I still get this from time-to-time due to stress, but I used to get it quite a bit in association with heartburn/indigestion. Do you have a history of heartburn/indigestion?

If you want to go with the TCM explanation plum pit qi means that your qi is stagnant, your liver is stagnant, large amounts of fat and protein will do that.

It can be treated with acupuncture for a while, but without lifestyle changes it won't help for a long time.

A stagnant liver can be opened up by lowering fat intake, protein intake, fasting, eating smaller amounts, exercise (slow and long walks are best), trying to keep your emotions in check (meditation for example).

Low carb diets are notorious with TCM practitioners for causing severe liver stagnation; if you are LC try lowering your fat intake, maybe take in some fruit and tubers instead of large amounts of fat before the acupuncture treatment to see if it helps.

Just to be clear this message was from the TCM point of view, not trying to say that this 100% correct etc. just one viewpoint.

I had this as a teenager, and it was definitely brought on by stress. My home life was awful, but I was nervous about leaving because I felt so ill-prepared for adulthood.

Eating a decent diet can be helpful, but getting rid of it will depend on either getting rid of your major sources of stress, learning better coping strategies, or a combination of both. And even if you can't improve your external circumstances, you can change how you perceive them and, in turn, how you respond to them.

This can also result from a neurologically-related reflex arc between vagus nerve and its outlet through the jugular foramen (in your skull). Your skull is composed of several bones that move tiny miniscule amounts, in tandem with one another: if that motion is compromised, the cranial nerves exiting through the holes between them may have compromised function.

If you can find an osteopathic physician who practices cranial osteopathy, you may find some relief. The following link directs you to the physician finders for two osteopathic professional organizations:

http://www.osteodoc.com/find.htm

Good luck.

I had a very similar issue with nausea and anxiety. I think it was a whole big mix of things - I was eating loads of gluten filled foods at the time, work stress, personal stress, and family stress were through the roof, for about 3-4 months solid. I would have muffins or pastries for dessert, noodles for lunch, some coffee on top of that and another afternoon pastry, then home for take out. Suddenly I began to get extreme nausea after eating, but only some of the time at first, so I didn't really notice it (like a few unhappy hours with vodka shots on an empty stomach commiserating with coworkers), but then it was after every bite of food. I went to a GI, was told I had acid reflux (though I had none of the actual symptoms) then had a scope done which showed that I had mild gastritis and a mild hiatal hernia. According to the GI, neither of these should be able to cause such extreme nausea, so we went through a bunch of other tests, with nothing coming up positive, but a few deficiencies and some small amounts of autoimmune antibodies (now gone). I saw a chiropractor who did soft tissue manipulation which made the hiatal hernia no more (I have since had another scoping and barium swallow that indicated it was no longer present). I also saw an acupuncturist twice per week for the nausea, which made me feel good and was relaxing, but did not help with the nausea until I got my anxiety under control. Looking back with my new physician, it seems that I was having panic attacks, which could have been caused by any number of things, including the deficiencies. She did try to get me on an anti-depressant to help out, but I didn't want to be on it for long, though it did make me feel better for the short period I did take it. I would definitely get it checked out with a GI to see what you're working with, then take whatever steps you think are best for you. I did have to take Zofran for a while (anti-nausea med usually used for chemo patients) which was a miracle because I was so afraid to eat solid foods that I had lost 60 lbs in less than 3 months. I notice the anxiety comes back sometimes if I stop my magnesium supplementation, so I think that I still have a deficiency somehow, so I keep taking it and eat as much magnesium rich foods as possible. Sorry this is kind of rambling, but I hope you feel better soon.