One in five Americans suffers from chronic acid reflux. And as a class of drugs, GERD medications are the 3rd leading type of drug taken in this country. WOW. That's a lot of heartburn!
We opened our clinic in 2008 and since then we've just been seeing more and more people coming in with acid reflux. We've treated people in all age groups with this condition, and some even as young as teenagers. So why is this happening and how can acupuncture help?
As with many other diseases and symptoms, stress is the villain that is igniting so much GERD in modern day. Stress and good digestion cannot co exist. Your body doesn’t differentiate psychological stress from physical danger. Therefore when you're just stressed out from work deadlines your body thinks that you need to be running away from a saber tooth tiger! Your energy, and circulation go towards your muscles, heart, and lungs so you can run. Your digestive function drops by the wayside, leading to backed up food and GERD. Doing a breathing exercise, going on a short walk, or doing a meditation before eating can go a long way towards preventing GERD.
Second biggest driver of GERD is processed foods. Our bodies simply weren't built to eat fake foods. The chemical messengers they contain confuse our brain/gut communication and jam up the works. One of the best, best, best things you can do for your body on so many levels is to drastically reduce consuming any foods that you eat that have an ingredient label. Whole real foods do not have an ingredient label. Blueberries don't have a list of ingredients. They're just blueberries, as are sweet potatoes, or fish, or beans, etc. etc.
If you're like many people with GERD you may be trying to put a bandaid on the problem with PPI drugs, like Prevacid, Nexium, Prilosec etc. They may reduce your symptoms, but you also may pay a high price for using them in the long run. These drugs used over the long term can lead to SIBO, IBS, rebound reflux, increased food allergies, malabsorption of B-12, and calcium. And it doesn't stop there! Those conditions in and of themselves have many undesirable downstream effects.
PPI drugs are then clearly not the solution. Lifestyle, and diet adjustments along with acupuncture and herbs are an actual solution to GERD. Acupuncture and herbs can heal and rebalance the digestive tract. Acupuncture re-establishes communication between the gut and the brain, and between the vital organs that manage your digestion. In short, acupuncture and herbs heal heartburn at its root, rather than just covering up symptoms. At Blue Jean Acupuncture we are proud to offer long term solutions to GERD and other chronic conditions.
