What to do if you have a stomach upset? Try acupuncture to help

This is the 4487th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

With the arrival of hot weather, people have started to eat cold foods such as ice cream, ice watermelon, ice mung bean porridge, ice milk tea, etc. to seek a short-term cooling effect. At the same time, their stomachs also start to "trouble", with more frequent bowel movements and unformed or watery stools. What should we do when we encounter such a situation? This is the disease we will introduce to you today - diarrhea.

1. Overview

Diarrhea is a disease characterized by increased frequency of bowel movements, loose stools or undigested stools, or even watery stools. It is also called "diarrhea". It can occur all year round, with a higher incidence in summer and autumn. In Western medicine, diarrhea is often seen in diseases such as acute and chronic enteritis, irritable bowel syndrome, gastrointestinal dysfunction, chronic nonspecific ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and intestinal tuberculosis.

2. Etiology and pathogenesis

The occurrence of diarrhea is often related to factors such as improper diet, exposure to external pathogens, emotional disorders, spleen and stomach weakness, and old age. The disease is located in the intestines and is closely related to the spleen, stomach, liver, kidneys and other internal organs. The key is spleen dysfunction. The basic pathogenesis is spleen deficiency and dampness, and the intestines cannot separate clear and turbid substances and conduction function.

3. Acupuncture treatment

(1) Commonly used acupoints and their locations

1. Large Intestine Shu: On the waist, 1.5 inches lateral to the spinous process of the 4th lumbar vertebra.

2. Tianshu: On the abdomen, 2 inches away from the navel.

3. Shangjuxu: On the anterior and lateral side of the lower leg, 6 inches below the calf nose and 1 horizontal finger away from the anterior edge of the tibia.

4. Sanyinjiao: On the inner side of the calf, 3 inches above the tip of the inner ankle, behind the inner edge of the tibia.

5. Shenque: in the middle of the abdomen, center of the navel.

Operation method: Use gentle moxibustion on Shenque point. Light the moxa stick and hang it 2 to 3 cm above the above acupoints for moxibustion. The temperature should be warm but not hot. Apply moxibustion for 5 to 10 minutes on each point until the skin turns red. Be careful to avoid burns when moxibustion.

The remaining acupoints are punctured with filiform needles in a routine manner. Acute diarrhea is treated 1-2 times a day, and chronic diarrhea is treated once a day or every other day.

(2) Ear acupuncture is used for the large intestine, small intestine, abdomen, stomach, spleen, and Shenmen. 3-5 acupoints are selected each time, using the filiform needle method or the pill pressing method.

(3) Acupoint application: Shenque. Grind an appropriate amount of Chinese gallnut into powder, mix with vinegar to make a paste and apply to the navel. Change it every 2 to 3 days. It is used for chronic diarrhea.

(4) Acupoint injection: Tianshu and Shangjuxu. Vitamin B or vitamin B injection solution are used for conventional acupoint injection.

4. Precautions for moxibustion

1. The single moxibustion time should not be too long to prevent burns.

2. When performing moxibustion, be careful to avoid flammable objects to prevent fire.

3. Drink hot water after moxibustion, but avoid drinking cold water.

4. For those with insensitive skin, place the index and middle fingers on both sides of the moxibustion site to sense the temperature, so as to avoid burning the skin and achieve the best effect.

5. In case of burns, apply gentian violet and cover and fix with sterile dressing to avoid infection.

6. If you experience symptoms of getting angry, such as irritability, during the treatment, you should stop the treatment immediately and increase your water intake.

5. Prevention and care

1. Avoid wind and cold, be careful in your daily life, adjust your diet, and regulate your emotions.

2. Avoid eating raw, cold, greasy, fatty and sweet food. Keep warm.

3. Regulate your emotions, avoid sadness, fear, and grief.

4. Patients with diarrhea should reduce their diet and can be given rice porridge to nourish and expand the stomach qi. If diarrhea is caused by deficiency and cold, ginger soup can be given to invigorate the spleen yang and harmonize the stomach qi. If the diarrhea is severe, even more than ten times a day, you should seek medical attention in time to prevent severe syncope. After the diarrhea stops, you should also pay attention to a light diet and regulate the spleen and stomach for at least one week. People with chronic diarrhea should pay special attention to avoiding wind and cold and not eating raw and cold food.

5. Patients with spleen and stomach deficiency can use food therapy recipes that are both medicine and food to strengthen the spleen and replenish qi, such as making porridge with yam, rice, lotus seeds, lentils, jujubes, etc., and taking it daily to regulate the spleen and stomach.

Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, School of Acupuncture, Massage and Rehabilitation

Professor Chang Xiaorong's team

Author: Zhang Ruhan