Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thorin]

I had my first one ever Tuesday, then another one today, even worse, all the classic symptoms. Unfortunately, the doctor gave me some tylenol and a sedative. When I protested and asked for something specifically to treat migraines, he said I'd have to see a psychiatrist since here migraines are considered to be a psychological problem. I'm not sure whether this should surprise me or not since this is such a male-dominated society and it's mostly women that get migraines (I'm a guy BTW). Anyway, I'd be interested to hear of anyone's experience with getting migraine treatment here.

[casey's moon]

I've tried lots of prescription stuff in Canada, but the only thing that ever worked was 800 to 1000 mg of Ibuprofen, which IS available in Korea. Of course, the usual dose is 400 mg, but my doctor assured me it was safe to take more, and in fact you can buy tablets specifically for migraines if you were in N.Amer. I wouldn't necessarily just trust someone on the Internet about this (although since I know me, I trust me ), so you may want to see if you can talk to a doctor back at home to confirm. The same things don't work for everyone, however. Good luck.

[thorin]

Thanks, I can take pain relievers up the taeguki yinyang but my head is still throbbing and I'm still hyper-sensitive to light and sound. I can see taking Ibuprophen for a tension headache, but it doesn't make any sense to me to take it for a vascular headache like a migraine. I'm not a doctor but methinks it might help to have something address the problem of the blood vessels in my brain constricting and dialating. I guess I should go to the real hospital and try and find a real doctor. These clinic Dr. Kim Ba-bo types are useless.

[sadsac]

A friend suffered from debilitating migraines and lo and behold, accupuncture did for her what pethidine and stemitol couldn't. It's worth a try.

[the eye]

i second that... accupuncture seems to have done the trick for me too!

you should ask around for a reputable HAN I WAN.

also, are you aware of any triggers that set your headaches off?

[Demophobe]

Apo-amitriptyline is good for the cluster headaches I get once a year, lasing about 2-3 weeks continuously. They are debilitating, half-closing my right eye and causing dizziness and disorientation. This medicine is a blocker and works wonders. Usually within a week I can stop taking them.

Stress mate....lose the stress.

[peppermint]

A friend here used to get killer migranes, and she swears by botox as a preventative measure. I'm not really sure how that works but I'll ask for you.

[thorin]

[casey's moon]

No, Tylenol, aspirin etc. WILL not work, but Ibuprofen does something to those blood vessels if you take enough -- you can feel it working. I'm also not talking about a tension headache, although I know plenty of people who don't know the difference. Seriously -- look it up on the Internet, and then see if it works for you.

But I feel like a freak trying to make someone on a forum take high amounts of over the counter medecine beyond the "recommended dosage" so please confirm this with someone else, but I really think you shouldn't dismiss it! It works for many!

[Demophobe]

Caffiene is a booster to aspirin. Two aspirin with a cup of strong coffee. OR....Buy "Migaphen" in capsules...open them and empty into a spoon...sprinkle some sugar....take with strong coffee. I realize many will say that coffee causes headaches, but most headache medicines have caffiene in them as a reactive or triggering agent.

BTW...the two aspirin with coffee thing will near put you into a coma. Do this only before sleeping. Kitty will not wake you up. Kitty shoud be shut in the bathroom.

[captain kirk]

