migraine relief

Optimism Grows For The Daith Piercing To Treat Migraine Headaches

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you’re probably familiar with our thoughts on the Daith piercing for migraine relief. We’ve written numbers blogs on the topic, and we’ve even helped to spread the word on research studies that are attempting to help us better understand the connection between vagus nerve stimulation and migraine relief.

We even connected with Dr. Chris Blatchley, who is leading research over in the United Kingdom in order to learn more about the condition. Recently, his research was published in The London Times, and while the digital article is hidden behind a paywall, you can read the story in the picture below or click here for a larger version.

 

What’s Next For Daith?

Dr. Blatchley recently reached out and wanted to share some exciting news about what’s in store for Daith piercing research in the near future. They are currently in the process of conducting a 12-month study on 1,000 patients who have underwent the Daith piercing to see how their migraine symptoms are affected over the next year. In 2023, they plan to use brain scans to better understand the immediate effects of the Medical Daith on brain activity.

What we like most about the article and the research is that they are really working hard to take the perceived “randomness” out of the equation. It’s not enough to simply get a piercing in the daith and hope that it provides relief. Dr. Blatchley has created the “Medi-Daith” technique, which helps piercers find the right location for the piercing. The plan isn’t to hit the vagus nerve with the piercing, but instead get close enough to stimulate the area. Being very deliberate about the location of the piercing can really help ensure that trial data is more accurate.

As we’ve said on the blog in the past and as we’ll echo now, while there does seem to be a correlation between vagus nerve stimulation and migraine relief, we’re still waiting on that concrete proof that provides a better understanding between the connection. We’ve always recommended the technique as a low-cost option for patients who have exhausted other treatments and failed to find relief. That said, it appears that there is growing optimism that the piercing can be beneficial for migraine sufferers.

We’ll follow the new research closely, and we’d be happy to answer any questions you might have if you’re struggling with migraines. We have written a number of blogs with helpful information, and if you’re considering pursuing a daith piercing, make sure that you connect with a piercer that understands the daith procedure and how to complete the procedure to stimulate the vagus nerve.

For more information, or for help with migraines or a chronic pain issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.

Early Findings From The Daith Piercing Study

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

daith piercingAs we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, a colleague of mine decided that he wanted to conduct some research on the daith piercing among individuals who have sought out the piercing for migraine relief.

As someone who has written numerous blogs on the subject, I wanted to help spread the word about the study, and of course I am interested in the results. So if you have a daith piercing and you haven’t take the survey yet, please click here to take it!

Daith Piercing Survey

Although the study is still in the collection phase, Dr. Chris Blatchley of the London Migraine Clinic was kind enough to share some of the early findings from the survey. We thought it would be interesting to share some of those findings with you before the results are really broken down and trends are discovered. So below, you’ll see some findings from the early batch of responses to the daith study.

  • The vast majority of respondents have had the piercing for 18 months or fewer. This is likely due to the fact that the daith piercing has only recently gained popularity in the pain care/migraine community.
  • Of the 50 or so respondents who have had migraines for over 10 years and had the daith piercing for over one year, 38 percent reported having migraines most days and only two percent said they had gone a month with one or fewer migraines. Since getting the piercing, only six percent report migraines on most days, and a whopping 69% say their migraines have been reduced to one or fewer a month.
  • The general consensus is that the majority of individuals who underwent the daith piercing procedure for migraine relief showed marked improvement in all modalities, although it is worth nothing that for a small percentage of individuals, their migraines got worse after the piercing.

These early results are interesting, and although this is only a surface level interpretation, we’re intrigued by the results. There are some obvious limitations in that the survey relies not only on self-reporting, but also self-reporting pain levels from years ago. However, the survey is certainly a huge step in the right direction for understanding pain pathways and harnessing the power of the daith piercing for the right patient.

One final thing we hope to glean from the study is a better understanding of the placebo effect on patients who undergo the procedure. Is their pain truly being resolved because it is helping stop the transmission of pain signals, or are people experiencing better results simply because they expect to? It’s a fascinating angle, but when you consider that the placebo effect has not been shown to be as effective in other medical interventions, it certainly seems like there is a credible link between the piercing and migraine relief in some individuals!

We’ll keep tabs on the survey as it continues, and be sure to take the survey if you haven’t yet!