Constipation most commonly occurs when waste or stool moves too slowly through the digestive tract or cannot be eliminated effectively from the rectum, which may cause the stool to become hard and dry.Chronic constipation is infrequent bowel movements or difficult passage of stools that persists for several weeks or longer.
- Passing fewer than three stools a week
- Having lumpy or hard stools
- Straining to have bowel movements
- Erratic struggling to have bowel movement
- After having bowel movement still feel not emptied completely
According to our clinical experience, we must say that the majority of our patients who complain of constipation have developed difficulty to pass the stools in early childhood or teen age. Some of them might not have bowel movement for couple weeks. One of our patients was talking to her physician about not having stool for two weeks and her doctor said – “so you are like this” …
Isn’t it funny? Why would she eat three times a day every day and have bowel movement only once in two weeks? This is definitely wrong. The fecal masses are accumulating in colon and poison her body. This is not healthy.
According TCM large intestine is an empty organ which is supposed to fill in and empty out the substance remained after food consumption and absorption. The function of intestine might be affected by quite few causes. The function of organs like liver, gall-bladder, stomach, spleen and pancreas singular or complexed might impact the condition of large intestine.
Moreover, constipation is one of the psychosomatic illnesses. It might be hereditary (derives from DNA programing) or psychosomatic (derived from environmental programing) – developing bad habits like wrong diet, poor eating habits, erratic food consumption, poor lifestyle, stress, habit of trying to have bowel movement inconsistently. All mentioned above affect your health in general, but mostly the condition and function of the organs involved in a digestive system – stomach, spleen, pancreatic gland, gall bladder that consequently initiate constipation and with time make it chronic.
Acupuncture for Dealing with Constipation
There are few acupuncture protocols that help to take a person from that corner so- called constipation. 5-10 weekly acupuncture treatments can return a person to normal bowel movement habit.
With the help of Japanese medical diagnosis that during palpation of the reflex zones of every organ and system reveals the organs and systems involved in ‘supporting’ poor large intestine peristaltic function. Then, acupuncturist will tailor the individual acupuncture therapeutic protocols for improvement of the condition and function of all the organs and systems that are causing constipation. The stools will be normalized and the suffering will be stopped.
The patient must cooperate and act along with advices given by acupuncturist about the foods’ choices, proper eating and bowel movements schedule. According to circadian clock, the best time for emptying bowels is 5 to 7 am daily. This is the time when large intestine is at the pick of its function. It’s not only good to finally stop the process of poisoning your body with compounded fecal matter permeating the blood, but actually start each new day with an empty bowel and be ready to eat and live healthy and happy life!
Because constipation is not only a result of organ dysfunction but might be hereditary or psychosomatic, it’s essential for a person to understand how the mind and body correlate. When the mindset is confused or disturbed, it directly affects health of particular organs and set them on a path to develop constipation.
You can learn how to create a positive mindset and control your mind balance by reading the pages 19-49 and 61-64. I also recommend you to read about circadian clock on pages 79-*82, about liver on the pages 83-94 and spleen on the pages 95-107 in my book, Your MindBody Alliance & The Truth About Acupuncture.
Our clinical experience shows that people who are not educated in anatomy and physiology are not aware of how to preserve their health. The lack of knowledge and understanding how mind and body correlate leads people to feel out of control over their own health. Reading this book everyone becomes knowledgeable enough to withstand any body health problem and preserve one’s health.
You can find the book in a paper cover or electronic version here:
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