Tension headache relief from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

My Dad brought me to see a Sinseh(Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor) in the afternoon for my tension headache and nervous tics. There is this Chinese traditional medicine clinic in Serangoon. I told the Sinseh of the tension headache and nervous tics that I have been experiencing. He pressed various nervepoints on my neck, and I could feel a sensation that twitches the muscles in my head. The sinseh says that the headache is brought about by blocked nerves which blocks off the flow of nourishment to the head, causing the symptoms.

The treatment seems to be very effective. Right now, I can feel the tension headache almost completely gone. I am actually very happy about the relief from the treatment for my tension headache which had plagued me daily for 6 months since June.

So it seems like there was something illusory about the feeling of pressure on the brain feeling. In the sense, it really does feel like there is a pressure on the brain, although the MRI scan I had revealed nothing wrong with my brain. And contemporary mainstream medicine is just not able to do anything to treat or relieve the tension headache at all. I was prescribed a host of painkillers, from paracetamol, to naproxen, to tramadol, which were all ineffective, and then I was referred to the psychologist. The psychologist carried out a guided meditation exercise during the consultation and dismissed the symptoms as psychological due to stress. And it just doesn't relieve my tension headache.

I have to say that there is an efficacy to chinese medicine that I think could be better studied and complemented into mainstream medicine. The studies of nerve points and meridian pathways could be incorporated as a discipline in contemporary mainstream medicine for the treatment of tension headaches. Or Chinese traditional medicine could be integrated into our national healthcare system such that patients seeking treatment can be readily referred or recommended to see a Chinese Sinseh if they do not respond to mainstream medicine.

I have the impression that doctors in mainstream medicine do not take an esteemed view of chinese medicine. However, I have seen from my personal experience of the efficacy of traditional chinese medicine to treat illnesses that modern contemporary mainstream medicine is unable to.

I have come away from my experience a believer of traditional chinese medicine as a viable alternative to mainstream medicine. I am not sure about the efficacy of other alternative medicine. Perhaps I might give Indian Ayurvedic a try to test its efficacy some day.

I hope and pray that the tension headache stays away. I still experience bad nervous tics which I hope I would manage to get rid off by having enough time to destress and relax during the holidays. But it is a joy to find a great measure of relief from my chronic tension headache from my trip to the Sinseh today.

The Sinseh also gave some nice words of wisdom. He said don't study too hard. Or at least, don't study until you go crazy. He said he had seen a patient who came back from overseas with psychological disorder from studying, and couldn't work at all after that. I think he is quite right. As the Aesop fable goes, don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.