Migraine headache can be extremely debilitating, as any sufferer will tell you. Far more than ‘just a headache’, The Migraine Trust describes the experience as ‘an inherited tendency to have headaches with sensory disturbance. It’s an instability in the way the brain deals with incoming sensory information, and that instability can become influenced by physiological changes like sleep, exercise and hunger’.

Migraine attacks are usually recurring, lasting for anything from four hours to three days and typically characterised as one-sided, throbbing or pulsating in quality. Sufferers may also experience auras, light and sound sensitivity, nausea and vomiting, and the onset of pain may be preceded by flashes of light, temporary blindness or tingling sensation in the limbs.

Joshua has had good success in treating migraine with acupuncture which acts to relieve pain and inflammation and, ultimately, prevent reoccurrence. Research suggests that acupuncture treatment works by affecting the electrical wave in the brain associated with migraine, modulating blood flow and affecting the serotonin levels in the brain which may be linked to the initiation of an attack.

The Migraine Trust is a useful resource to find out more about the symptoms and stages of a migraine attack and the various triggers that can bring on an attack.