Do “Sea-Bands” Work for Migraine Nausea?
Does the “Sea-Band” and other so-called anti-nausea bracelets actually work to fight migraine nausea? Dr. Zoltan Medgyessy of the Berolina Clinic in Germany thinks so, and so do many migraineurs.
At last month’s International Headache Congress in Boston, Dr. Medgyessy reported on a study which involved the bracelets. Patients in the study had significant migraine symptoms, including nausea. Instead of taking nausea medication, they used a Sea-Band.
The Sea-Band, and other similar bracelets such as the Psi Band, use acupressure. Acupressure is a concept that comes from Chinese religion and philosophy relating to Qi or Chi. Qi is believed to be a living energy that permeates all things, usually connected with a kind of pantheism (in simplistic terms, everything is god).
More recently the medical world has shown interest in acupressure believing that pressure in certain parts of the body are certainly therapeutic. This could be partly because of the way that pressure to certain parts of the body release endomorphins, which can fight pain.
In spite of the benefits of touch that are well known, showing in scientific studies that therapies like acupressure work has been a challenge.
In this study, 83% of patients saw a reduction in nausea, although some nausea generally remained. 44% saw a “significant” reduction. Almost all the patients said that they would use the Sea-Band again.
Who wouldn’t want a drug-free, reusable (cheap!) treatment like that?
On the other hand, there are some serious limitations in the study itself.
First, remember that less than half saw a “significant reduction”, and we’re still not talking about actually getting rid the nausea.
The other problem is that there was no control group in this study. The placebo effect is high with any study – and we already know that it’s high in things like acupressure. For example, anti-nausea bands work a lot better for people who “expect them to work” when it comes to cancer nausea.
Would it work just as well to have a little wrist massage? Human touch instead of a device? Or do anything that you think may work?
It’s very likely that the numbers will be a lot lower in a controlled trial.
Of course most would continue using them. Few things are more disabling than migraine with nausea – it’s easy to grasp at anything, especially if it’s said to be “safe”.
But we need to see more studies to show that a device works better than human touch or other types of non-drug treatment.
Also, we need to encourage people to get complete treatment of migraine, not to just focus on symptoms.
More on the study:
17 July 2013 @ 11:53 pm
Are they available in U.S. If so where can you find it. Would love a non-medicinal method of dealing w/ nausea.