Expert: Heather Vandeburg L.Ac M.S.O.M. dipl.Ac - 9/25/2009

Question
hello. i have a question but theirs a bit of a story behind it. thank you for reading.

im a 20 year old male. 2.5 months ago i woke up sick with a fever (100.5), heavy photophobia, sore throat, nausea, body aches, and the worst headache i had ever experienced. the next day all the symptoms were gone except i was left with massive head pressure everyhwere and pain sitting there behind the pressure. one month later the pressure finally improved. at the ER i was told it was viral meningitis, but every doctor ive seen says not likely due to the duration of my sickness and low grade fever.

now i am left with pains that comes and goes 24 hrs. i have pain in the temples, top of head, side of head, forehead, top half of the eyes, eyebrows, and sides of the nose. the pain will come on for a few seconds then start to disappear. other times it comes on and stays for 5 or 10 min then dissappears.

i recently had wisdom teeth extracted and was on 800 mg of ibuprofen. that covered up jaw pain but i could still feel the headpains.

ive seen my primary care, optamologist, allergist, neurologist (about to have an MRI in a few days), and dentist.

ive had a ct sinus scan, ct brain scan, and x-ray of the teeth. all show nothing wrong. im pretty sure the mri will also be normal.

due to the location of my pain i believe it is my trigeminal nerve being irritated. it is not a migraine. i took a maxalt the other day (dr instructed) and my pain tripled.

im a college student and ive been living with this for nearly 3 months. life has been very difficult for me and ive got nowhere else to turn to.

sorry for the long story but here is my question:
will accupuncture help me? can it relieve the pain and can the results be permanent?

thank you so much for reading. your opinion is highly valued.

Answer
Hi Gurjas,
Acupuncture would definitely be something to try.  It looks like you have covered all the Western Medicine bases.  So it's time to give Eastern Medicine a shot.  The great thing about Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) is that you don't have to be diagnosed with something to have a TCM practitioner treat you effectively. It is hard to say if acupuncture will permanently relieve the pain.  Everyone's response to acupuncture is different.  I would say it may take a series of treatments (10-12) or two to get you out of pain.  Make sure that you go to a TCM specialist not just someone who has had some acupuncture training.  You want someone who is also a Chinese or Japanese herbalist.  I always suggest people go to NCCAOM.org to find a qualified practitioner.  

Hope this helps.
Heather Vandeburg LAc MSOM diplAc