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A case report on acupuncture treatment for subject with migraine headaches and metal allergy

Yosuke Fujita, Tomokazu Kikuchi, Satoru Yamaguchi, T. Sekiya, Hideyuki Isobe, Hideki Saito, A. Sakamoto

Zen Nihon Shinkyu Gakkai zasshi (Journal of the Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), 2021

Abstract

[Background] Acupuncture is listed as a treatment modality in the Clinical Practice Guideline for Chronic Headache 2013. However, acupuncture needles are usually made from stainless steel so that acupuncture is not used for patients with a metal allergy. The aim of this case report is to share our positive experience through careful selection of the materials used for acupuncture needles for a migraineur with a metal allergy. [Case] A 48-year-old woman had a chief complaint of headaches with allergies to metal, pollen, fruit, and levocetirizine hydrochloride. She had been experiencing headaches since she was a high school student. When she was approximately 20 years old, she had severe pain in her temple following stiffness of the shoulder and neck two days a week. Two to three years before her first visit to our hospital, the headaches appeared every day, sometimes with other symptoms that included nausea and hypersensitivity to light, sound, smell, and taste that lowered her activities of daily living (ADL). She consulted a doctor at our hospital for her nose and mouth problem for seven months and the doctor asked our acupuncturist to treat her migraine although she had a metal allergy, and we started treatment in our outpatient department. At the first visit, the subject's headaches occurred twice a week. Medication taken: Shosaikoto. Findings: Height 162 cm, Weight 59 kg, BP 151/82 mmHg, PR 70 bpm, No neurological problems. Muscle tone and tenderness: Splenius, Scalene,…

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