Etiology of headaches
Any of the causes of the disease typically considered in Chinese Medicine can play a part in the etiology of headaches.
Headaches are a widespread symptom we encounter in our clinic. Although headache may be the main complaint, frequently, it is a symptom of an underlying pattern. To treat the headache, we need to address the root cause of the problem. This way, we are not just switching off the symptom but cure the body by bringing it back to the state of homeostasis.
In our practice, we rely a lot on the characteristics of headaches. We need to know whether the headaches are acute or chronic and what climatic or dietary factors trigger them. We must also see the quality of the headache. Is it stabbing, dull, heavy, or migrating? These symptoms help us to determine the etiology of the headaches. The next question we must answer is the location of the headache. This information reveals to us the implicated acupuncture meridian.
Acute headaches
Acute headaches are typically due to invasion of an external pathogenic factor, namely Wind, Cold, Heat, or Dampness. Two other reasons for acute headaches are dietary irregularities and emotional upsets.
External pathogenic factors
External pathogenic factors such as Wind, Heat, Dampness, Cold can all cause headaches. These pathogenic factors can combine. For instance, Wind can combine with Heat, Cold, or Dampness.
Wind pathogenic factor
Characteristics of wind type of headache is a migration of the symptoms to different areas of the head. The Wind is usually a cause of acute headaches, but repeated invasions of Wind may give rise to chronic headaches and stiffness of the neck and shoulders Head Wind.
Cold pathogenic factor
Cold, especially when it combines with Wind, affects the neck muscles causing a pronounced stiffness. It can also combine with Dampness causing a heavy, lethargic feeling, and heavy, dull headaches.
Dampness pathogenic factor
External Dampness can also affect the head. It prevents clear Yang from reaching the head, which results in dull headaches. Dampness can combine with Cold or Heat pathogenic factors.
Heat pathogenic factor
Acute invasion of heat causes acute, stabbing headaches.
Chronic headaches
There are three contributing internal factors for chronic headaches: Diet, Emotions, and Constitution. Chronic headaches may also imply a lodged pathogenic factor, which we call a latent pathogenic factor, which may become active when the body is stressed or depleted. Latent pathogen responds to an external environment. Careful examination of the circumstances leading to the headache can help us determine the nature of the latent pathogenic factor.
Diet
Dietary irregularities influence the etiology of headaches by affecting different organs.
Malnourishment
Lack of nutrients in the diet causes Qi and Blood deficiency. The type of headache from Qi and Blood deficiency usually occurs on the top of the head, and it is dull, worse with exertion. This situation occurs when people are either unable to generate or store Qi and Blood from food.
Overeating
Overeating may obstruct Stomach Qi, causing sharp frontal headaches.
Spicy food and alcohol
Spicy food and alcohol consumption may cause Liver-Fire or Stomach Heat. Liver-Fire results in lateral headaches and Stomach-Heat in frontal headaches, both sharp.
Damp food
Greasy, fried foods, milk, cheese, butter, cream, ice cream, and white sugar produce Dampness in the body. Dampness affects the Spleen and leads to dull frontal headaches.
Salty food
Excessive salt in the diet may cause a Kidney deficiency and result in whole head or occipital headaches. One should be careful with processed foods because they may have high salt content.
Headaches due to emotional causes
Anger
Emotional upset or trauma are commonplace causes of headaches. Many different emotions, such as frustration, resentment, and pent-up grudges, fall under the broad term of “anger” in Chinese Medicine. These emotions cause the ascension of Liver Yang or Liver Fire. These headaches typically manifest on the temples or one side of the head. The Gallbladder meridian is implicated in this scenario.
Worry
Excessive worrying knots Qi of the Lung and Heart. As a result, worry may also be a direct cause of headaches. Typically, worry-related headaches are dull and are found on the forehead or the top of the head. Lung Qi deficiency can indirectly cause headaches because the Lung belongs to the Metal Phase in the Five Phase theory. The weak Metal phase can not control the Wood Phase, which relates to the Liver, allowing Liver Yang to rise.
