With Christmas approaching, it is the season of holiday cheer, family gatherings, parties, travel, shopping, cooking and cleaning. Many people cope with digestive disorders caused by holiday stress, not getting enough sleep, and overeating. Acupuncture is extremely effective at treating a vast array of digestive disorders such as acid reflux (GERD), distended belly, gas and bloating. Below are some tips on how to do acupressure on yourself to improve your digestive function.
A cute and very accurate bumper sticker from one of the Naturopathic Medical Schools reads: “The road to health is paved with good intestines”. The overall health of our body is in fact, intimately linked to the health of our intestines.
With an abundance of research connecting chronic health issues to the gastrointestinal tract (gut), we as naturopaths have a lot that we can offer to help heal your gut and get you on the road to healing your life. Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, Celiac Disease, gluten sensitivity/intolerance, food allergies; these are all situations where there is significant inflammation somewhere in the gut. Such hostile conditions in the gut will eventually affect other parts of the body overtime and further weaken the immune system.
A large portion of our immune system lives in the gut. The body needs a positive balance of healthy bacteria (flora) in order to remain in good health and to prevent inflammatory states. The immune system in the gut must be strong enough to properly identify harmful bacteria and stimulate the body’s immune response to fight off infections and to keep the negative bacteria at bay and from multiplying to numbers that lead to a subsequent infection.
Though integrative medicine professionals have educated patients about the bacteria in their digestive tract for decades, a recent explosion of research and media attention is bringing this medical game-changing understanding to public light: Our lives depend on these bacteria. We’re neglecting to care for them and now our healthcare system is overwhelmed by epidemics of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, obesity, and cancer, all of which are scientifically linked to unhealthy gut bacteria. We’ve acknowledged that this “gut microbiome” is directly linked to our immune system, thereby triggering autoimmune diseases, allergies, and asthma, when unbalanced. It’s also linked to our brain, thereby influencing our behaviour and possibly even triggering mood disorders. Though this science remains a few years ahead of current conventional medical practice, traditional medical systems such as Asian medicine, adapted by Western Integrative Medicine practitioners, have much experience and wisdom to share with us about protecting our gut bacteria, and our health.
Our bodies are composed of 10 times more bacteria than cells. The majority of these bacteria exist in our gut alongside where about 70% of our immune system function resides. They generate chemicals that teach our immune cells how to function and target harmful microbes. We’ve evolved with these bacteria so that disturbing them at critical points in our lives causes serious immune system shifts that we’re only beginning to understand. Therefore, immune imbalances such as asthma, allergies, or inflammation (e.g. some chronic pain conditions, heart disease, and some skin disorders), are a key sign that the gut microbiome may not be healthy. Gastrointestinal diseases or symptoms of poor digestive function (e.g. bloating, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea), are also common signs that the gut microbiome requires some extra protection.
One of the most frustrating outcomes of an IBS diagnosis for many patients is the common judgement that “it’s all in your head”. If group hypnosis and “psycho-education” studies demonstrate positive benefits for people with IBS, then this must be true, right? Here’s a little bit of what “all in your head” means to me.
IBS is a “diagnosis of exclusion”, which means that to the best of our current medical knowledge, all causes of digestive pain have been ruled out, and there is no known cause for the pain. In fact, there are many additional causes of digestive pain involving seemingly unrelated systems in the body, including the nervous system (the gut makes more serotonin than the brain), endocrine system (there are many estrogen receptors on the gut, which is why many women experience symptoms only during certain times of their menstrual cycle), and immune system (which generates inflammation when “danger” is perceived).
This past decade has seen a substantial amount of scientific research about “the second brain”. The gut contains its own huge nerve network that can amazingly work independent of the brain. It connects to the brain largely through the part of the nervous system that works when a person is relaxed (i.e. the parasympathetic nervous system).
Many of us would like to believe that our bodies are clean and sterile, but the truth is that we are made up of 10 times more bacteria than body cells. These bacteria manage our immune system, digest our food, and keep the ‘bad’ guys in-check. These friendly bacteria are not only crucial for our quality of life, but they keep us alive. When we change our balanced digestive environment, such as with acute use of antibiotics or chronic use of acid blocking medication like Nexium and Prevacid, susceptibility to damaging species like C. difficile and H. pylori increases, our risk for mineral deficiencies and associated diseases like osteoporosis increases, and our immune system function declines.
Tension, worry, mental fatigue, stress and physical ailments are all taxing on the digestive system. These depleting circumstances use the energy stores in our body, leaving less energy for digestion. Digestion requires a fair amount of energy to process food. Vegetables and fruit have digestive enzymes in them and require less energy to digest. Processed food and cooked food has fewer or no enzymes and require the most amount of energy to digest.
We have a finite amount of energy to use each day if we are not actively replenishing it. That means that in addition to digestion, any of the jobs performed by our body are using energy and are limited in effectiveness if our energy level is low – whether we are healing a chronic or acute pain or ailment, detoxifying, using brainpower, etc.
However, we don’t actually have a finite amount of energy to use each day. If that sounds contradictory,
Children are not born as the “clean slate” we once thought of them as. Our environment is over-burdened with toxic chemicals and babies are exposed to many of these while still in mom’s tummy. Even breast milk, which is the healthiest food for a newborn child, can be laden with fat-soluble toxins from mom’s body. The good news is that children are generally quite resilient and they often respond very well to healthcare approaches that promote healthy functioning of the entire body. This differs from some approaches that address uncomfortable symptoms by suppressing normal body processes, sometimes until a child “grows out of” their particular concern.
Many complementary and integrative medicines, such as Naturopathic Medicine, Osteopathy, and advanced forms of Reiki, treat conditions by identifying and treating where or how the body is having difficulty fixing itself. By gently supporting the body’s natural ability to heal, much of the guesswork in medicine is removed and optimal health, (rather than simply the absence of disease), is possible.
Everyday, practitioners at KIHC treat someone who experiences chronic digestive pain. Any digestive pain, including due to gas, constipation, heartburn, nausea, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s disease, and Celiac disease, is an indication that digestive function is imbalanced, and this can be treated. Proper digestive function is necessary for optimal nutritional status, immune function, disease prevention, and indirectly all body functions.
Scientific laboratories in the United States provide answers through advanced stool testing that is not available through OHIP or your MD. These comprehensive tests more accurately identify harmful microbes including H. pylori, C. difficile, and parasites, and provide you with information that helps you optimize protective bacterial species in your gut and target problem areas of protein, carbohydrate, or fat metabolism. This testing can be requisitioned by your Naturopathic Doctor, and may be covered by private health insurance plans. Please see Doctor’s Data and Metametrix laboratories for more information.
Because digestive pain is sometimes a symptom of other health concerns, such as thyroid disorders, hormone imbalances, or immune dysfunction (e.g. food intolerances), discussing your overall health with a knowledgeable health practitioner will help you choose the kind of testing most likely to lead to the best treatment plan and resolution of digestive pain.
We respectfully acknowledge that Kingston Integrated Healthcare is situated on ancestral Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory. Since time immemorial they have cared for these lands and waters, and we are grateful. We recognize that a healthy environment is essential to the wellbeing of all people and all life.
