There are many causes of bloating and constipation. Frequently, it’s a process of elimination that will help determine the root cause of your digestive issues. There are times when lab testing will be needed for conclusive determination, if you’ve modified your lifestyle by implementing the supportive techniques we have explained in this article, it may be appropriate to request laboratory testing. Some testing options include a GI Map stool test, blood test, breath test, colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and endoscopy.

The tests will look for dysbiosis in your gut such as SIBO, SIFO, H pylori, candida, celiac, Crohn’s disease, colitis, and a tortuous colon, but your medical professional will discuss all options with you if this route becomes necessary. Additionally, it may be worth asking for a full thyroid panel to find out how your thyroid is functioning while you’re at it. These tests include t3, t4, reverse t3, TSH, and thyroid antibodies.

Once you have received a diagnosis, you can look into further treatment that is appropriate for the particular condition, but we are always here to help as well.
This article is not meant as medical advice, please consult your doctor.

Constipation is defined as infrequent bowel movements that are hard to pass. Infrequent is considered to be having fewer than 3 bowel movements in a week. Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar to you: you had a bowel movement on Monday and not again until Thursday, and then the next one on Saturday. This would be an example of a bowel movement schedule in someone exhibiting symptoms of constipation.
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This being said, everyone’s “normal” is a bit different, and normal is not necessarily optimal. The fact is that bowel movements come in different shapes and sizes. To help us assess issues, there is a chart called the Bristol Stool chart that illustrates the different shapes:

One of the questions I get asked frequently in my acupuncture practice is, how can I relieve my symptoms of constipation and bloating?
Here is an example of a situation where a female patient in her late 30’s came in seeking relief from bloating and constipation.

In a last-ditch effort to find relief from her issue, she took to the internet and searched “acupuncture near me” which eventually landed her at my practice. During her first visit she completed her intake forms where she disclosed her previous medical history, she then began to share how her body felt and what, specifically, she required relief from.

During our initial meeting, she ran through the details of her day. As a mom of a toddler, her day starts with feeding her daughter breakfast. Once breakfast wraps up, she cleans the kitchen while her daughter plays and will sometimes eat what’s left of her daughter’s breakfast. #momlife am I right? The bloating generally starts after eating lunch and gets worse as the day goes on. By the end of the day her pants are so tight that she has to unbutton them to have dinner.

As an acupuncturist, I’m a detective and am always searching for the root cause of the problem, and not just treating the symptoms. During my initial meeting with a client, I will ask questions aimed at getting to the root of the problem.
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Questions include asking about sleep, stress, movement, breathing habits (do you hold your breath or breath only from chest), hydration, supplements, medications, and nutrition. All of these factors have an impact on the gut.

This is the treatment plan we put together and agreed upon. This regimen was designed with her lifestyle in mind and is a comprehensive and targeted therapy regimen aimed at reducing her bloating and constipation.

If bloating and constipation are issues in your life as well, many of these recommendations can be implemented in your life to help reduce these problems. Please speak with a medical professional before you do so.

1. Eating 3 balanced meals a day. A balanced meal includes protein, fat, fiber, and complex carbohydrates.

2. Snacks should include protein, fat, and fiber in order to prevent peaks and valleys in your blood sugar. Also, space meals and snacks out to give the body enough time to digest the meal.

PRO TIP: Life can feel like a never-ending to-do list. So often we find ourselves on the go and ignoring the signs of our body telling us it needs fuel until it’s too late, and we end up eating things that are not in line with our health goals. The best way to avoid this trap is to be proactive and meal prep and also have some healthy staples on hand that are grab-and-go. Always make sure you’re setting yourself up for success!

3. Deep breathing. This is an important practice at mealtime, and while sitting on the toilet trying to relieve constipation. As mentioned earlier, we often eat in a rush, and our stomachs interpret that as stress. Stress hinders the stomachs ability to release the enzymes and proper amount of acid to break down food. Additionally, it also affects the gallbladder's ability to release bile, which is what breaks down fats in your meals.

• When the organs are under stress and not functioning at their greatest capacity, this can lead to indigestion and even acid reflux.
• Remember, even if you have to eat at your desk or with your unsettled child, try to be mindful and take 3 deep breaths to center yourself, and put your digestive system into parasympathetic mode also known as “rest and digest” mode.
• Ultimately, the digestive system wants to avoid being in sympathetic mode, also known as fight or flight mode.

