Bloating, Constipation, Gas, and GERD
Your body is a series of systems designed to work efficiently together when you are healthy. If one of your systems becomes stressed or stops functioning properly, it can wreak havoc on the body system as a whole. When under stress, our stomach acid level lowers which can trigger some stinky gas, bloating, constipation and even GERD and Acid Reflex.
Stinky Gas and Bloating
Stinky gas can be an indicator that your proteins did not fully digest. Once in a while, not digesting well is not a big deal, but chronic stress is causing some long-term problems for people. If you do not break down protein and iron, you can become anemic and even prone to injury. Muscles and tendons can pull, or you can develop a painful hernia. All because you didn’t digest what you ate so you had no protein to support your tissues! The stinky gas is embarrassing too.
if you catch this problem early, it’s fairly easy to correct. Here are a few things to try.
- Apple cider vinegar will raise your stomach acid. One teaspoon to one tablespoon before your meal in a little water can help.
- Deep belly breathing can help your body focus on digesting.
- A short, slow walk after eating can also help with digestion.
GERD, Acid Reflux and Acidic Burps
We also can have the issue of our stomach pulling up and the esophageal valve not closing completely. This can be a b vitamin deficiency, again from poor digestion of the b vitamins in our food due to low stomach acid.
In Chinese Medicine, the stomach energy descends, so burping or hiccups are signs of that energy rising. Many times, I will physically adjust the stomach and then restore the descending energy of the stomach with acupuncture and supplements. When the burps decrease, you know you are healing.
You can guess that I am not a huge fan of adding tums or acid blockers long term to solve these issues. There are ways to check if you truly have excess stomach acid. I like to determine what is really happening to you and work to correct it for long term health. In many cases I fix the issue quickly for people if we catch it early.
!!Did you know that acid blockers are linked to the development of cancer??? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29852782/
Constipation
Constipation usually indicates problems with the diet AND major issues with the liver and bile flow. I like to start with a cleanse and a food log. True constipation is really not moving the bowels at all for several days. Straining is a different issue (that leads to hemorrhoids) and needs to be investigated. When you do use the bathroom look at your stool. Note the color, size and shape. Is it a loose pile (weak digestion) or a thin ribbon? This is weak digestion and an herbal formula for digestion is often amazing! Is it a hard ball? This is stress and again herbs are helpful! Is it really, really dry? This can be several problems – again looking at bile flow and the liver.
Our bile tends to thicken as we age from a watery liquid that squirts into the stomach and helps break down fats to a sludge that starts to form stones. If we are not digesting fats, we start to have low hormones, nerve issues due to the fat in our myelin sheath and possibly dementia development as the brain is mostly fat too.
If you are experiencing digestive issues like constipation, gas or GERD, schedule your appointment today. You don’t need a consultation prior to an appointment if you have the major issue you’d like to tackle. During our New Patient Appointment, I’ll go over your health history, labs, system survey and I’ll treat what’s troubling you. Schedule Today Good Needles Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine, Inc. (schedulicity.com).
