Nausea of migraines responds to an acupressure device, according to two German doctors who presented their findings last week at the International Headache Congress in Boston. I spoke to one of the authors, Dr. Zoltan Medgyessy about his study. The study included 41 patients, whose average age was 47 years. They had been suffering from migraines for on average 26 years and had experienced an average of 33 migraine
days over the previous three months. The average migraine pain intensity was 7 on a scale from 0 to 10; the average intensity of nausea was 6 on a 1-10 scale. Patients were instructed to use the device (Sea Band) instead of taking nausea medication during their next migraine attack and to complete and return a migraine attack diary. After using the acupressure band, 34 (83%) patients noticed a reduction of nausea and 18 (44%) reported a significant improvement in nausea. The average intensity of nausea after therapy was 3. The relief of nausea was reported after an average of 29 minutes. The average duration of the migraine attacks was 22 hours. The Sea Bands were worn on average for 18 hours. Forty patients (98%) reported that they would use Sea Band during migraine attacks again. The authors concluded that the use of an acupressure band can reduce migraine-related nausea. The advantage of this therapy is that it is drug-free and has no risks or side-effects such as dizziness, fatigue, or restlessness seen with drugs. Its effect is rapid, and it is easy and it is inexpensive to use (in the US, $6 to $10). To prove that this method works beyond just placebo effect we need a blinded trial comparing anti-nausea medication with Sea Bands. I do recommend Sea Bands or a similar device, Psi Band for my migraine patients. A controlled trial in 60 women showed that Sea Bands relieve morning sickness of pregnancy (nausea and vomiting of pregnancy), which suggests that the relief we see in migraine patients is also real and not just due to placebo.
