Acupuncture for Constipation

There is an amusing YouTube video of a 3 year boy in the bathroom, of his parents taping his conversation to himself on the other side of the door. It runs at least 2 minutes as he runs off a litany of foods he ate interspersed with his “ugg, why do I do that” and his parents giggles as their constipated child tried to have a bowl movement.

Way to often we don’t pay attention to what we eat, when we poop or what that poop is like but as children our parents watched like hawks rewarding us with coos and applause when we had a good bowel movement. This is because having the bowels move regularly and completely is one of the basic foundations of health. But somehow after our toddler years we forget this.

Finding out and educating folks on poop has become one of the foundations of my practice. All too often I ask, “Do you poop regularly?” and I get the answer, “Yes”. Only to find out with more inquiry that they don’t poop every day but once every 2-3 day and that is “normal” for them. When you only poo ever couple days that is constipation. So begins my work! I have had hundreds of people come to see me and report, “When I went to the bathroom yesterday, I thought Bethany is going to be so happy!” It makes me think my tombstone will note, “People pooped and thought of her.” And this will be a compliment if I am successful on educating the populace on the very important evaluation of their own poop!

Ideally, you are pooping 1-3 times per day. If your biggest meal is dinner then your biggest bowl movement will be in the morning. If the biggest meal is lunch then the biggest bowel will be dinner. Food in food out. The act of eating should stimulate peristalsis (the movement of the digestion) and thus not only will your food of that meal move through your digestion and elimination system but the food you have recently eaten will be stimulated to move as well.

If you aren’t moving your bowels daily or completely there are a host of issues that can present.

Low back pain can be caused by constipated, backed up bowels. Bad skin, rashes, dark spots, dryness, fatigue, bloating, headaches and insomnia can be the outcome of poor elimination. Constipation is a curse but one that is easily changed. I have even seen blood pressure reduce when we regulated the bowels. I recently read that 30-40% of all cadavers used in medical schools have anywhere from 10-30 pounds of dry encrusted stools encased on the bowel wall. This is old dried up waste products that were never eliminated and certainly impacted the health of that person. Can you imagine loosing up to 30 pounds just by regulating your bowels? I wonder what those folk’s health would have been like if they had clean, well-working bowels? Would they have lived longer or at the very least would they have felt better in those last years of their lives?

When we are evaluating our bowels you want to look at a few issues.

How often are your bowels moving?
Are your bowel movements complete? Do you feel like you have space in your abdomen
after having a movement?
Are you bowels firm like a banana, soft like toothpaste, watery or pebble-like?
Do you have any pain before, during or after your bowel movements?
If so does that pain improve once your bowels have emptied?
Are your stools black in color?
Is there any blood, mucous or undigested foods in your stools?
Do certain foods cause your bowels to move to quickly or too slow?

You can see there is just so much information that those daily movements can tell us. Like the avid sailor who can read the water and see the currents and impending storms even though the day looks sunny and mild our bowels offer us insight to how things are working on the inside and the direction of our health. And that is key for a long and vital life! If you would like to book a free in person consultation call me at 510-388-6077 or book online here: https://enliven.simplybook.me/v2/