Digestive Issues

If you feel a sour or bitter-tasting acid backing up into your throat or mouth, or a burning pain or

discomfort that may move from your stomach to your abdomen or chest, or even up into your throat,

you might have Acid Reflux or GERD. You will need to see your physician to get diagnosed and get treated.

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If you let it stay over time, chronic inflammation in your esophagus can cause:

• Narrowing of the esophagus (esophageal stricture).
• An open sore in the esophagus (esophageal ulcer).
• Precancerous changes to the esophagus (Barrett's esophagus).

Other symptoms of acid reflux disease include:

• Bloating
• Bloody or black stools or bloody vomiting
• Burping
• Sensation of food being stuck in your throat
• Hiccups
• Nausea
• Wheezing, dry cough, hoarseness, or chronic sore throat
• Bad Breath
• Vomiting
• A lump in your throat

If you have acid reflux at night, you may also have:

• A lingering cough
• Laryngitis - an inflammation of your voice box
• Asthma that come suddenly and get worse
• Sleep problem

If you have tried changing your lifestyle and eating habits, still can’t stop the acid reflux without the medication, then you should try acupuncture.

In one series of 30 GERD patients who failed PPI once daily, adding acupuncture (in an uncontrolled study) was significantly better in controlling acid regurgitation and heartburn than was doubling the PPI dose. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17875198/

In one study, treatment with acupuncture stopped reflux in the test group better than PPIs, with results that lasted longer.

There are needs of more large studies to confirm this, but early results are promising.

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Acupuncture works through different combinations of needle points and methods,

such as needling, moxa, electrical stimulation, from person to person, just like

different individuals take different types of acid reflux medications.

Why is that?

Because the same symptom shows a different pattern from person to person. Each

group of needle points works to their own pattern, so by using the right method to the

right pattern, is the key to effective acupuncture treatment.

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Your acupuncturist should be able to identify the pattern of your acid reflux.

The common pattern shown in acid reflux is:

• Liver Qi attack Stomach
• Low stomach energy
• liver and stomach qi stagnation from poor digestion

Remember, always see your physician first when acid reflux symptoms start, to make

sure there is no physical damage in your body first, once all the medical exam results

showing everything is normal, which means the acid reflux is just a system

dysfunctional issue - imbalance . Using acupuncture treatment will soothe the system,

rebalance the inner environment. The symptom will disappear. But does not mean, it

won’t come back. Maintain your good lifestyle, healthy eating will keep it away from you.

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Factors that can aggravate acid reflux include:

• Smoking
• Eating large meals or eating late at night
• Eating certain foods (triggers) such as fatty or fried foods
• Drinking certain beverages, such as alcohol or coffee
• Taking certain medications, such as aspirin

Conditions that can increase your risk of GERD include:

• Obesity
• Bulging of the top of the stomach up into the diaphragm (hiatal hernia)
• Pregnancy
• Connective tissue disorders, such as scleroderma
• Delayed stomach emptying

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