Many cultures see ear-piercing as highly fashionable. When I was young, I agreed, and was a super-fan of all that glittered. My mother, however, was not so keen. I still remember the speech she delivered: “if God had wanted you to have holes in your ears, you would have been born with them.” Inevitably, we would argue about how I DID have holes in my ears, because without them, I couldn’t receive sounds.
Long story short – I had my ears pierced when I was about 19 years old. Officially an adult, I got one hole in each lobe and have worn earrings ever since.
Fast forward to today, and my two teenage daughters are turning me into my mother.
In Australia, triple-piercings in each ear are ‘normal’. So too piercings in upper-ear locations called the ‘helix’ and ‘conch’. Oh, and don’t forget belly button piercings for the beach. It all gives me the heebie-jeebies. As much as possible, I’ve tried to turn them off the extra piercings with horror stories about infections, blood, fainting, and needles. I’ve begged them to wait as long as they can before they start on the slippery slope of never-enough…
I love you Mum: it took 30+ years, but I finally understand your distress.
OK, so what does a life-story about earrings have to do with migraines?
Quite a lot actually.
First up – there’s the stress that it adds to my life. It’s THEIR ear, absolutely, without doubt. But it’s also my nervous system that is going through it! When I think of my children in pain, I feel pain. The ‘what if’ tension of potential medical catastrophes builds up in my body.
Is that me being unnecessarily over-attached and overly-dramatic? Sure. Of course it is. But as I’ve said before in my post about Migraine Jump-Scares; a hyper-vigilant migraine-brain doesn’t distinguish between fact and fiction. In the same way that you can watch a scary movie and feel the tension increase in your body or wake up screaming from a dream – your brain doesn’t separate real drama from imagined drama. Our “lizard-brain” and vagus nerve have switched from ‘rest and digest’ to ‘fight or flight’ mode… always… (unless we use mindfulness to calm it back down).
Hence, my daughter telling me a story about how the ear-piercer used a torch to shine through her ear to make sure they missed the capillaries… and how the stud got stuck… and how my daughter fainted… all freaks me the f*ck out (sorry not sorry). All of which puts pressure on my migraine-brain.
All of which also reiterates why I practice mindfulness every day (to increase my resilience and reduce how triggering life is). But what I really want to post about, was:
What is daith piercing?
A daith piercing is an ear-piercing in a particular location, which passes through the ear’s innermost cartilage fold.
Wikipedia says that “The area in which the piercing is placed within the ear is said to stimulate a pressure point associated with the vagus nerve. It has been claimed that the piercing can cure chronic migraines and tension headaches by activating vagal afferents.”
[You can read more about the vagus nerve on my blog here. Or read my book review about how to naturally ‘reset’ your vagus nerve here.]
The Wikipedia post is pretty adamant that after 186 non-clinical studies, there is NO scientific evidence daith piercing reduces migraines or tension headaches.
Ironically, the image I used at the beginning of this post shows a woman’s ear pierced in multiple locations – none of which are her daith. Oops!! Wikimedia Commons has this (slightly blurry) royalty free image of where a daith piercing goes:
[Image source: File:Daith Piercing.jpg – Wikimedia Commons]
When I did a high-level search on the topic, I found several sites that all reported the same things over and over:
- current research suggests there is NO science that supports the claim daith piercings help reduce migraines,
- pain MAY BE reduced due to the placebo effect,
- there are several RISKS associated with the piercings and they should only be done by a trained professional,
- conventional medicine remains the PRIMARY recommendation for migraine treatment, but alternative therapies can be helpful (including mindfulness),
- an earring on its own is NOT an adequate treatment option for migraines.
Personal experience with daith piercing and migraines
I do NOT have these piercings myself, but I found a (10min) video of a man’s experience with daith piercings. “Desperate times call for desperate measures” as he says.
After 3 years or wearing the piercings, he says >>>spoiler alert<<< “the impact was negligible.” He also said he “would not recommend them” unless you just like the look (which is why he kept his in).
He explains in detail how he went to a professional piercer, how you can’t sleep on that ear for a while, and how you have to clean the wound daily for 4 months. There was also a dull ache and inconvenience for almost a year afterwards. He acknowledges that there are many nerves in the face, and ear, and that like acupuncture, the piercing, potentially modifies those nerves. He suspects that the intensity of the migraines reduced in the early days because the dull ache in his ears was a distraction.
[There’s something mildly amusing about the video’s text-over which keeps referring to them as “Dave piercings”. More alarmingly, (around the 4-minute mark), he’s talking about potential infection when the auto-script shifts, and refers to it as a “death piercing”!!]:
[Video source: Do Daith Piercings help with Migraine? A long term review. 3 Years Later. – YouTube]
(The comments under the video were also interesting – some said their piercing reduced migraine frequency, some said it did nothing, and one person said it made them worse… sigh… glitchy old migraine-brains?!)
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A doctor’s opinion on daith piercing for migraines
Over a year ago I wrote a post called “Migraine fact or fiction?” It was a summary of an online interview with a migraine specialist I had watched. The doctor went through a list of alternative migraine treatment options and gave them a mark out of 3 for likely success. Before I give you a quick summary, remember:
Disclaimer – this is NOT a medical blog – please speak to a professional before making any changes to your healthcare routine.
Biofeedback, antihistamines, and blue light filters were all ranked as highly helpful. Ginger, cola, menthol gel, seasickness wrist bands, massage, salty foods, and TENS devices all scored 2 out of 3. Daith piercings got a 1, and ear seeds got a 0.
In terms of the daith piercings, his advice was: “looks cool and may make you feel better, but there is no science behind it.”
OK then… no daith piercings for me.
Curious to know if any of you have the piercing and what your verdict is.
Take care taking care,
Linda xx
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PS – I did a post a while back called “Good girl” = bad health which came to mind as I was typing about how I waited until I was 19 to get my ears pierced… once a people pleaser, (not) always a people pleaser…!!
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