PRO TIP: Practice this deep breathing while sitting on the toilet, the deep breaths should go down into your pelvis to stimulate peristalsis and help move food through the intestines. For bonus points, try stimulating your vagus nerve while doing this, which plays a role in turning on the parasympathetic nervous system, by massaging your neck starting from under your ear down to your collar bone.

7. Incorporate supplements: When it comes to introducing supplements into your routine, we suggest the following: (check out our Digestion list on Fullscript)

• Digestive enzymes: You may be familiar with the product Lactaid, which is a product made of the digestive enzyme lactase, that helps break down lactose. There are other products that have a blend of different enzymes that help break down the components of a meal including fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.
  • Pro Tip: do not gulp down beverages during a meal, this dilutes the natural occurring digestive enzymes in your stomach. Instead, take small sip during the meal.
• Digestive Bitters: herbs with bitter compounds stimulate the body to produce hydrochloric acid, pancreatic enzymes and bile.
  • PRO TIP: The general recommendation is to get 30 different sources of plant sourced foods in your diet, per week. A good way to accomplish this is by making a soup that would have a combination of lentil, onions, butternut squash, apples, and kale. Or by making a salad with spinach, arugula, cucumber, pinto beans, and tomatoes. If you were to consume these two meals, you would knock out 10 plants.
• Fiber: the goal is to get at least 30 grams of fiber daily. A mix of soluble and insoluble fiber. Check the list on healthline.com for recommendations on high-fiber foods. I like to put 2 heaping tablespoons of ground flaxseed in my daily smoothie (continue reading for smoothie recipe).
• Probiotics add to the good bacteria in your intestines.
• Magnesium: There are different forms of magnesium such as magnesium citrate and magnesium glycinate. Both are effective at helping move your bowels, and citrate is known to have more of a moving effect. I recommend taking magnesium at night to help with relaxing the body, and softening and moving bowels.

After 3 acupuncture treatments, which were spaced a week apart, our female patient reported marked improvement in discomfort and symptoms overall. Some of the recommended changes she made were:

1. Taking digestive enzymes with each meal.
2. Mindful breathing at mealtime. Roughly 80% of the time she remembered to take 3 deep breaths before taking her first bite of food.
   
3. Daily movement: most of the time it ended up being stroller walks with her daughter for at least 15 minutes.
4. Fat and protein: She’s also been mindful to include protein and fat in all her meals and has eliminated eating off of her toddler’s plate at mealtime
5. Drinking Tea: she started making a super simple tea, a combination of ginger root and orange rinds, for additional help with digestion as ginger and orange both have antimicrobial properties.

Ginger Orange Tea:
Orange Peel: ¼ of a large navel orange
1 inch piece of ginger root
Simmer orange peel and ginger in water for about 5 minutes.
Drink daily, enjoy after a meal.

Quick, Easy, and Satisfying Smoothie Recipe:
She found that making a protein smoothie in the morning was a quick and easy way to start her day. She modified her usual protein smoothie to include one small portion of fruit, a large serving of a frozen vegetable, a heaping tablespoon of ground flaxseed, and a dash of cinnamon. The key to balanced smoothie recipes is to avoid high glycemic index ingredients, such as a lot of fruit or sweetened milk.

• ¼ cup dairy free milk (such as Ripple unsweetened vanilla with protein)
• ½ cup water
• 1 serving vanilla protein powder (14-20g protein)
• 1 serving collagen powder (optional for added protein)
• 1 heaping tbsp. salted almond butter (fat source)
• 1 heaping tbsp. ground flaxseed (fiber source) 
• ½ cup to 1 cup frozen vegetable (cauliflower, broccoli, kale or spinach)
• 1/3 cup fruit: (banana, blueberries, cherries)
• 1 tsp green powder such as spirulina, chlorophyll, or moringa (antioxidants)
• splash of ginger juice (warming ingredient)

​Clinically, there are four stages in which the symptoms appear: prodrome, aura, attack, and post-drome. Knowing these four stages, we are able to identify patterns of symptoms that are predictive indicators of an impending migraine. During each stage of the migraine, there are different migraine symptoms.
 
 For example, women will report getting migraines while they're ovulating, and also experience neck stiffness, diarrhea and trouble sleeping.  Many women also report they are on the birth control pill and get migraines as a PMS symptom.

​Another example, is what’s knows as an Ocular Migraine. These migraines begin with flashing in the eyes and momentary vision loss, this is known as an aura. Other migraine symptoms include dizziness, vertigo, tinnitus, neck pain, throbbing pain, sinus pressure, food sensitivity, constipation, irritability, depression, and anxiety. After a migraine attack, you are often left feeling exhausted.

