Frequently Asked Questions

In migraine, neural therapy can be effective through several mechanisms that work together to relieve pain and reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks. Here are some of the mechanisms through which neural therapy may be effective in migraine:

1. Local Anesthetic Effect:

Injecting local anesthetics such as procaine into specific trigger points or pain areas can produce an immediate analgesic effect. The local anesthetic blocks the transmission of pain signals in the nervous system, which leads to a reduction in the sensation of pain.

2. Interference Field Therapy:

Neural therapy is partly based on the theory of interference fields. Interference fields are areas of the body disrupted due to injuries, wounds, or chronic inflammation, and they can cause pain in distant regions. By injecting local anesthetics into these interference fields, abnormal signals can be interrupted and pain can be reduced.

3. Modulation of the Autonomic Nervous System:

The injections can affect the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for regulating blood vessels and the sensation of pain. By affecting the autonomic nervous system in this way, neural therapy can relieve migraine symptoms by normalizing blood flow in the head region.

4. Improvement of Blood Circulation:

Neural therapy can improve blood circulation in the treated areas, allowing tissues to be better nourished with oxygen and nutrients and reducing inflammation. This can be particularly beneficial for circulation issues that may play a role in the development of migraine.

5. Anti-Inflammatory Effects:

Local anesthetics such as procaine have anti-inflammatory properties. The injection can reduce inflammation at the injection site, which can contribute to pain relief.

6. Psychological Effects:

The immediate analgesic effect and the sense of control over the pain condition can create positive psychological effects that also help break the cycle of fear and pain often present in chronic pain patients.

Practical Application:

When neural therapy is used in the treatment of migraine, specific trigger points, scars, or interference fields associated with migraine attacks are usually identified and treated. The therapist injects local anesthetics into these areas. The number of treatments may vary depending on the severity and frequency of the migraine.

It is important to remember that neural therapy is not equally effective in all patients and that results may vary. It is recommended that treatment be carried out by an experienced and qualified therapist. Before starting treatment, a comprehensive medical consultation should always be conducted, and suitability and potential risks should be evaluated.

You can access neural therapy and Hüseyin Nazlıkul's other treatment methods here.

Dr. Hüseyin NAZLIKUL
IFMANT = President of the International Federation of Neural Therapy Societies
President of the Scientific Neural Therapy Regulation Association 

Treatment is carried out in sessions, and can be applied either 2-3 sessions per week or at intervals. Sometimes treatments extend over several months. The duration of treatment varies for each patient and does not exceed 10 sessions. Neural treatments, which are generally completed within a few months, can be resumed from where they left off if complaints recur in the long term.

A healthy person's body has a freely flowing energy flow. Injury, illness, malnutrition, stress, and even scars disrupt this free flow and lead to the formation of what are called interference fields, an energy imbalance. German researchers have determined that 40% of illnesses and chronic pain originate from interference fields in the body.

The aim of neural therapy is to correct this interference and treat the illness or symptom. Achieving recovery means acting on the nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is a very extensive electrical network system in our body. This nervous system is a bioelectrical network that reaches every cell and controls its function. (With a total length of 500,000 km, it wraps around our entire body like a net.) This is the system that, operating outside our will, governs the functioning of all internal organs such as the heart, respiration, and digestive system, as well as our hormones, body temperature, pH, metabolism, and emotions—in other words, the nervous system that maintains the body's internal balance and sustains life. Disturbances in this network form the basis of all our illnesses. Because neural therapy corrects these disturbances, it provides effective treatment for all illnesses. Through this effect, which cannot be achieved with drug therapy, it is possible to treat the illness at its source. While neural therapy is very commonly used as a method for relieving chronic pain, it is also a treatment for allergies, hay fever, headaches, asthma, osteoarthritis, rheumatic diseases, hormonal imbalance, sports or muscle injuries, gallbladder, heart, and liver diseases, depression, dizziness, menstrual pain and cramps, and skin and circulatory problems.

It should not be confused with the needle treatments applied to the body by some practitioners. (Dry needling, acupuncture, etc.)

Neural therapy is a method of treating pain and organ functional disorders using a 1% local anesthetic.

Neural therapy produces lasting regulation in the body through an entirely different biophysical effect. Neural therapy, a natural treatment method, can be safely applied even to pregnant and breastfeeding women. It has no side effects, and the treatment is entirely lasting.

