In our Flatiron acupuncture clinic, a regular patient in her mid 20’s experienced digestive issues that have been progressively worsening within the past year. She had been diagnosed with celiac disease and her current gastroenterologist suspected rheumatoid arthritis.
Acupuncture Patient History
Digestive Issues
Within the past 5 years she has been experiencing bloating and discomfort in her lower abdomen immediately after eating. She stated that this occurred with all foods, but was especially worse when eating wheat and gluten. She is under high stress especially with her job and would travel extensively prior to quarantine.
One week prior to her appointment, she had the worse case of digestive symptoms which included daily diarrhea with bright red blood, and mucous. She also experienced itching that would come on suddenly without the presence of rashes. During this episode, she experienced extreme fatigue and felt awful because she had been unable to exercise.
Injuries
Other notable injuries included fractures to her right lower, mid shin and upper shin, and a torn labrum in her left and right hip, which had been surgically repaired. All of these injuries are sports related, with her most recent injury, the stress fracture of her mid shin occurring while training for the NYC marathon. Her labral surgeries were repaired somewhat successfully, but she frequently experiences tightness in pain in the hip especially after exercise.
Lifestyle and Diet
When questioned about her diet and lifestyle, she mentioned eating a lot of cold food especially fruits and that she had been submerging herself in ice baths after workouts to alleviate pain. The ice baths and consumption of cold fruit had been increasing since quarantine.
In Chinese medicine, cold food such as fruit, salad, and iced drinks may impair digestion when consumed excessively. After asking our Flatiron patient about her diet, she immediately made the connection that after eating fruit her digestive symptoms take a turn for the worse. This is common when a patient has an already weakened digestive system, but increasing cold food consumption further exacerbating her condition. I recommended she eat only cooked foods and stop the ice baths. Ginger is a common herb that is very warm, so I also suggested she add ginger tea to warm her digestive tract.
When examining the stomach and spleen channels, we can see that her previous injuries have impaired the channel and may have predisposed her to digestive issues.
Both the stomach and spleen channels cross the anterior hip where she has consistent pain especially after exercising. The spleen channel also passes along the inner shin with many acupuncture point regions in this area. The inner shin in acupuncture is often used to treat digestive issues, since there was previous trauma that has resulted in impaired circulation; these areas need to be treated in this case.
Treatment for Ulcerative Colitis Relief with Acupuncture
Acupuncture treatment included treating the impaired areas including the shin and hip, but also included treatment of the abdomen and digestive regions along the back. Moxibustion was included to warm the channels and her digestive tract. I also gave her instructions to stop ice baths, cold raw food, and to drink ginger tea made from the root twice daily. In addition, her gastroenterologist prescribed suppositories to decrease inflammation in her colon.
Results after Treating With Acupuncture
After 1 session she experienced significant relief in her bloating and her energy improved for a few days after. She reported 1 episode of diarrhea with blood the week following. After three sessions, she had a complete recovery and has been back to her normal self biking and exercising for long durations of time. She was happy to admit completing a 20+ mile bike ride along the Hudson River during weekends.
