What are common digestive issues acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine can help dissipate?

• Leaky gut - Dysbiosis, or bacterial imbalance, is a leading cause of the leaky gut syndrome. It means an imbalance between helpful and harmful species of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract. Poor diet, comprising proteins found in un-sprouted grains, sugar, genetically-modified foods (GMO), and dairy products. 

• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) -abdominal (stomach) pain and cramping, which may be relieved by moving your bowels. A change in your bowel habits – such as diarrhea, constipation, or sometimes both. Bloating and swelling of your stomach. Excessive wind (flatulence)

• Constipation – usually occurs when stools remain in the colon (large intestine) for too long, and the colon absorbs too much water from the stools, causing them to become hard and dry.

• Diarrhea – can occur due to a variety of factors ranging from infections and food intolerances to medication side effects and underlying medical conditions.

• Colitis-Colitis is a chronic digestive disease characterized by inflammation of the inner lining of the colon. Infection, loss of blood supply to the colon, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and invasion of the colon wall with collagen or lymphocyte white blood cells are all possible causes of an inflamed colon.

• Ulcers -A peptic ulcer is a sore on the lining of your stomach, small intestine or esophagus. A peptic ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer. A duodenal ulcer is a peptic ulcer that develops in the first part of the small intestine (duodenum). An esophageal ulcer occurs in the lower part of your esophagus.

• Acid Reflux – occurs when the sphincter muscle at the lower end of your esophagus relaxes at the wrong time, allowing stomach acid to back up into your esophagus. This can cause heartburn and other signs and symptoms. Frequent or constant reflux can lead to GERD.

• Celiac Disease-Celiac disease, sometimes called celiac sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathy, is an immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. If you have celiac disease, eating gluten triggers an immune response in your small intestine.

• Ulcerative Colitis – is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes inflammation and ulcers (sores) in your digestive tract. Ulcerative colitis affects the innermost lining of your large intestine, also called the colon and rectum.

• Crohn's Disease – is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It causes swelling of the tissues (inflammation) in your digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, and malnutrition.

• What is the one thing all of these diagnoses have in common? Inflammation, Inflammation is the culprit of all of the above diagnoses including bloating, gas, cramps, food sensitivities, and aches and pains. 

Benefits of Implementing a Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture 

• Gastrointestinal problems can be attributed to disharmony in the digestive system

• The digestive system is the second brain, and the peristalsis is used to convert your food into nutrients and energy.

• Maximize Digestion & Improve Gut Health

• Enhanced Immune System Function

• Relief from Inflammatory Response

How Traditional Chinese Medicine Optimizes Gut Health

• The rice binds the intestines to stop diarrhea.

• Cinnamon bark warms the digestive tract to aid in digestion. 

• Hawthorn berry helps to reduce deposits in the arteries and blood vessels by lowering cholesterol.

• Orange or tangerine peel alleviates vomiting and loose stools.

• Ginger calms the stomach, reducing nausea and diarrhea.

Physician-Recommended Ways to Implement Optimal Gut Health

• Eating fermented foods and fiber from colorful fruits and vegetables

• Getting enough rest 

• Managing stress 

• Adopt a healthier lifestyle, start with small changes

• Determine through assessment exactly where the imbalance is by seeing a Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner 

What Would Happen at Your Visit with a Traditional Chinese Medicine Physician

• Your physician should ask you questions about your symptoms such as how long they have been going on and the severity

• If you have had any diagnostics done

• If anything seems to alleviate the symptoms

• Then they would access through Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnostics such as looking at your tongue and palpating your pulse

• You will be provided with an acupuncture session to help the enteric nervous system and peristalsis of the gut to help reduce inflammation and get things moving.

• You will also have recommended lifestyle and dietary changes and prescribed a Herbal Formula 

• The physician will usually ask for 3 visits to determine a treatment plan

• On the first visit, the physician gets to know you and sees how you respond to the treatment. The second visit, based on your treatment response, will either reinforce that treatment or change it, and by the third visit they are able to design a treatment plan and or send for further diagnostics.

Essential Steps to Maximizing the Effects of a Gut Protocol

• Adopting an Anti-Inflammatory Diet

• Supplementation for Nutritional Deficiencies

• Appropriately Time Food Consumption

• Intermittent Fasting gives your digestive system a break

• Pro and Prebiotics

Who Should Consider a Gut Protocol?

Your Gut is your second brain and when your gut is functioning optimally you will have fewer aches and pains, better cognitive function, more energy, less stress, and optimal health.  We are what we eat and if we did not eat or drink we would die, so what we eat and drink is how we will thrive.  “Let food be thy medicine.” Hippocrates

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Evidence in Support of The Gut Protocol 

Using Traditional Chinese Medicine for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Journal of Alternative Complementary & Integrative Medicine | Jisun Ryu, Department Of Acupuncture, CHI Health Care, Rockville, Maryland, United States

Traditional Chinese Medicine and Gut Microbiome: Their Respective and Concert Effects on Healthcare

PubMed | Runzhi Zhang, Xi Gao, Hong Bai, and Kang Ning

The Guts of Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Mindd Foundation | Sean Alson B. Health Sc, B.App Sc.

How acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine cured my IBS once and for all

Body+Soul | Kelsey Ferencak

Acupuncture for gastrointestinal disorders: myth or magic

PubMed | J J Y Sung

An Effectiveness and Safety Study of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Functional Constipation

Chong Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine | ZhaoXiang Bian, Hong Kong Baptist University