Daith Piercing for Migraine & Associated Neurological disorders
Daith piercing specialist for migraine, bipolar, anxiety, PTSD 15 years of experience.
There are groups of professional researchers and groups of both piercers, doctors and acupuncturists with opposing views.
However at long last there are many recommendations coming through from medical professionals. Particularly to my clinic which is of course a dedicated practice, dealing only with auricular acupuncture and the daith piercing, for a variety of neurological and physical disorders.
Still, many piercers, migraine specialists and migraine organisations are saying this is either placebo effect, or acupuncture or a mix of both.
The proof is overwhelming with many migraine sufferers having this done.
Not so successful of course using a cosmetic piercing, or someone who cannot diagnose the area for an accurate result.
Acupuncturists mostly agree this is interesting but they can’t work out why it works. A lot of piercers are getting acupuncture charts and trying to pierce point zero. Point zero is on the crus of the helix, slight away from the best VNS point. Point Zero is used for treating various conditions including pain, sedation, addiction treatment, and inflammation. Not for migraine. It is common knowledge in the piercing world that the piercing works better if the placement is the other end of the daith almost into the top part of the ear canal. Maybe those piercing sceptics are piercing the wrong place and therefore not getting the results they are looking for.
Where we are now with Vagus Nerve Stimulation.
The Vagus nerve can be stimulated in different ways and we are looking at Vagus Nerve Stimulators which use an electrical current to stimulate either the vagus nerve directly at the “side of neck” or the receptors at the end of the auricular branch in or around the daith of the ear.
There are quite a lot of VNS stimulators on the market claiming results for depression, anxiety, migraine, epilepsy, IBS, and celiac disease.
These are a few of the electrical Vagus Nerve Stimulators using both invasive and non invasive methods together with their claimed benef
There are quite a lot of VNS stimulators on the market claiming results for depression, anxiety, migraine, epilepsy, IBS, and celiac disease.
These are a few of the electrical Vagus Nerve Stimulators using both invasive and non invasive methods together with their claimed benefits.
Auricular acupuncture is a fascinating therapy and is powerful on its own for a wide range of indications including pain relief, calm the mind, allergies, infectious diseases, regulation of endocrine system disorders, chronic disease and functional disorders and withdrawal as well as migraine. It is a micro-system with the ear mapping the body. Corresponding points treated, trigger electrical impulses via neural pathways to the brain causing a physiological response to the targeted area. The crus of the helix (daith area) is used to support and power all the other acupuncture points of the ear of which there are more than 200 in each ear.
Using a combination of Auricular acupuncture and the daith piercing.
I concentrate mainly on migraine, headache, anxiety, neck tension, sinusitis, OCD issues and PTSD issues and IBS. Since 2015 I have conducting several detailed studies of the people who have come to one of my clinics for this treatment. See Stats
Mainly used in Europe and targeting the same point as the piercing, being the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. This is a 4 hour daily treatment using a hand held electrical pulse generator to send electrical impulses through the daith area.
Trial results show “After 5 months of use epilepsy seizure rates reduced by 23% on average using 25Hz of stimulation”
A treatment study of people using this, (specifically the evidence submitted to NICE – National Institution for Health Care Excellence) claims complete pain relief within 2 hours of using the device in 20% of patients. This is now available on the NHS however getting one is a totally different ball game.
Picture shows a “next generation” machine that has been used for epilepsy, obesity and depression. Research is ongoing and inconclusive as far as we can make out from their website and results searches.
Picture shows a “next generation” machine that has been used for epilepsy, obesity and depression. Research is ongoing and inconclusive as far as we can make out from their website and results searches.
“In AspireSR clinical trials, over 60% of seizures treated (n=46) ended during auto stimulation.3 For seizures that ended during stimulation (n=28), the closer stimulation was to seizure onset, the shorter the seizure duration.3″
This is the most well used VNS on the market, but it is implanted under the skin and directly on the Vagus Nerve. Being invasive it is used to treat epilepsy as this can be life threatening whereas a migraine is not considered life threatening and therefore invasive therapy can be too risky.
Having looked at these we hope now you have some idea of the power of VNS therapy.
The above come into 2 categories:
1) Stimulation from the core vagus nerve itself (side of the neck) and
2) Stimulation for the auricular branch via the daith or tragus area of the ear.
Category 1) can be further divided into invasive (surgically implanted) or non invasive through the surface of the skin. The surgically implanted version showing far better results than the non invasive gamma core.
We can conclude that a daith piercing is semi invasive and if done at the cluster of nerve endings in and around the start of the ear canal close or through the daith it can be very effective.
I cannot speak for other people doing this piercing, but based upon my recorded research of people coming for this treatment to one of my dedicated clinics I have data that shows: At present April 2022 we have a 76% success rate of elimination or reducing migraine severity by 50% – 100% for a minimum period of three months. Recorded at the 3 month survey.
Quite outstanding.
Published by Richard Soper
This is a further study on Gamma corer v Nemos titled:
Vagus nerve and vagus nerve stimulation a comprehensive review