Accupuncture can do it, I think. And it's really cheap. Have you ever had accupuncture? I did in Canada and the guy was a pro, just over from China getting his Can. citizenship. He was also a pro meditator, which I was really into at the time. So he talked about chi, meridians, the microcosmic orbit and opening it.
He's in Canada, a citizen now, and his wife and son are over. In China he studied at a uni specifically for accupuncture. He then worked for the government giving free treatments in Northern China, near Mongolia. The government gave him a horse, and he travelled giving treatments. Wild, eh?
His treatments were very effective and gently done. He put the needles in various places, let them sit as I lay there for twenty minutes. He returned to give them a twist to stir things up. That twist feels funny. The needles are already sitting in the 'meridian'. Which is like an electrical/life force runway, a sort of body voltage capillary, I dunno. It feels funny when the needles go in and he twists later to stir things up.
It feels, the meridians, like there's something moving in you. The needles make it possible to feel it. You know how two magnets repel each other sometimes. It's a gooshy feeling like that, some kind of liquid-ey electric feeling.
I asked to be treated for 'anger'. I lived a lot of it growing up, family matters. He said the gall bladder and liver store anger, and proceeded to drain the blockages there where the chi had gone. Over a couple of months in combination with a mixture of herbs he gave me in little paper bags which I cooked up in a special earthen pot bought for the purpose. Put it right on the electric stovetop element (remember those? gas range in Korea) so the herb mix slowly boils in water. The pot had a lid, a straight out handle, and a straight out spout.
I felt he had accomplished what I asked him to do. He was great. It was a real experience. And cheap, the needles. The herbs were what, 60 bucks a month I think.
When I came to Korea it was with this excellent experience of accupuncture and herbal medicine. I figured I'd get my left knee done, because I'd hammered it on the shovel the seven years I treeplanted. Went with a K-teacher from the haggie. The doctor said why hadn't I come sooner, he could fix it. No serious problem, just a little bit of a bad knee which aches a little when it rains.
So I'm on my stomach on a table and he's using a 'stabbing' technique and when he did he contacted the chi voltage meridians and it was like a big electric shock effect, my knee jerking and he said hold still so he could carry on jabbing.
It's not a big deal, the knee, and the experience put me off going to an accupuncturist here. But if I'd asked the K-teacher to say 'proceed gently' it would have been different I'm sure.
The pro in Canada put needles in places far away from the target 'fix' area (liver, gallbladder). Stomach, foot, arm, knee. Don't be surprised if he does that working on what's causing the migraines. I've never had one, but I suspect it's from thinking too much, getting focus up into the head and not letting up. Stress can do it.
I'd try accuptuncture before drugs any day. They can do it.

[the eye]

i almost forgot...the biggest culprit in the migrain thing is...

MSG!!!!

Korean foods are loaded with it...especially ramyon!

[thorin]

Thanks Captain. I know a lot of people swear by acupuncture and it's been around for so long, there must be something to it. Honestly though, the part about your knee treatment kinda put me off. We're talking about my brain here. I'm interested to see what a neurologist would say about my chi. If that doesn't work, I imagine I'll try anything.

[thorin]

[captain kirk]

A neurologist sounds expensive and maybe he'll want to operate so he can afford a country club membership. Back in Canada I attended a meditation class every Sunday given by a Buddist nun. When on the subject of doctoring she would positively hiss. I dunno, can you think of anything more absurd or horrific than an unecessary operation because of a misdiagnosis, sloppy assessment, with overtones of a make work project for overpaid professionals used to the good life.
Hey, if it's an emergency, ok. Barrel down with the hotshot science, lay it on me Doc.
But something like a migraine headache, I figure, comes about from lifestyle. It has sloooowwwwly reared into what feels like armageddon between one's ears (I've never had a migraine so could be exaggerating ).
Now if that's true, what's the Doc going to do. He's going to slap down some kind of butt-kicking hard drug remedy just like Koreans expect from the yak-goog when they get a cold for frigg's sake. A bandolier of unknown capsules and pills to track it down and kill it. Well, that's the power of science. I don't know but science can fix it. It sent us to the moon, right? Nobody got to the moon by folklore and magic all those millenia, right?
And if that's true, that this migraine has been months and years in the making from lifestyle and habit, the natural thing to do would be to ease it off to nix it. Those Doc's drugs have no business barging in and setting up all kinds of WWF-subtle side effects.
An accupuncturist/herbalist would check out the flow and curb the rush to the head, check the flow from its sources, and put your head on the sidelines again. Instead of where it is, dump all be all and end all with a pounding beat.
He's waiting for you, that neurologist, so he can afford a new set of clubs with a titanium driver.
The accupuncturist/herbalist practically only charges for the needles and sees hordes of people with real problems and little money, old people. Lots of experience and hands on skill. I'd go with him before the doctor, not after. IMO you've got it backwards.