Migraine treatments using acupuncture vary widely, but here is an example of our uniquely tailored approach. We base it on how long you’ve been experiencing the migraines and severity of symptoms. We also use other techniques to further assess the patient as a whole being resulting in a treatment plan designed specifically for you and your particular presentation.​

To give you an example, let's say you’ve been getting chronic migraines for 2 years, and on a scale of 1 to 10, the pain has consistently been a 7/10. The treatment plan would include two acupuncture treatments a week for two weeks. After two weeks, you would be re-evaluated based on current symptoms, and an updated treatment plan will be implemented. The goal is to reduce the frequency of acupuncture visits with improvement in pain levels. We will create a plan to prevent flare-ups in the future. This is a prescriptive approach to treatment and the effects are cumulative.

 After greeting my new patient from Southborough, I asked her, “what brings you in for today's acupuncture treatment?” Her response was, “I've been getting migraines every month since I had my son 3 years ago. I can't get them to go away. They’re debilitating and are interfering with my life. I decided it's time to try a different approach to get rid of these migraines. I can't keep taking this emergency migraine medication, Imitrex. It's not meant for daily use.”​

She also noted how living with chronic migraine symptoms are really taking a toll on her mental health. She has a demanding full-time job and she also assumes primary parenting responsibilities for her son, attempts to get in her daily exercise, cook a healthy balanced dinner for her family, and also keep the house in order.

Do you suffer with Seasonal allergies and struggling to find relief?
 
This is so cliché, yet so true: April showers bring May flowers.
 
It’s May, the trees are in full bloom and the grass is growing green and vibrant. One of my favorite things to do is walk barefoot in the thick green grass. I take a nice deep breath while being mindful of its cooling feeling under my feet as I dig my toes into the lush bed of grass. This practice is a quick and easy way to wash away stress, and reset and ground my mind and body.

Even with all of this bountiful growth, does the thought of mid-spring make you feel anxious? With all nature’s blooming beauty, unfortunately also comes abundant pollen in the air. Many of my acupuncture patients come in reporting a slew of seasonal allergy symptoms including: nonstop sinus pressure, congestion, and drainage issues, red-irritated-itchy eyes, sneezing, itchy skin, hives, ears are clogged and feel pressure, post nasal drip, coughing, asthma, and fatigue. The list goes on…
 
If you are someone currently taking antihistamines, decongestants, using an inhaler or nasal sprays and a neti pot, then you understand that sometimes these things do not provide adequate relief. And even if these things traditionally worked for you, its possible that due to certain circumstances, you are unable to use antihistamines because you're either pregnant or breastfeeding or might have a sensitivity to the medication.

If this sounds like you, then acupuncture may be an option worth exploring. Seasonal allergy issues are a tale as old as time, and acupuncture has been providing relief for its symptoms for just as long. With that said, acupuncture is a very effective, natural, drug free way of getting relief from seasonal allergy symptoms.
 
I will say, a my patient from Southborough, who initially sought acupuncture treatments for insomnia, to their was surprised when I ask them if they experiences any seasonal allergy symptoms. At first they looked at me puzzled and replied “that has nothing to do with my insomnia, but yes, I do get really itchy skin and itchy eyes.” To their surprise, when they came in for their next treatment, they happily report that after telling me about their itching, it was gone after that one acupuncture treatment! They also tell me to do the same treatment again so the itching doesn’t ever come back! 

​Acupuncture strengthens the immune and respiratory systems, so your body doesn’t react as harshly to allergens. I have provided a diagram to show a few acupuncture points traditionally used to treat sinusitis and rhinitis to reduce sinus inflammation, congestion and pressure. In addition to traditional acupuncture, acupressure is a great option too. Simply apply pressure to the points shown on this diagram for some relief.

​Along with acupuncture, other treatment modalities you can do at home include gua sha and jade rolling, both of these will calm down the sinuses and help open them up and allow your lymphatic system to drain, so you can breathe again!

​Also, there are great herbal botanical supplements that are extremely effective at draining the sinuses and relieve sinusitis and rhinitis. As a licensed herbalist, I am able to prescribe these supplements for you to take at home so you are able to get even more relief on a daily basis.
 
If you are suffering this season or know someone who is suffering from seasonal allergies, please have them reach out to me. I’m happy to speak with them about treatment options that will help them get through this pollen filled spring.