Acupressure for Feeling Faint and Lightheaded

MedlinePlus describes fainting (syncope) as a brief loss of consciousness due to a drop in blood flow to the brain. It most often lasts less than a couple of minutes, and people usually recover quickly. Before it happens, you may feel weak, sweaty or nauseated, your vision may seem to close in (tunnel vision), or sounds may seem to fade into the background. That stretch is what this post is about: you are still awake, and you feel you might faint.

Everyday triggers MedlinePlus lists:

• coughing very hard;
• straining during a bowel movement;
• standing in one place for too long;
• urinating, especially at night or after lying down for a long time;
• emotional distress, fear or severe pain.

Other causes can be more serious: certain medicines, including some used for anxiety, depression and high blood pressure, which can lower blood pressure; drug or alcohol use; heart disease, such as an abnormal heart rhythm, a heart attack or a stroke; rapid, deep breathing (hyperventilation); low blood sugar; seizures; a sudden drop in blood pressure from bleeding or severe dehydration; and standing up suddenly from lying down. The Feeling Faint page is the reference; this post explains the routine behind it.

Fainting comes from too little blood reaching the brain, so position comes before anything else. MedlinePlus gives these first aid steps when someone has fainted, and the same position is where the routine below starts:

• check the person's airway and breathing; if needed, call your local emergency number and start rescue breathing and CPR;
• loosen tight clothing around the neck;
• raise the feet above the level of the heart, about 12 inches (30 cm);
• if the person vomits, turn them on their side so they do not choke;
• keep them lying down for at least 10 to 15 minutes, in a cool, quiet place if possible; if lying down is not possible, sit them forward with the head between the knees.

Never press points on someone who has fainted and is not responding. Acupressure has no place there: lay them down, raise their feet and get help.

MedlinePlus advises calling your local emergency number if the person who fainted:

• does not become alert within a couple of minutes;
• fell from a height, especially if injured or bleeding;
• is pregnant;
• is over age 50;
• has diabetes (check for a medical ID bracelet);
• feels chest pain, pressure or discomfort;
• has a pounding or irregular heartbeat;
• has lost speech, has vision problems, or cannot move one or more limbs;
• has convulsions, a tongue injury, or has lost bladder or bowel control.

Even when it is not an emergency, see your health care provider as soon as possible if you have never fainted before, if you faint often, or if you have new symptoms with fainting. The provider will try to tell whether you simply fainted or something else happened, such as a seizure or a heart rhythm problem, so a description from someone who saw it helps. Blood pressure may be checked lying down and standing, and tests such as an ECG may follow. What helps depends on the cause. See also when not to self-treat.

Little high-quality research exists. A search of PubMed for acupressure or acupuncture and fainting found no randomized trial or systematic review of acupressure for feeling faint. GV-26 is traditionally an emergency point, but this guide does not offer it, or any point, as a way to bring someone round. The points below are tradition, labelled as such: something to do while you lie still with your feet up, not a replacement for the first aid above or for finding the cause.

Traditional use: in TCM, points such as GV-26, KI-1 and LI-4 are traditionally used for feeling faint. Each point's page shows where to find it and when to skip it.

• Main points: GV-26 Man's Middle (Rén zhōng) in the groove above the upper lip, KI-1 Gushing Spring (Yǒng quán) on the sole of the foot, and LI-4 Joining Valley (Hé gǔ) on the back of the hand.
• Optional: PC-9 Central Hub (Zhōng chōng) at the tip of the middle finger.
• Left out on purpose: GV-20 Hundred Meetings (Bǎi huì) is also listed for feeling faint, but its own page says it can cause brief dizziness in sensitive people and to stop if you feel dizzy. So the routine skips it while you are lightheaded.

The Feeling Faint routine is for someone who is awake. The idea behind it: fainting comes from a drop in blood flow to the brain, and lying down with the feet raised is MedlinePlus's own first aid, so it comes first and lasts longest. The points are done lying down, never standing up to reach them. Breathing stays slow, because rapid, deep breathing is itself one of the causes MedlinePlus lists.

1. Lie down right away and raise your feet about 12 inches (30 cm) above the level of your heart, on a chair or a pile of cushions. If you cannot lie down, sit forward with your head between your knees.
2. Loosen anything tight around your neck, and breathe slowly.
3. While lying down and awake: touch GV-26 lightly with a fingertip.
4. Press LI-4 on each hand, then KI-1 on each sole, firm but never painful. With your feet up, KI-1 is easiest for a helper to reach.
5. Optional: touch the tip of each middle finger (PC-9) lightly, without pinching the nail.
6. Stay lying down for at least 10 to 15 minutes, in a cool, quiet place if you can, then get up slowly.

Helping someone else: only while they are awake and answering you. If they faint and do not become alert within a couple of minutes, stop and call your local emergency number.

Skip or ease off: GV-26 takes only a light touch on intact skin; skip it with a facial injury or a lip infection. Don't press LI-4 during pregnancy, or after hand surgery or a hand injury. Skip KI-1 over an open wound or infection on the sole. Skip PC-9 if the skin around the nail is broken, infected or recently injured. Don't press on broken or irritated skin, bruises or new scars anywhere.

From MedlinePlus:

• if you have a history of fainting, follow your provider's instructions for how to avoid it;
• if you know the situations that make you faint, avoid or change them;
• get up from lying or sitting slowly;
• if having blood drawn makes you faint, tell your provider before the test and lie down while it is done.

If you take a medicine for anxiety, depression or blood pressure and feel faint, talk to the provider who prescribed it before changing anything.