A woman from Indiana has shared her simple trick to relieve migraines using nothing but a food clip.
Eizabeth Hayes stumbled over the quick-fix when researching migraine relief after she had been suffering from one for almost 12 hours.
She described how the pain was reaching an ‘unbearable limit’, and saw a gadget online that claimed to relieve the pain in minutes. Of course, with the gadget only being available online, and Elizabeth needing relief as soon as possible, she improvised with what was lying around her kitchen.
The gadget she’d discovered was a small clip, made by Aculief, that stimulates the L.I 4 pressure point on the hand – the bit between your thumb and index finger.
Eager to relieve the pain, Elizabeth grabbed a food clip instead – or as she says a ‘chip clip’ usually used to seal bags of food – and stuck in on her hand. Sharing the trick on Facebook, Elizabeth said she had ‘some relief’ after one minute, and after 20 minutes the had reduced by half.
She wrote:
This chip clip saved my life tonight. I had a migraine start almost twelve hours ago and about an hour ago it was at an unbearable limit. I had exhausted all of my drugs and tricks I usually use to ease my migraines to no avail.
I googled fast relief for migraines and it pulled up something called Aculief. I glanced at the counter and saw this chip clip and decided it would do about the same thing. Within one minute I had some relief, and within twenty my pain was reduced by half!! I decided to order the real thing off Amazon.
Just wanted to share this with everyone, as I know many of you suffer from migraines also.
Her ‘life hack’ has since been shared over 272,000 times.
It is believed the clip works via acupressure. Like acupuncture, it is believed to stimulate certain areas around the body connected to various organs and pressure points. Stimulating these points can make the body release ‘natural painkillers’ such as endorphins and serotonin, altering the flow of energy and thereby relieving pain.
Migraine affects around one in seven people, and is the most common neurological disorder in the UK, yet the causes of them are still relatively unknown, according to the Migraine Trust.
You can read the NHS guidelines of how to manage migraines here.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.