You can find physicians who practice neural therapy on the websites of associations such as the Scientific Neural Therapy and Regulation Association (www.noralterapi.com, www.ifmant.com, www.ignh.de, www.santh.ch, www.neuraltherapie.at, www.dgfan.de). 

These professional associations are also organizations that provide internationally recognized neural therapy training.

Neural therapy is a regulation treatment that requires an accurate diagnosis. In order to inject local anesthetics into the correct location in neural therapy, physicians must be thoroughly familiar with anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, the ground system and connective tissue, as well as biochemistry.

All neural therapists complete the stages of neural therapy training and additionally receive specialized training on the relevant regions of the body. This training period lasts at least 2 years. Physicians who pass the written and oral examinations at the end of the training are entitled to receive diplomas from the association where they trained as well as from IFMANT.

Neural therapy is a regulation method that, in many countries, is treated as a subspecialty; in some countries, as a specialty in its own right; and in others, as a two-year course of training taken after completing medical school.

In Turkey, the only institution that provides this training and whose training carries international recognition is the ‘‘Scientific Neural Therapy and Regulation Association.’’

You can find the full list of physicians who have received qualified training in this field in Turkey at www.noralterapi.com.

Before undergoing treatment, be sure to check whether the training received by the physician practicing, or attempting to practice, neural therapy is recognized by BNR, IGNH, and IFMANT, so that you can be treated by a qualified practitioner.

If segment therapy does not produce the desired effect, extended segment therapy may be appropriate. The neural therapist injects the anesthetic substance around the nerve nodes, the ganglia, in the vegetative nervous system. The autonomic nervous system consists of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves.

The sympathetic system activates fight or flight, leads to increased energy consumption, and activates inflammation and pain.

The parasympathetic nervous system serves relaxation, renewal, and detoxification functions.

In cases where segment therapy is unsuccessful, extended segment therapy, together with deeper injections, significantly speeds up the course of treatment.

Sites that chronically act as stress factors—inconspicuous and not causing any particular complaint themselves, yet affecting entirely different parts of the body—are identified as an ‘‘interference field.’’ 

An interference field permanently irritates the body's functions and weakens our natural defenses. For this reason, even smaller stimuli can cause clinical complaints disproportionate to the trigger.

The interference fields we would typically cite within the scope of neural therapy are the tonsils, the sinuses, the teeth and jaw region, surgical sites, vaccination sites, the prostate, the gynecological region, any type of scar, and diseased organs themselves can also act as an interference field.

Interference fields activate two stress axes in the body:

• An axis that acts quickly, through the nervous system
• An axis that acts more slowly, through the hormonal system

Due to the persistent activation of the sympathetic system, the body can no longer heal and becomes ill. Symptoms then appear at a naturally weak point in the body. For example, this may manifest as a dead tooth, asthma, hypertension, or knee or shoulder pain. 

The aim of injecting the interference fields identified through the neural therapy approach with procaine is to halt the negative stimuli spreading outward from this source, to break the vicious cycle, and ultimately to first reduce and then eliminate these stimuli entirely.

The neural therapist injects a local anesthetic into and around the interference field/interference source in order to act on it effectively, thereby aiming to halt the harmful stimuli.

If the desired effect is not seen with segment or extended segment therapy, interference field treatment is initiated. According to the neural therapy approach, illnesses the body has experienced in the past can create a lasting, chronic, silent inflammation. Even if this area is itself symptom-free, it can be the source of clinical complaints. Once this area is identified, the neural therapy applied to it can also eliminate the patient’s complaints that are not related to the segment. Following injections applied at the periphery, the patient experiences complete relief for at least 20 hours. The complaints may later recur, but not with the same severity as at the outset. Treatments are repeated until a state of complete relief is achieved. It has generally been observed that complete relief is achieved with 2-3 sessions of injections into the interference field.

Neural therapy involves injections of local anesthetics known as procaine or lidocaine into reflex zones, scars, interference foci and interference fields, or the painful area itself. These injections can be applied as intradermal wheals (Quaddel) under the skin, as well as into trigger points, joints, ligaments, tendons, spinal nerves, and the ganglia of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Through these injections, it becomes possible to promote cell healing and renewal, normalize nerve impulses and pain signals, and ensure proper blood flow to the affected tissue. The goal is to support the body's capacity for regulation.

