Anyone ever tried TCM for chronic constipation?

Traditional Chinese Medecine. Dates back thousands of years. Relies mainly on herbs and repairs the root cause of the problem. Usually have to find a TCM clinic and work with a TCM Dr.

I was told by a highly regarded acupuncturist that acupuncture has very little effect on Irritable Bowel Syndrome and since constipation is a common symptom of IBS, I didn't pursue acupuncture any further than the 2 appointments I had. (The acupuncturist said if I hadn't started feeling better by the 2nd appointment, there was no point in continuing.)

Baking soda in water or magnesium citrate in water. You will go within hours.

I have struggled with CC for many years due to an unusually long (redundant) colon discovered on colonoscopy. It’s even worse now that I have to take pain meds daily. I have not tried any Chinese remedies but will share what has worked best for me. I mix 3/4 generic Miralax with 1/4 generic Metamucil and take it daily. There’s also a tea at grocery stores called Smooth Move that tastes good and works! I love the cute name!

That's really interesting that your acupuncturist said that because my acupuncturist has always said that it can take at least a few weeks to notice a change because it can take time to re-balance your energy, as in 6-8 weeks, not just a few sessions. This sounded fair to me, but I suppose there can be different approaches.

My doctor shared with me studies that have captured clinically significant improvement in response to acupuncture. There seems to be less research on the herbs the original poster was referencing. It's notoriously difficult to capture "high quality" clinical trials for integrative treatments since it's hard to to do "sham acupuncture," so I'm comfortable with the risk, because even if it might not work, it's unlikely to harm me. I'm more comfortable with the risk that something might not work as long as it's unlikely to harm me (like acupuncture), as opposed to trying a medication or other intervention that might be more likely to make me feel worse. But that's a "me" thing. I have functional dyspepsia and a condition called abdomino-phrenic dyssynergia. Both can occur with constipation. There aren't many great options for treatment and the non-prescription treatments that are out there are difficult to access =/.

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, but it's good that you tried.

mikaylar,
Oh, how I long for the days when these worked for me. The mag citrate, 2 bottles, will move some 💩💩 but it is SO explosive that it can cause more damage and bleeding to my lovely hemorrhoids
ShelleyW

TCM has been around for something like 4000 years. So, you know, they have worked out the kinks, by now.

I have used TCM for various things..it helps. And that can be some symptom reduction or more.

For constipation the basics are very key. TCM can be part of the solution, but if we don't hit the basic keys, it's not going to over ride various basic bad decisions we are making.

#1 - Hydrate optimally. If you have constipation, you absolutely have to drink those 8 glasses of water daily. No exceptions. Make a chart, check each glass off. If your body does not have enough water to process digestion, you can forget about solving that problem.

I did prune juice and senna, daily, for years. And that solved my constipation problem.

And then, I hit a wall and it was no longer enough.

What changed and solved my issues was Miralax, a stool softener.

Now, if I am regular with my prune juice and senna and add in Miralax, the problem goes away.

I also do other things - ground whole flax seed, ginger, bran. A typical breakfast for me is a bran muffin, a yogurt and a banana.

I stay away from nuts and other things that are hard to digest. Certain things...like peanut butter and tahini, just completely block me up. I probably have not had a steak in 15 years. I can do some ground beef, but not steak.

To be clear, I was in the ER with a diverticulitis attack, on Cipro, Flagyl and Dilaudid. They were thinking of cutting out some of my intestines. But solved with the basic prune juice, senna and Miralax.

And, of course...exercises. constipation and being sedentary go hand in hand. And definitely include abdominal exercises. Very very key.

Now, if you do all those things...and add a TCM formula into that mix...great. Will help more. But without a key foundation of basics, the constipation is probably not going to surrender.

The problem with some of us that suffer from CIC (Chronic Idiopathic Constipation)--and this is a fairly new theory in the GI world I heard about here on this site--is that some people appear to be born with a condition that causes their body to not correctly process much of the water that they drink with most of the water they drink going directly into the bladder. Some of it's processed correctly or they'd be dead; but with some of us--I really think I have this--nowhere near enough water goes into my intestinal tract (or other places it should), and since not only will fiber not work correctly, it will even be constipating if not enough water makes it into the intestinal tract, the amount of water you drink doesn't make much difference.

It was on here that I read about a doctor telling his patient that unfortunately he'd be constipated until the day he died because he had this condition.

How much baking soda/water or mag citrate/water?

Is there a name for this condition?