Cluster Headache: A New Approach
By a strange "coincidence", just a couple of days after posting about cluster headaches, the BBC is carrying an article about a woman with cluster headache who was successfully treated by a neurosurgeon who implanted a nerve stimulator attached to the greater occipital nerve at the back of the skull.
It has been known for some time that there is a type of atypical cluster headache that can be treated by blocking these nerves. Some experts feel that since cluster headache
is usually driven by the hypothalamus, headaches that can be stopped by
nerve blockade or nerve stimulation are not cluster headaches at all.
That is something for us to sort out at scientific conferences.
But for now, there is at least one person – who was featured in the BBC’s article – who has been cured after everything else failed.
But here’s the strange thing: none of the neurologists or neurosurgeons has a clue how the treatment works.
Yet anyone versed in Traditional Chinese Medicine would tell you immediately the nerve runs directly above a key acupuncture point – Fengchi, or Gallbladder 20 – that is often used in treating severe headaches. Because disturbances in the subtle systems of the liver and gallbladder are common in many types of headache.
In other words, knowledge of the subtle anatomy of the body can explain how the nerve stimulator is working, but the best of current Western neurological science cannot.
A beautiful example of how the combined approaches of Integrated Medicine can help and inform everyone involved.
And it is the patient who gets all the benefits.
Dr. Richard G. Petty, MD is a world-renowned authority on the brain, and his revolutionary work on human energy systems has been acclaimed around the globe.
He is also an accredited specialist in internal and metabolic medicine, endocrinology, psychiatry, acupuncture and homeopathy. He has been an innovator and leader of the human potential movement for over thirty years and is also an active researcher, teacher, writer, professional speaker and broadcaster. He is the author of five books, including the groundbreaking and best selling CD series Healing, Meaning and Purpose. He has taught in over 45 countries and 48 states in the last ten years, but spends as much time as possible on his horse farm in Georgia.
