Treatment of functioal dyspepsia

By Lee Sung-hun

Working till late at the office, while keeping irregular hours, sometimes skipping dinner or having very late meals at odd hours...Unfortunately, this is a common experience in Korea. Added to all of that stress, your boss comes down hard at you, making you lose any appetite you had in the first place. You force yourself to eat something, but it only adds indigestion to the pressure you feel in your chest.

Dyspepsia is a common illness to modern urbanites, and it describes a number of symptoms in the upper abdomen related to the digestive tracts. Patients often complain of upper abdominal pain, bloating, fullness or nausea, and functional dyspepsia where such symptoms repeatedly occur without any known causes. Although it is a rather common disease, the exact cause is yet to be identified. Some of the most likely causes are disrupted functions of fundus, disrupted movement of gastrointestinal tract, extraordinary sensitiveness in the stomach senses, socio-mental pressure, infection of helicobacter, etc.

According to the statistics from 2006 to 2011, the number of people who seek medical help due to such dyspepsia symptoms has increased approximately 30 percent. Females are more affected than males, while people in their 50s are the largest group followed by 40s and 30s.

Oriental medicine regards the following to be the cause of dyspepsia; overeating, binge-eating, consumption of over-stimulating food, alcohol, or medication, overworked mind from stress, depression, anger, excessive tension, innately weak organs and weak constitution, and weakened qi and blood from physical stress.

Treatment for sudden indigestion involves acupuncture and cupping. A common Korean home remedy for indigestion is to draw a small amount of blood from the thumb by pricking it. Cupping is similar in that it stimulates the acupuncture points related to digestion by drawing blood from them. Moxibustion adds warmth to the stomach area to alleviate the symptoms.

For chronic dyspepsia, han-yak (oriental medicine) can be prescribed. Most acute dyspepsia can be treated by redirecting the qi-flow, but with chronic dyspepsia where stress has accumulated over a period time, weakening the general physical constitution, han-yak can help replenishing the insufficient qi, and release the blocked qi-flow.

Chuna-chiropractic that adjusts spinal alignment is at times employed to treat dyspepsia. Some of the patients suffering from chronic dyspepsia show excessive tension in the erector spine muscles in the back. Such patients maintain a hunched-forward posture for an extended period of time to cause such tension, which presses on the stomach to decrease its surface area to cause irregularities in its functions. In such cases, Chuna-chiropractic can help improve digestive functions by relaxing the erector muscles by adjusting the posture.

Some of the female patients also suffer headaches when dyspepsia begins. In Oriental medicine, headaches are classified into three types in accordance with the location of the headache. Headaches in the forehead and temples are often associated with digestive functions. For such headaches, the treatment of underlying cause — dyspepsia — can affect positively to improve on the headaches.

Apart from the treatment of pre-existing dyspepsia, continuous monitoring and attention to your own body can help prevent the disease.

First of all, a preventive measure is monitoring what you eat. Fatty or overly stimulating food can worsen the symptoms. Especially, food with high fat content can lower the ejection functions of the stomach, and should be avoided by patients with dyspepsia. Limiting or reducing the consumption of caffeine drinks, alcohol, and spicy or salty food can help. Although food with high amounts of fiber is good in general, it slows down the ejection of food from the stomach, and patients whose digestive function is lowered should avoid such foods.

Another important measure is reducing the stress. The cause of such dramatic increase of dyspepsia patients in the recent years can be traced to stress. Although it is easier said than done, patients should attempt to minimize or avoid stressful situations, and even more importantly figure out how to release such stresses.

Regular exercise can certainly help. In Oriental medicine, your digestive functions are closely related to the four limbs of your body. Adequate digestive functions mean that sufficient qi and blood circulation can be achieved throughout the limbs to allow good movements. Inversely, moving the limbs about can improve digestive functions. Basically it means that exercise can help your digestion. Walking in long strides with active arm-swinging — in other words, power walking — is a good exercise for patients with dyspepsia.

Generally, the stomachs of dyspepsia patients will feel cold on touch. Oriental medicine views being cold as lowered functions, meaning that the stomach’s movements are slowed. Putting warm towels on the stomach or even massaging in clock-wise direction can help improve the situation.

Lastly, correcting bad eating habits is also crucial. Irregular hours of eating can cause damage to the stomach on the gastric mucous membrane. Late night meals or exercising immediately after a meal can cause problems by inhibiting the ejection movements or reflux. Generally speaking, the best practice to keep healthy stomach is to eat at regular intervals, chew your food properly and thoroughly, and enjoy the meal.

The writer practices Korean Oriental medicine at the UN Oriental Medical Clinic in Hannam-dong, Seoul. He can be reached at sung_hun@naver.com.