Queasy Feeling

The products: Roller coasters, pregnancies and cancer drugs have one thing in common: They're all proven ways to get that queasy feeling. Once your stomach starts churning, you'll welcome relief wherever you can find it -- including, perhaps, the underside of your wrist. Thousands of years ago, the Chinese started using acupressure to treat nausea. They would firmly press a spot just below the wrist -- known as the P6 point -- until the queasiness passed.

The strategy that has made the pharmaceutical industry one of the wealthiest and most powerful on Earth is finally starting to betray it. Beginning in just a few weeks, and continuing over the next several years, some of the biggest-selling and most profitable drugs in history will lose their patent protection. When the 20-year patent on a drug expires, its sales plummet because other companies can sell generic versions for a fraction of the price.

Our raid on Libya reminds me a little of eating a hot fudge sundae. It felt good at the time, but later you got that queasy feeling. DOUG MAULDIN San Pedro

The products: Roller coasters, pregnancies and cancer drugs have one thing in common: They're all proven ways to get that queasy feeling. Once your stomach starts churning, you'll welcome relief wherever you can find it -- including, perhaps, the underside of your wrist. Thousands of years ago, the Chinese started using acupressure to treat nausea. They would firmly press a spot just below the wrist -- known as the P6 point -- until the queasiness passed.

Regarding "Jack is Once Again an Average Joe of a Name" on Nov. 1: What's in a name? I'll tell you. A lot of bad memories and scarring for beginners. I just finished doing time with the psycho-boss from hell named Jack. I only have to hear the name and I get that queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach and the tremblings of a migraine. I love movies and see more and more leading characters named Jack. Other than reminding me of my former misery, I find that the common use of this particular name denotes a lack of originality and imagination.

Conrad's use of the Star of David to mark his displeasure with Israeli actions and policy is an outrage and an extremely dangerous device. For centuries the Star of David has been a cherished and revered symbol to Jews throughout the world, not only in Israel. To the more pious, it is sacred; to the less religious, an important symbol of a common cultural bond with fellow Jews everywhere. It marks Jewish houses of worship and the Holy Scriptures therein. It also marks thousands of graves of the fallen in military cemeteries all over the world along with the crosses of their fallen brothers.

Re "As the Stomach Turns" (Nov. 22): No list of homespun nausea remedies would be complete without one I have found helpful in management of uncomplicated nausea. This remedy involves acupressure. There is a well-known acupoint on the inside of the wrist, about one inch above the wrist crease, in a depression between the bones of the forearm. This point has actually been medically proven to be effective for nausea in a variety of situations when stimulated with an acupuncture needle.

The queasy feeling in my gut is not a hangover, but merely my reaction to The Times' article of Aug. 5, "Broadcasters' Sober Duty Is to Public on Alcohol Ads." According to the writers, it is time for still more government regulation of the broadcasting industry to "balance" beer and wine commercials by mandating "equal time" for anti-alcohol messages. Alcohol, used wrongly, can certainly be dangerous. So can automobiles, kitchen knives, microwave ovens and insect sprays. Should we balance the ads for all these items as well--in fact, for any item that ever has been or could be misused?

You're at the gym working out, confident that you can lift more weight today than yesterday. You bend down to pick up the barbell and, as you come up, you feel a pop in the groin area. Next comes a dull pain and a queasy feeling. Even though the pain continues after you finish your workout, you figure it's just muscle strain. But the bad news is it may be a hernia. A hernia occurs when part of an organ within the body slips through an abnormal opening in the wall that normally contains it.

Chuck Palahniuk is a writer whose work elicits a passionate response. The author of "Fight Club" and the recently released "Diary" trades in harsher, less varnished truths, and his fans are known for their devotion. (When Random House decided to promote "Diary" with "street teams" that would advertise his work with fliers, stunts and word of mouth, the book's Web site was swarmed with volunteers.

The Jan. 31 story, "Healthcare Overhaul Is Quietly Underway," said the president advocated that employer-paid health plans be replaced with health savings accounts funded by the employee. These would be used to pay for day-to-day medical expenses. Also, the employee would purchase a catastrophic plan to cover medical catastrophes. One question: How do you define a catastrophe? Is a long hospital stay for an asthmatic child a day-to-day cost or a medical catastrophe? Will the sellers of medical catastrophic insurance be able to deny sales to people who have an existing medical condition?

If prevention is the best medicine, the disease-themed thriller "Absolon" (9 tonight, Sci Fi) is best avoided. This action-packed silliness unfolds in the not-too-distant future, when the human race is ravaged by NDS, an airborne virus that emerges from the destruction of the rain forests. Economies have crumbled and 5 billion people have perished in the plague of NDS, which can kill within three days, but a scarce drug called Absolon offers hope. Or does it?

Regarding "Jack is Once Again an Average Joe of a Name" on Nov. 1: What's in a name? I'll tell you. A lot of bad memories and scarring for beginners. I just finished doing time with the psycho-boss from hell named Jack. I only have to hear the name and I get that queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach and the tremblings of a migraine. I love movies and see more and more leading characters named Jack. Other than reminding me of my former misery, I find that the common use of this particular name denotes a lack of originality and imagination.

Re "As the Stomach Turns" (Nov. 22): No list of homespun nausea remedies would be complete without one I have found helpful in management of uncomplicated nausea. This remedy involves acupressure. There is a well-known acupoint on the inside of the wrist, about one inch above the wrist crease, in a depression between the bones of the forearm. This point has actually been medically proven to be effective for nausea in a variety of situations when stimulated with an acupuncture needle.

Pregnant and feeling a little green around the gills? Some women find relief with the following remedies, which have been suggested by obstetricians, dietitians and survivors of morning sickness. Consult your doctor before trying any remedies.

The nation's health care dilemma caught up with Scott Rodger the way it has for many Americans, barely noticed at first, now a gathering preoccupation. As long as he had work, there was little reason to concern himself with the medical benefits that came with his job as a physical therapist for the mentally disabled. It was only after Rodger was abruptly let go last January, and his coverage stopped, that he began to worry.

If prevention is the best medicine, the disease-themed thriller "Absolon" (9 tonight, Sci Fi) is best avoided. This action-packed silliness unfolds in the not-too-distant future, when the human race is ravaged by NDS, an airborne virus that emerges from the destruction of the rain forests. Economies have crumbled and 5 billion people have perished in the plague of NDS, which can kill within three days, but a scarce drug called Absolon offers hope. Or does it?

The Jan. 31 story, "Healthcare Overhaul Is Quietly Underway," said the president advocated that employer-paid health plans be replaced with health savings accounts funded by the employee. These would be used to pay for day-to-day medical expenses. Also, the employee would purchase a catastrophic plan to cover medical catastrophes. One question: How do you define a catastrophe? Is a long hospital stay for an asthmatic child a day-to-day cost or a medical catastrophe? Will the sellers of medical catastrophic insurance be able to deny sales to people who have an existing medical condition?

Conrad's use of the Star of David to mark his displeasure with Israeli actions and policy is an outrage and an extremely dangerous device. For centuries the Star of David has been a cherished and revered symbol to Jews throughout the world, not only in Israel. To the more pious, it is sacred; to the less religious, an important symbol of a common cultural bond with fellow Jews everywhere. It marks Jewish houses of worship and the Holy Scriptures therein. It also marks thousands of graves of the fallen in military cemeteries all over the world along with the crosses of their fallen brothers.