Digestive Wellness

Normal digestion, assimilation of nutrients, and microbiome health is critical to digestive wellness and overall health. Microbiome imbalances have become the norm in the modern world. This stems from a variety of causes, like the overuse of antibiotics, the standard American diet, a sedentary lifestyle, excessive use of antibacterial soaps/ sanitizers, lack of fermented foods, and chronic stress.

Western medicine offers life saving interventions for the most serious digestive issues, however, individuals with chronic digestive complaints are often not provided a sufficient diagnosis or adequate treatment. Most commonly, patients are told they have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is an unexplained condition that causes symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, loose stools, bloating, indigestion, and/or gas. Western medicine often attributes IBS to stress. Treatment is often focusing on symptom control with laxatives, anti-diarrheal medications, antispasmodics, pain medications, and/or antidepressants.

Other common chronic digestive issues include GERD (acid reflux) and gastritis. These issues may be caused by pathogenic infection in the GI tract, which Western doctors will screen for and treat with antibiotics. In some cases, there is no infection or structural issue causing the acid reflux, and patients are recommended acid blocking medications to control symptoms. Although preventing acid from entering the esophagus is very important for preventing esophageal cancer, long term use of acid blockers can have deleterious health effects. This is because stomach acid plays a crucial role in preventing pathogens from entering the digestive tract, breaking down food for optimal absorption, triggering the liver and gallbladder to produce and release bile, stimulating the pancreas to release digestive enzymes, and preventing bacteria in the colon from migrating into the small intestines.

At Revive Acupuncture, we recommend functional medicine for chronic digestive issues. We believe digestive complaints always have a root cause, and our goal is to identify the root cause and restore optimal digestive health. Treatment starts with a short-term therapeutic dietary intervention to remove the top food sensitivities and intolerances to help identify food triggers of the digestive symptoms.

Specialty lab tests are recommended next to look deeper into the health of the digestive system and identify possible causes of the digestive symptoms. These tests measure the following:

Once the specialty lab tests results are processed we typically identify the issue causing the symptoms. The next step is implementing holistic interventions such as supplements, herbs, and a therapeutic diet to target the abnormality discovered. These
supplements and herbs may be used to support optimal digestive juice production
(hydrochloric acid, bile, and pancreatic enzymes), ensure motility is occurring normally,
heal the intestinal lining, clear inflammation in the GI tract, and support a healthy
microbiome. In some cases, infection is discovered in the GI tract and herbal
antimicrobials are used during a 4 week intervention.

After identifying and treating imbalances in the GI tract and food sensitivities and/or
intolerances, we transition patients to a modified Mediterranean style diet. Lifestyle
recommendations such as avoidance of medications that negatively impact the
microbiome, regular exercise, and stress management techniques are also included as
these are critically important to maintaining optimal digestive wellness into the future.