Category Archives: Headaches (Acute)
This category of formulas for headaches uses a slightly different theory in determining which is the best formula for you. This approach begins with where the headache is in your head and takes it from there. No testing required, just some quick reading. There is also the area called “chronic headaches” which includes a few tests to determine which formula will work best for you with the highest degree of safety.
Forehead Headache
Headaches that arise in the forehead or surrounding the sinuses are generally due to some sort of phlegm, damp, or other fluid metabolism issue. This would include the nasal discharge associated with the common cold as well.
There are a number of organs that are devoted to some aspect of fluid metabolism in Chinese medicine. The way that the water moves about the body is considered a big deal in Chinese medicine. Anything that compromises the normal fluid metabolism can generate a variety of problems that we call phlegm and damp.
If the sinus headache is associated with the common cold or flu, that is a slightly different animal. But for headaches due to allergies, or aggravated by heavy meals, you’re on the correct page.
One-Sided, Temples, & Behind Eye(s) Migraine Headaches
Headaches that appear on one side, at the temples, or behind the eye(s) all have one causal factor in common. It is the organ that Chinese medicine calls the Liver. To put this into familiar terms, this suggests that the cause is either hormonal in origin (monthly cycle) or stress-induced. As is the case with all organ names at Eagle Herbs, when they’re capitalized, it means that we’re talking about the Chinese medicine version of the organ which is a different animal entirely from the biomedical idea of the “liver”.
Please note that there is no point on this page in which the idea of “liver detox” is presented. Chinese medicine is considered a “functional medicine” but the idea of “detoxification” does not apply to the Liver based headaches. Continue reading
Headaches in the Back of the Head
In America you “catch a cold”. In China, the cold catches you! (my apologies to Yakov Smirnov)
Not only can you catch a cold, which causes chills, but you can catch a heat which causes fever, a damp which makes you feel sluggish and heavy, or a wind which causes muscle spasms, nasal discharge and water eyes.
Cold, heat, and damp often arise with wind which has some interesting similarities to the biomedical idea that cold and flu viruses are spread through the so-called aerosol vector (sneezing or coughing into the air.)
