Nausea is my least favorite sensation
Monday, May 25, 2026 9:31am
I spent yesterday debilitated by nausea. I might have had food poisoning, or the stomach flu, because I had diarrhea in the morning before eating anything, and again this morning, which is super unusual for me. I also had body aches, wind aversion, nasal congestion, motion sickness in the backseat of my mother’s car, and one round of vomiting clear fluid into the sink after dosing myself with the wrong herbs; I took a half dose of Resilient Warrior teapills (人參敗毒散 Rén Shēn Bài Dú Sǎn) instead of 藿香正氣 Huò Xiāng Zhèng Qì—my go to formula for diarrhea, vomiting, and motion sickness.
It’s amazing to experience the medicine I practice working instantaneously. I feel like I understand the shamans of Peruvian medicine going into the jungle to personally experience the herbs they use better now. I held Inner Gate (內關 nèiguān Pericardium 6) while driving home and it really helped a lot. So I put sticker needles in my wrists when I got home.
I haven’t felt this sick since May of 2011, when the sister of a patient who had died of a brain tumor called me and trauma dumped over the phone, and I spent the rest of the day throwing up into the toilet and lying on the bathroom floor. I learned on that day fifteen years, and remembered again yesterday, that keening also helps me manage nausea. I couldn’t find this suggestion anywhere online so I decided to write a bit about it. I’m not sure it works on anyone else, but this is how it works on me:
Keening—Making high pitched, loud, resonant sounds that vibrate the parts of my belly that is cramping relieves nausea temporarily. This is disturbing for people who are sharing space with you, because you sound like you’re giving birth, or like those professional mourners people hire for funerals in Asia.
Crying—Shedding tears dramatically improved my nausea last night, so I reached for some passages in Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls that reliably makes me cry. Similar to keening, I think the emotional release of weeping helps Stomach Qi descend like it’s supposed to, because it is the nature of Lung Qi to descend. (It’s also quieter, a good option if you don’t have understanding housemates.)
Miso—Everyone emphasizes the importance of staying hydrated if you have watery diarrhea, but nobody thinks of miso as a probiotics supplement that ALSO hydrates. Plain yogurt gets suggested frequently but that’s not a great option for me because I’m lactose intolerant.
Nausea is my least favorite sensation ever. I’m so grateful that my Stomach Qi doesn’t flow in the wrong direction more often. I hope this blog post helps the people who read it.
