Bloating and constipation

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

So you don’t take the symptoms and then look for things in the tongue and pulse. You forget completely the symptoms and look at the tongue and pulse and see what they say. They you try to make a theory based story on how the imbalance you are seeing is causing those specific symptoms. Then you treat that. So what do you see in the tongue? What do feel in the pulse? Let’s start there…

Comment by Archived User

Hi
The tongue is red and wet. Pulse is weak but regular. Quite difficult to find tho.

Nick

Comment by Archived User

Hi

Red wet tongue and a weak pulse which is difficult to find. Once found its
regular.

Nick Cladd

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

Is the tongue swollen or small? What other issues do they have - sleep, appetite, etc. How constipated - daily but dry? weekly? and is the bloating all the time or only after meals?

And you are looking only for acupuncture points, right? Not herbal formulas?

Comment by Archived User

Tongue is small but not swollen. No issues with appetite but does have some interrupted sleep.
The client can go 4/5 days without passing a stool then may go several times in one day (small amounts only). Bloating is after meals. Client is wishing to lose weight and is thinking along the lines of gluten intolerant. I am a acupressure student and compiling case studies and I am trying to get my head around diagnosis etc.

Nick

Comment by Archived User

Also they are fatigued.

Comment by Archived User

Make sure to ask them what they are eating. Foods that are damp and/or cold are much more likely to cause bloating - dairy, soy, raw foods, fried foods, etc. Ask them not to drink a lot of water, especially ice water with meals. And finally ask them not to mix proteins with carbs as that slows digestion and cause aggravate bloating. Often enough simple changes to diet can alleviate bloating and IBS or IBS like symptoms.

As an aside gluten intolerance is blown way out of proportion and is further complicated in that many gluten foods are highly processed and contain a vast number of things that can lead to digestive upset.

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

It might be better to see an actual picture of the tongue, but if it is small and red with no coating, they have trouble sleeping and constipation - to me that sounds more like kd yin deficiency. This could also make someone bloated, but not exactly from digestion, from the slow colon due to the dryness that yin deficiency can create. If they are warm at night and/or have nightsweats this is likely what is happening. Acupressure wise using KD 7 with LU 7 and SP 6 would be the likely candidates.

If it is more straight spleen deficiency, which is unlikely as the tongue would generally be more swollen with teethmarks, then ST 36, SP 6, SP 3 may be useful.