional occurrences. For example, Tong Tian Oral Liquid, Zheng Tian Wan, Quan Tian Ma Tablets, Quan Tian Ma Capsules, etc. They have better efficacy and have less side effects and better safety than antipyretic and analgesic drugs.  Secondly, for drug-dependent headache formed by long-term use of headache powder and other drugs, as mentioned before, it is necessary to stop using the above-mentioned drugs and take 1-2 weeks of herbal tonics for conditioning, after which a cure can be expected.  Third, many patients with chronic, frequent migraine attacks are most concerned about how to treat them safely and effectively. In this case, patients should be treated with Chinese herbal medicine for 2-4 weeks, and the frequency of attacks will be significantly reduced for a long time afterwards, and the headache will be lessened. Some patients will not have attacks for several years.  Therefore, it is recommended that migraine patients first use Chinese medicine for treatment.