Acupuncture for Bloating

How Chinese medicine understands bloating

In Chinese medicine, the Spleen and Stomach do the work of digestion. The Stomach takes food in and sends it down; the Spleen turns it into Qi and moves it on. Bloating is seen as that process slowing down, either because it is weak or because something is blocking it. The details show which.

The common patterns are:

• Spleen Qi deficiency. Digestion is weak. Bloating comes after eating and builds through the day. You feel tired after meals, your appetite is poor, and stools tend to be soft.
• Liver Qi stagnation. Stress stops Qi moving. Bloating comes and goes with your mood, with belching, sighing, and tightness under the ribs. It eases once you pass gas.
• Food stagnation. Too much, too fast, or too late. The upper belly feels packed, with sour belching or bad breath, and the fullness lasts for hours.
• Dampness. A heavy, sluggish feeling, a foggy head, sticky stools and a thick tongue coating. It is often worse with rich, greasy or sweet food, dairy or alcohol.
• Spleen Yang deficiency. A colder version of weak digestion: bloating with cold hands and feet, loose stools, and relief from warmth.

The first two often appear together. Strengthening weak digestion is a different job from moving stuck Qi, so the diagnosis changes the treatment.

What treatment involves

Your first visit covers when the bloating comes on, what you eat and when, your bowel habits, your energy and your stress. I check your tongue and pulse, then explain your pattern in plain terms.

Acupuncture for bloating commonly uses points on the belly and legs, chosen for your pattern. Treatment aims to get digestion moving, settle the Stomach, and ease the stress that often sets it off. Where the pattern is cold or weak, moxibustion can warm the belly.

Chinese herbal medicine can be part of the plan. You take a formula written for your pattern, and it changes as your digestion changes. Food matters too: in Chinese medicine, diet is adjusted to suit the pattern.

If slow or hard bowel movements are behind your bloating, the constipation page goes into that.

Plan on 5–10 treatments to judge progress. The clinic is in Keswick, and treatment can run alongside the care you get from your family doctor.

Between visits

• Eat slowly and sit down to eat. Chew well, and stop before you feel stuffed.
• Cut back on fizzy drinks, chewing gum and sugar-free sweeteners such as sorbitol. They add gas or pull in water.
• Walk for 10 to 15 minutes after meals.
• Keep a food and symptom diary for two weeks, noting meals, stress, sleep and bowel movements.
• Add fibre slowly. A sudden jump in fibre or bran can make bloating worse for a while.

When to see your doctor first

Bloating is usually harmless, but it can be a sign of something that needs medical care. See your doctor promptly if you have:

• Bloating on most days for three weeks or more, especially if you are a woman over 50. Persistent bloating is one of the symptoms doctors check for ovarian cancer.
• Weight loss you cannot explain, or feeling full after only a few bites.
• Blood in your stool, black stools, or a lasting change in your bowel habits.
• Vomiting, trouble swallowing, or signs of anaemia such as unusual tiredness or paleness.
• A family history of bowel or ovarian cancer, celiac disease or inflammatory bowel disease.

Go to emergency if your belly is swollen and painful and you are vomiting and cannot pass gas or stool.