Traditional Medicine for the Rainy Season

This May, (2022) the rainy season has not technically started in the Kansai Region, but the frequency of my headaches has already gone up. I'm one of many people who are sensitive to the air pressure changes common during rainy and stormy weather. In fact, every woman who I work with and talk with about this has the same problem. (It's more common for women to have migraines, but men get them too.)

This year I finally went to a neurologist to get treated for my migraines (in March) as it's become frustrating to try to lead a normal life when I never know if I'm going to suddenly need to take it easy or even take a day off. It is not that there's a cure, but I feel better managing my migraine issues with a professional, with a pain killer that actually helps, and preventative medicine. The treatment seemed to be reducing the frequency of headaches. Until the rain started up again. One of the preventative medicines I'm taking is also a traditional medicine, but it's no problem to take other types of kanpo at the same time.

Last year I bought a few (kanpo) traditional medicines after a doctor student mentioned recommending them for people with similar symptoms. Goreisan (五苓散) is the name of the kanpo medicine, which is on the left in the photo above. I also bought two medicines with almost the same ingredients from Amazon, but they are all sold in the nearby drugstores as well. 

The medicine called ズッキノン (top) is for symptoms like tight shoulders and neck, chronic headaches, and correcting circulation problems. The packets contain eleven herbs (like licorice and ginsing) in powder form. I have limited experience using it but it calms down the neverending pressure headaches I get during storms.

ティラック (bottom) adresses heavy feeling and dizziness with headaches and swelling. These are common symptoms felt during low air pressure. It has exactly the same ingredients as the goreisan, (including jujube and cinnamon) which is sold by both Kracie and Tsumura and comes in either tablets or packets of powder. The advantage of the box type is only that one dosage is individually wrapped, not just loose tablets in a bottle. It's easy to keep one in my bag if I'm out and suddenly need it.

Most people automatically recommend drinking more water when you have headaches, which is sometimes part of the issue, but the cause of some air pressure headaches is said to be too much liquid stuck in the body, causing swelling.

I took a smaller than recommended dosage of the goreisan tablets, before meals once a day or so, during last year's rainy season. It seemed to help a lot for me and I have been taking it during rainy days this year as well. I think I will bring this up during my next check in with the neurologist, as kanpo medicines can be cheaper when prescribed and covered by insurance.

A coworker mentioned taking a medicine with soy isoflavones called エクオール which has helped her with the same symptoms. I eat a good amount of soy products normally, but it's something to keep in mind for women who may have headaches related to hormones changing in middle age.