Fear and shock
Chronic anxiety and fear deplete the Kidneys and cause headaches from Kidney deficiency. Kidney deficiency headaches affect the whole head. Indirectly, the Kidney deficiency can lead to the Liver Yang rising. Shock affects Heart, Lung, and Spleen Qi. Shock usually causes headaches affecting the whole head.
Mental overwork
Excessive mental strain is not an emotion, but we discuss it alongside the emotional causes of disease in Chinese medicine. Excessive mental activity is a frequent cause of chronic headaches in children. Headaches frequently when a child feels a lot of academic pressure and high parental expectations. The pattern of long hours of mental work and concentration combined with the worry of doing well leads to severe headaches or migraines.
Head trauma
Traumatic injury to the head often manifests years after the injury took place. The patient may not even remember an old accident or relate it to the headaches, yet when the body is exhausted or exposed to unusual stress, headache may emerge. Head traumas can cause stasis of Blood. Trauma-related headaches typically occur in the same part of the head, usually in a small area. A single, sizeable purple spot near the tip of the tongue may indicate an old trauma in the head region.
Excessive sexual activity in men
Depleting the Kidneys from excessive sexual activity in men can cause of headaches either on the occiput or the whole head. Ejaculation causes temporary loss of Kidney Essence. Under normal circumstances, this loss is quickly restored, and sexual activity does not lead to disease. Frequent ejaculations do not allow the Kidney-Essence to restore and cause Kidney Yin or Yang insufficiency, depending on the person’s constitution.
Childbirth
Many childbirths too close together weaken a woman’s Essential Qi, Liver, Kidneys, and the Chong Mai, giving rise to Empty type headaches. The deficiency of the Liver and Kidney may also induce Liver Yang rising. Miscarriages are also very depleting.
Constitution
The parents’ health, in general, during the conception, and the mother’s health during the pregnancy can affect a child’s constitution and become a cause of headaches later in life. Persistent and recurrent headaches that begin in childhood, especially before puberty, strongly indicate a constitutional factor. Parents’ weak Essential Qi will result in the child’s weak Liver and Kidney Qi, resulting in chronic headaches that begin in childhood. Besides headaches, other symptoms that hint at hereditary Kidney or Liver weakness are enuresis or frequent urination, lack of vitality, and myopia.
Parent’s health
Healthy parents may temporarily deplete their Essential Qi through overwork, excessive sexual activity, excessive consumption of alcohol, or certain medications. Consequently, this depletion may result in the child’s weak constitution and possibly chronic headaches. However, in some cases weakness will not affect the Kidneys or Liver, but either the Spleen, Lungs, or Heart, depending on the particular condition, which negatively affects the parents’ health. For example, chronic overwork in parents may cause hereditary Spleen weakness in the child. The parents’ excessive alcohol consumption, drugs, or certain medications may cause a congenital weakness of the child’s Heart or Lungs.
A hereditary weakness of the Spleen in a child may manifest with failure to develop muscles, physical weakness, digestive problems. In this case the headaches will be on the forehead and be related to food intake.
A hereditary Lung weakness in a child may manifest with an inclination to frequent colds and respiratory infections, whooping cough, asthma, eczema, pale complexion, and a thin chest. The radial pulse associated with the Lung congenital weakness is felt on the Cun position, both hands. The pulse is typically extending from the wrist distally toward the thumb. The pulse may also “hide” under the tendon.
A hereditary Heart weakness in a child manifests as dream-disturbed sleep and nervousness. Children under the age of 3 may wake up at night crying. Often we observe a relatively deep crack on the tongue’s midline. Congenital Heart weakness headaches usually manifest on the forehead or in the whole head.
Shock and trauma during pregnancy
Mother’s health during pregnancy impacts fetal health a great deal. For example, an accident with the mother can cause headaches for the child. A shock during pregnancy can also cause a child to suffer Heart deficiency type of headaches. A sign on a child’s face that relates to this scenario is a bluish shade on the child’s forehead and chin.