Written February 25, 2019
It has been two days since my sister and I have gone to get our daith pierced for migraine relief. We went Saturday, afternoon. My sister did not want me to go alone so she came up to go with me.
Let me go back a little… I have been having terrible “intractable” (does not respond to medications) migraines in addition to lupus. The doctors are not sure if they are related or not. We have tried non-medicines (I already eat mostly “clean food”, rest, quiet, essential oils, mega doses of dr prescribed vitamins), many types of medications, various increased doses, and even the newer shots (Amovig and Emgality). Nothing has helped, except a quick trip to the ER for the migraine cocktail in IV form with steroids. Then, it comes back. This has been very taxing on me and my family. My migraines come with a host of other symptoms, such as nausea, spots in my vision, dizziness, feeling faint, numbness in my face, tingling in my spine and neck, pounding heartbeat in my ears, sensitive to light, sound and smell, and inability to think clearly/quickly…among others, Bending over to pick things up off the floor to put them away is a huge trigger for me. Also, ANY cross word no matter the volume it is spoken. These migraines have gone beyond once in a while neucences to debilitating. I can hide them for an hour or so, or take something to get me through things that need to happen but then they come back to non functioning.
I had waited 8 months to see this current neurologist. She wanted me to try the new self injections. The first shot (Amovig) did not help and then my insurance would not cover it. So we switched to Emgality the next month. It also did not help. I called again. The nurse informed me the doctor would like for me to try it for THREE more months before switching to something else, but we could add 400 mg of magnesium and 200 mg of B2. This helped a LITTLE, but not much. The migraine was still strong and consistent. By the way, these injections are terribly painful. I could not do them. My husband had to do them for me. All of them cramped up my leg into a knot during the injection, and were just about unbearable, and they all came with a side of nausea and fatigue for about 3 of the 4 weeks. The 3rd emgality injection brought a new side effect, my muscles all seemed to start cramping, and the migraine started growing worse. Within a week of the injection, I could not take the pain any more, and called the dr again, but she was out of the office and would not be back for 4 days. So I went to the ER for the migraine cocktail. When the dr called back, 4 days later, she decided that I was having a interaction with medications and was eligible for Botox injections in office, but needed to get it approved by insurance, and that could take a while. In the meantime, high dose steroids. The insurance did approve the Botox and that is scheduled for March 1.
In desperation, I revisited the idea of the daith piercing, and decided that I do not have anything to lose. I had already done my research. I just needed to decided to do it. I figured it was like going to the dentist to get a procedure done. I don’t want to know the details, just make the appointment and do it. They are the professional. *One very important note that I read over and over was that you pay for experience. If you are paying $20-$30 you are probably going to someone who is very inexperienced. You should be looking for somewhere in the range of $50-$65 or even more. Yes, we went to a tattoo parlor. Yes, it was “an experience” and they did have very bad “potty mouths”, but they were very professional with the procedure and kind and gentle. I totally trusted him.
Saturday-Day 1: I would probably have said I don’t know all day. I had a pretty bad migraine, and I was very nauseous. That stayed with me all day. The migraine did get somewhat better after I ate later that day. I was probably too sick to begin with for it to take any effect that day. Plus, I was pretty nervous.
Sunday-Day 2: I woke up without a migraine, just a decent headache. Sunday was very manageable. I took a short rest between church, but felt better than I had in a long time. My muscles and fatigue were still an issue. The ear does feel bruised and has been bleeding a bit.
Monday-Day 3: Woke up with just a small headache. This has been a pretty good day. I was able to grade a lot of papers, and do some things that I have been behind on. My ear is still pretty sore, and has been bleeding on and off. It is quite gross at times. (The bleeding is probably due to some of the medications that I am on.)So, in my opinion….does the daith piercing work? I would have to say for me….It is a big improvement. I can’t say the migraines are gone completely, but they have improved. I am going to go ahead with the botox and maybe between the two, this will be a really good combo.