The Daith Piercing for Migraines – Could it Work For You?

About a year and a half ago I decided to look into getting a Daith Piercing for migraines. I had got migraines for years and years at that point, and they had massively affected my life. I couldn’t work for a while because they were that bad and I missed out on lots of fun days out with friends or family because I was lying in bed trying to sleep it off. I’d also had a CT scan on my head to make sure it wasn’t anything more serious as I got them so badly.

Over the years I tried everything that was recommended to me – cutting out red wine, chocolate and caffeine (I can’t imagine that ever making me feel good! But it didn’t help anyway), loads of different types of medication, doing more exercise, getting more sleep, drinking more water, acupuncture in my head, taking certain vitamins and herbs. Nothing helped and a couple of the medications I tried actually made me feel way worse and I had to be picked up from work because I went so dizzy and couldn’t drive or even barely function. I’d read a lot about migraines and different potential cures or things to help and tried everything that I could.

As the years went by they just seemed to get worse and worse and occasionally at their worst I would also get a numbness in my hands and face alongside the pain in my eye and head, and I wouldn’t be able to get my words out properly. The first time that happened I was absolutely terrified and thought I was going to die (and every time it happened afterwards too to be honest). The symptoms were synonymous with a stroke so we actually called a paramedic out that first time and he checked me over.

Apparently those symptoms are quite common with migraines, but by god are they horrible. With my worst ones like that I would need to sleep for hours until the numbness started to go away but the pain would usually last all day. Then I would get a kind of ‘hangover’ the next day where I would just feel sick and awful and would usually need to sleep some more.

The Daith piercing for migraines

So yes, I’d heard a bit about a Daith piercing helping with some peoples migraines and every time someone posted on Facebook thinking about getting one, there always seemed to be lots of people saying it had worked for them.

So I decided that it was completely worth a try. The worst thing that could happen would be that I ended up with a piercing that I quite liked, or if I ended up hating it that I could take it out.

A Daith piercing is a piercing in the innermost cartilage fold of the ear. The way a Daith piercing is supposed to help with migraines is in the same way as acupuncture, which targets pressure points on the body’s surface to ease discomfort.

Getting the piercing

I had heard that a Daith piercing could hurt quite a bit because it is a tough bit of skin, but mine didn’t really hurt at all. The lady numbed it by freezing it and that hurt a lot more! Then as she put the earring through it hurt slightly again, but I think that was mostly in my head because I can feel it and I don’t like the thought of it going through. It was the most uncomfortable part for me though.

The lady who pierced me said that she’d also had a Daith piercing for migraines in both ears and it worked for her, and she was actually the lady who had started the whole thing off apparently by writing a post about it helping some people! I can’t find the article but if I do manage to then I will add it in here.

You are advised to get the Daith piercing on the side of your head where you get the most migraines, or some people get both sides done to help as much as possible.

The healing process

The worst part about getting the piercing for me was the healing process. It seemed to stay quite sore for ages and seemed to be slightly infected at times. I kept using coconut oil on it though (which I use for everything), and when I did that regularly it seemed to improve much more quickly. But I would say it probably took a good six months for it to settle down completely.

Also, you can’t really sleep on the side you got it pierced for a while (and you’re not supposed to either), but I don’t really remember that being much of an issue for long, apart from when it was sore.

Did it work for me?

I was very happy to discover that it worked for me! On day one I had a bit of a headache but it was kind of hard to tell because my ear hurt and ached quite a bit.

On day two I had a bit of a painful headache at times. Then later on I got a migraine in my right eye (it was usually my left) that hurt quite a bit, so I was slightly worried that my migraines had just moved themselves across to the other side with the release of pressure from the left side.

On day three I had a bit of a headache at times but that was all. Then my first proper migraine after getting the Daith piercing was on a day after drinking lots of white wine (which I don’t do that often) and so I was very tired and a bit hungover.

Bear in mind that before I got the piercing I was getting pretty bad migraines almost every single day. Since I got the daith piercing around a year and a half ago, I can count on two hands the amount of migraines I have had. The majority of those were on days that I was hungover and would get a headache anyway. I very rarely get (or got) normal headaches anyway, so if I got a ‘headache’ it was a migraine that really, really hurt and was usually right across one side of my head (generally the left), over my eye, and often down that side of my face and ear, and sometimes jaw.

So going from getting migraines to some degree almost every day, to only getting the very odd one is just crazy!

It has been amazing. When I do get a migraine now I struggle so much more because I am no longer used to them – which is great! Getting a Daith piercing has honestly changed my life and I would recommend it to anybody that suffers. Obviously it might not work for everybody, but if they really affect your life then I would definitely suggest giving it a try.

Yes, the whole thing could all be in my head, and it’s that which has almost cured my migraines – but if it is then I couldn’t care less! Whatever has allowed me to live my life almost entirely without migraines is a wonderful thing, and I am so grateful for it, whether it is the piercing itself, or a subconscious thing.

The Daith Piercing for migraines, for me? However dramatic it sounds – life changing!

Do you suffer from migraines? Would you consider getting a Daith piercing or have you already had it done? If you have I’d love it if you shared your experience in the comments below.