For example, if someone is dealing with a rheumatic inflammation issue and neural therapy has been applied, it may cause more pain within 12-24 hours than before. Although this is uncomfortable, it is a good sign. An initial increase in the body's existing clinical complaints may mean that the dose applied was too high, but it can also indicate that the body has the underlying capacity to regulate itself.

The duration of neural therapy is generally between 15 and 60 minutes. However, the effect of neural therapy extends far beyond the effect of the anesthetic. As with many other complementary medical procedures, initial worsening of symptoms may last for a day or two.

Neural therapy is a method used for the regulation and correction of body functions, and for this reason it has no side effects.

The main local anesthetic agents used in neural therapy are procaine or lidocaine. Allergic reactions to these local anesthetics are rare. However, since improper use of local anesthetics can lead to serious side effects, the treatment should only be administered by trained physicians.

Quaddel (orange-peel or wheal appearance) injections: The small bumps formed by neural therapy injections applied to the skin and subcutaneous tissue are called a "quaddel." These injections refer to a technique in which local anesthetics are injected under the skin.

This technique, widely used especially in Germany, has begun to be widely used in Turkey as well, thanks to the training given under the Scientific Neural Therapy and Regulation Association, which was founded in 2004. Many doctors use this treatment for painful muscle tension in the neck and shoulder area.

Because neural therapy is performed with very fine needles, it causes little pain and is well tolerated by patients. It is not a painful treatment. However, it should be understood that it involves injections.

Depending on the areas where neural therapy is applied and the depth of the injection blockages, each neural therapy session costs approximately 200 to 700 ₺.

Health insurance in Turkey generally does not cover neural therapy. In our country, neural therapy costs are not covered under either private or state health insurance.

In Switzerland, all neural therapy interventions are covered by social insurance. In 2005, under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Lorenz Fischer in Switzerland, a comparison of treatments performed by family physicians—primarily for musculoskeletal disorders—showed that the costs to the state and insurers for patients receiving neural therapy were significantly lower.

In Germany, segment therapy, extended segment therapy, and systemic applications are covered by insurance, while interference field therapy, which is more resistant to standardization, is excluded from this coverage.

In Austria, a large portion of treatment costs are covered by insurance. In all three countries, treatments performed by physicians holding a diploma from their own country’s neural therapy association as well as an IFMANT diploma are covered by insurance.

We hope that one day these treatments will also be covered in our country, because in the long run, neural therapy is a treatment that reduces healthcare costs and prevents diseases from becoming chronic.

1- In the treatment of migraine and headaches
2- In the treatment of muscle-related pain such as neck, back, and lower back pain
3- In relieving the pain of lumbar and cervical disc herniation
4- Joint disorders (meniscus tears, reduction of joint fluid, sports injuries)
5- Treatment of pain caused by nerve compression
6- Treatment of rheumatic diseases
7- Treatment of allergy-related conditions such as allergic asthma and allergic rhinitis (imbalance in the immune system)
8- Treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, treatment of tennis elbow
9- Relief of menopausal complaints
10- Treatment of menstrual irregularities and severe menstrual pain
11- Reproductive problems related to hormonal disorders
12- Treatment of chronic tonsillitis (persistent throat inflammation)
13- Treatment of chronic sinusitis
14- Treatment of fibromyalgia (widespread muscle pain), persistent fatigue, and weakness
15- Treatment of mental illnesses such as depression and panic attacks
16- Treatment of chronic constipation
17- Treatment of intestinal disorders (irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease)
18- Treatment of facial paralysis
19- Treatment of trigeminal neuralgia
20- Sports injuries
21- Detox
22- Anti-aging (prevention of aging)
23- Restless leg syndrome
24- Prior to radiotherapy

Neural therapy is an injection-based treatment. It is applied to the skin, gums, all scars and surgical marks on the body, and vaccination sites. Fine, small insulin needle tips are generally used in the applications. The goal is not to give an injection as such, but to create a bioelectrical effect within the neural system. The regions where the needle is applied can vary depending on the patient and their complaint. The injections are made both into the nerve and into the vascular pathway.

Neural therapy can be applied to all age groups, including children and the elderly. Conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease, as well as the medications used for them, are not obstacles to treatment. Only in patients using cortisone may the treatment's effectiveness be reduced, since the body's immune response is suppressed altogether.