My Daith Piercing

Yesterday, I had a Daith Piercing done. I have other piercings, but after my initial ones, I didn’t know what I would get next. Fourteen years later, I got another one. Not for aesthetic reasons, mind you, but for health reason. Huh? You might ask. Well, this is my story.

Headaches remain a problem. That’s right, while I haven’t written about my post-concussion syndrome issues lately, they persist. My loved one’s wish they could help, but no one is more frustrated about them than I am.

For those who don’t know, in July 2016, I suffered a severe concussion when my head came into sharp contact with a large, heavy pipe. Over the next year, my healing progressed according to all of my doctor’s expectations. In the year and a half that followed, well, that’s another story. I’m plagued with sensitivity to bright, overhead artificial lighting and pulsating light and sound. While reduced to functional levels, it rears its ugly head every so often.

What’s worse is the constant, twenty-four seven headaches. They never give up, never surrender. It’s awful, often waylaying me for days on end. Finally, last May, they seemed to settle down. Whether it’s related to normal healing, doctor treatments, cognitive and physical therapy or all of the above, I don’t know. What I know is that I am exhausted of them.

Over the past several weeks my headaches escalated, jumping to between a five or six on the Pain Richter scale. In this past week, they have settled down again, sitting in the one to two range. It’s annoying, frustrating and painful. Oh yeah, they’re painful. I am tiring of it all. I’m determined to do something about them.

Inspiration

A few months ago, while getting a checkup at the doctor’s, I talked to a nurse who had a piercing in the conch portion of her ear. As we chatted, she mentioned that she got it to control her migraines. It worked so well for her that she has barely suffered one since getting them installed. Later I learned that what she called a Conch piercing was actually a Daith piercing.

Intrigued, I looked into them. I spoke to everyone I knew or came into contact with whom had them, and they mostly spoke highly of them for headache control. Enamored, I mentioned it to my neurologist. She confirmed that while there is no scientific data on piercings and headache control, many of her patients reported positive results. She was quick to point out that there were no guarantees.

Still, she suggested that if I was interested, try it. Especially as the next stage in my treatment plan was Botox injections in my head. I’ll do anything to not do that, including living with headache pain for the rest of my life (maybe).

Decision made

So, yesterday, I went to a high-end piercing joint that specializes in piercing. That’s all they do. They are not a tattoo shop that does piercing.

Now, I’m sporting a new piercing in my left ear. It’s called a DAITH piercing, which is a small hoop placed in one of the inner ridges of my ear. See the picture. It’s hoop through the cartilage inside my ear, with two beads holding an emerald green gem. I like it, and less than twenty-four hours later, it’s barely noticeable. Sure, others can see it, and many coworkers have already commented on it. For me, I can sense its presence, and except for an occasional itch, I barely know it’s there.

Notice I said barely there. I know it’s there. It’s only been 24 hours, and while I can ignore it, my brain thinks something is going on with my ear. In some ways, it feels like I have water in my ear after swimming. Other times, I get an itch, and I absently try to scratch it. The moment my finger touches it, I realize that nope, don’t do it. Other times I sense an ear infection, which isn’t true. I’ll be in an adjustment period for the time being.

I’m hoping that once I get over that, my headache will vaporize. If I can break the cycle, even for just an hour, its progress. Find relief once, I can find it again, and then again. Eventually, I’m hoping that I will return to a normal existence, and when I get a headache, it’ll be like the one everyone else gets.

For more information on the Daith Piercing, check out this Wikipedia page. In the meantime, after a month off from writing, I’m getting back into it. Now, if I can remember where I left off. 🙄

Much success to you and yours.