The throbbing starts at the temples and spreads quickly. An unbelievable pressure develops. Your head feels like it is being clamped in a vice, which someone is tightening more and more. The body is freezing cold, the head burns like fire. Extreme nausea sets in. Sabine is no longer responsive, tossing and turning in her bed. Her husband sends the children outside and asks in a panic: "Should I call an ambulance?" - "He can't help me either," Sabine whispers. Chronic migraines have her in a stranglehold.
The suffering begins at the age of 15
Sabine Appel's story of suffering began when she was 15 years old. That was when she had her first migraine attack. After a volleyball match, she suddenly felt unwell. She gets a headache and has to vomit in the evening. But after a day, the spook is over again. And as the attacks only occur at very long intervals every few months, the diagnosis was only made when Sabine was 17 years old.
"The doctor explained to me that I had inherited the migraines from my father. And that it was hormonal," she remembers today.
What she realizes:
The relapses always came when I was particularly stressed.
This could be after extreme physical exertion or after my A-level exams. I also had a small seizure after my final exams at university. The connections were clear. And yet the migraine was not a problem for me. I treated the headaches with aspirin, sometimes with ibuprofen, which dampened the pain," reports the teacher.
A stroke made everything worse
But then, in 2006, Sabine suffered a stroke caused by a bleed into the cerebrospinal fluid. Although she survived this relatively well, it became the beginning of her ordeal. Her migraine attacks became more severe and more frequent, and she now suffered from chronic migraines. "The worst thing was that I was no longer allowed to take aspirin because of the anticoagulant. The alternative paracetamol didn't work for me." When the attacks became more extreme, Sabine sought help from several doctors. She was then treated with so-called triptans. These are particularly strong prescription painkillers that are used to treat migraines and cluster headaches.
The problem: "I was now suffering from chronic migraines," reports Sabine. "This meant that I had almost no breaks between attacks. At the worst times, I was tormented by insane pain for five to six days a week.From 14 days a month onwards, this is called chronicity. At the worst times, I had over 20 days of pain a month." Migraines always come in waves. They come on slowly, build up until they reach a peak and then level off again. In Sabine's case, however, the chronic migraine immediately culminates in the next attack. And the triptans hardly help at all. "In the most severe phases, I just tossed and turned. The tablets made me delirious, but the pain didn't get any better. And I was in this bad state for years. At some point I was so exhausted, so drained of energy, I didn't know what to do."
Chronic migraines: treatment with Chinese medicine
Chronic migraines dominate Sabine's life. She is trapped in a world of hellish pain. The cheerful, lively and active woman has become an anxious and tormented person. "It was also terrible for my three children to see their mother suffer so much. But I have a great family who have always been very supportive. Even in phases when the pain was so overwhelming that I could only perceive very little apart from them." As a teacher, Sabine is the sole breadwinner in the family, so she is also plagued by existential fears. Despite the pain, she often struggles to get to school so that she doesn't have these worries as well. Her husband, a househusband, supports his wife as best he can, runs the household and looks after the children. An extremely difficult phase for the family.
After two stays in special headache clinics, Sabine decided to take a new path in 2015. "I realized that the triptans just weren't helping me. And: I was now taking tablets three to four times a week because of the chronic migraines. I couldn't go on like this."
She hears about a clinic in Steigerwald that offers traditional Chinese medicine. And: her health insurance pays for her stay. In addition to acupuncture, the doctors there use specific herbal teas, known as decoctions. However, it is important that she stops taking the tablets. After another attack, she realizes that things areslowly but surely improving without the tablets and with the help of the teas.
Nevertheless, she knows that chronic migraines cannot be cured. She still has a long way to go, but at least she can say: "Last year I had phases in which I was pain-free for a whole five to six weeks. Maybe a new life will start soon."
What actually is TCM?
Where does TCM come from and how long has it been around?
TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) is an alternative healing method from East Asia. Some parts of TCM have existed for more than 4,000 years.
What principles does TCM work according to?
In traditional Chinese medicine, body and mind are seen as a unit. The basic principle is that yin and yang, the two opposing poles, belong together just like day and night. This is the basis for their approach to examination, which also includes life circumstances, moods and the social situation in the diagnosis and takes a holistic view of life.
What methods does Chinese medicine use?
The best-known method is certainly acupuncture. However, Qigong courses and individually tailored teas are also possible.
Good addresses:
Since 2010, there has been the Center for TCM, an outpatient facility on the grounds of Hamburg University Hospital: www.tcm-am-uke.de
Sabine Appel was also treated at this clinic. TCM is supplemented here by the basic conventional medical program: www.tcmklinik.de
SMS - Societas Medicinae Sinensis - is a medical association for TCM. With lots of information: www.tcm.edu