Do you ever feel nauseous every time you eat?
I had a patient come in, a young woman, 26 years old who said she felt like vomiting every time she eats. At first, I thought perhaps she has an eating disorder and this is her way of reaching out for help but she quickly squashed that idea by telling me that she loves to eat and is very active. She boxes and does yoga, along with some other stuff to keep in shape. The impression I got from her was that she was very stressed and food wasn't an issue. She just wants to be able to eat without feeling nauseous. She was tired of people, especially doctors, looking at her funny every time she mentioned she was too nauseous to eat. Her friends kept telling her she was probably just pregnant and she assured me she wasn't.
Of course I asked if she had seen a doctor for this and she did. They didn't find anything wrong with her blood work and nothing showed up on X-ray. I asked her to lie down face up and I felt her abdomen. What jumped out at me was how tense it felt, this was why she was feeling nauseous.
FASCIA
The human body is more than skin, muscle, blood vessels, nerves and bones. There's an entire network of web-like connective tissue that helps keep all that together. Without it, we'd be crunchy like a potato chip. As a fascia expert, I know that sometimes our connective tissue can get bound up creating constrictions in our bodies. I knew I needed to release the tight fascia in the abdomen for her to feel better. I selected some acupuncture points, released the knots in her rectus abdominus muscles, which is pictured below, and then inserted some needles across her belly very superficially to release the web like connective tissue. I asked her to contact me the next day and let me know if she was still nauseous, I just like to know if I'm on the right track or not.
I'm happy to report her message to me:
“Thank you again for yesterday. I slept much better last night and I was able to eat today without feeling sick. I really appreciated yesterday. It was the first time in a while I didn’t feel like someone was looking at me like I was crazy about how I was feeling.”
This is a perfect example of how acupuncture can help in a situation where Western Medicine just doesn't have any answers.
Common tightness in the abdomen can be found in both men and women who do a lot of core body work such as ball slams, pilates, planks, box jumps, etc and don't take the time to stretch the abdomen, so don't forget it in your daily stretches.
If you feel this way and would like help decompressing and regulating your digestion, book your acupuncture appointment below now.