Nausea and Headaches Often Go Together
Most people who suffer from migraines also experience nausea. You may feel nausea come on as an unpleasant warning sign that a migraine is soon arriving. Migraines can last for hours or days. What if you had a way to shut down the nausea and stop your migraine from going out of control?
My headache clients use a technique to decrease the nausea as much as possible to stop the nausea from triggering an intense migraine. Acupressure is a drug-free method they use to interrupt the nausea-migraine cycle.
Pericardium 6 Acupuncture Point.
Enter Pericardium 6, which is an acupressure point in your forearm. If Pericardium 6 seems like an odd name, feel free to use the Chinese name of Neiguan. It lies about two thumb widths from the crease of your wrist.
Traditional Chinese acupuncture measuring uses the width of the individual’s thumb to locate a point. This method is reasonably successful. However, use this method as a general guide to find your point.
You will not need to ask if you have located the point. It will jump out at you and be more tender than the surrounding tissue. Pericardium 6 has the pleasant sensation of someone putting a cigarette out on your forearm if you press too hard.
This point is well-known to many people. In Asia, I have seen bands with a small thumbtack that apply sharp pressure to this point to give continual relief of nausea symptoms. You can get a “Seaband” that goes on your lower forearm band with somewhat less-than-thumbtack-intense pressure for $5.82 at Walmart as of my last check.
Does Pericardium 6 work?
Numerous studies have been performed on the Pericardium 6 point. Pericardium 6 does indeed relieve nausea from radiation or chemotherapy, motion sickness, morning sickness from pregnancy and migraines.
How Do I Use This Point?
I have found that the method that most people like is to curve the thumb on the opposite hand upward so that the thumb joint on the palmar side of the hand can rub the forearm. If this method is awkward for you, then I would use the first joint past the knuckle of the index finger. Check the above photo for other techniques.
Do not use a needle on yourself. The pointer in the picture is for illustrative purposes. Your fingers or thumb will do the job you want very nicely.
Hold the point anywhere from 15-60 seconds. If you do not feel some relief after 60 seconds, you probably never will. After 60 seconds, do not to cause any more discomfort to yourself if your nausea has not subsided by then. If you feel the nausea fading at that point, you can continue pressing for several more minutes until the relief plateaus.
It does not seem to matter if you use right or left forearm. I also find that you do not get more relief by going to the opposite forearm. Whatever relief you are going to get, you will get with pressure to one forearm.
Get Rid of Your Headache and Nausea
Once you feel your nausea building, do not waste any time. Press the Pericardium 6 point immediately to short-circuit the nausea reaction before your nausea, migraine headache and vomiting gallop off.
You do not want the nausea to get severe enough to trigger your vomiting if you can help it. If the nausea escalates to the point where you are vomiting, the acupressure point is not as effective in combatting the symptoms, I find. The best option is to shut down the nausea before it builds up too far.
Do not spend any more time suffering from unnecessary nausea and headache! Certainly, much suffering in life is unavoidable. But nausea is an all-too-common cause of suffering many people do not need to go through.
The answer to your nausea and headache may have been in the palm of your hand all these years!
-You understand that if not done properly, some techniques and exercises described in this blog could harm you. Any activities you perform are at your own risk, and you expressly agree to waive any claims against the author for any harm that may arise from your own actions. By reading this blog and conducting these exercises, you accept this risk. This blog provides content related to physical and/or mental health issues. As such, your use of techniques described acts as your acceptance of this disclaimer. Consult Chapter 2 in my book, “Calming the Headache Storm” to make sure the headache is not the sign of a more serious problem. The techniques, advice and strategies contained in this blog may not be suitable for every individual and should be abandoned if your headache increases. Seek the advice of your physician.