We take a functional medicine approach to digestive disorders. We recommend the GI Map DNA stool test to see a snapshot of your microbiome.
Digestive disorders encompass a wide variety of symptoms, affecting millions of Americans. In fact, they are responsible for over 50 million physician visits and more hospitalizations than any other category of medical problems in the United States today. Besides the more obvious digestive disorders of constipation, diverticular disease, hemorrhoids, IBS, colitis, and Crohn’s disease, many seemingly unrelated diseases have been attributed to digestive dysfunction. These include diabetes, gallstones, kidney stones, gout, hypertension, varicose veins, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and obesity. Clinical studies and experimental research show excellent results from acupuncture for many digestive complaints.
Chinese medicine divides digestive disorders into specific categories ruled by the spleen and stomach organs. Weakness or deficient conditions exist when the organs are not functioning optimally. Conversely, excess conditions arise when other factors (usually heat, cold, or dampness) are out of balance. In traditional Chinese medicine, the spleen and stomach organs are the roots of post-heaven Chi. This means that if the body cannot derive this Chi, this can affect any other body organ, tissue or function. Correcting digestive complaints or irregularities with acupuncture is often the key to bringing the entire body back into balance.
Chinese herbal medicine has many formulas for addressing different types of digestive disturbances and the different organs that may be involved. Dr Christie can differentiate between these syndromes and design a formula to address the organs which play the strongest part.
The following conditions respond well to acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine: nausea, stomachache, constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, bacterial infections, inflammatory diseases such as chronic gastritis, atrophic gastritis, chronic enteritis, and gastroenteritis, peptic ulcers such as duodenal ulcer and gastric ulcer, gastrointestinal tract bleeding and intestinal cramps, gastrointestinal tumors, inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome and short bowel syndrome.