A new non-medicinal treatment gives hope for curing chronic migraines, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital announced after clinical trials on 15 patients showed positive results.
In one case, a woman who had had migraines for 20 years was cured in about a month using intravascular laser irradiation of blood (ILIB) therapy, the hospital said.
The method has long been used to treat a variety of conditions, including chronic pain, autonomic nerve disorders, cognitive dysfunctions and even strokes, but new research by the hospital suggests it could also treat chronic migraines, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation director Chang Shin-tsu (張幸初) told a news conference on Nov. 17.
Photo: CNA
The woman, surnamed Lee (李), said that when she visited the clinic in October, she had been experiencing debilitating migraines at least once a month for 20 years.
At its worst, the pain would extend down from the left side of her head to her ear, making her dizzy and nauseous, Lee said.
She would lose sleep due to the sudden pain, which often came in the middle of the night or during meal times, she added.
However, doctors have been unable to find the cause, suggesting only pain medication for treatment, Lee said.
“I just thought this was my life, devoid of happiness,” she said.
After undergoing ILIB, Lee reported a marked improvement that has brightened her outlook on life.
Chang said he initially thought Lee would need three rounds of ILIB, based on previous trials, but she already showed positive results after two.
ILIB is an intravenous treatment in which a patient’s blood is “sunbathed” in low levels of laser radiation to stimulate interactions between molecules, Chang said.
Doing so can regulate mitochondria numbers and metabolic activity, improve stress and pain responses, and improve oxygen-carrying capacity, he added.
In the case of migraines, the therapy appears to help by restoring circulation in the frontal lobe, he said.
One round involves 10 one-hour treatments over 10 days, Chang said, adding that a patient can undergo the next round after resting for one to three weeks.
Considering its promising effects, the hospital said it would add more ILIB rooms to serve people across the Kaohsiung area.
However, Chang said that medication is still the best way to treat mild headaches, while those who have recently had a stroke or have epilepsy should not undergo ILIB therapy.
Additional reporting by Hsu Li-chuan
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,