Everyone has an upset stomach every once in a while, but things should return to normal pretty quickly. Many people, though, have trouble with their digestion over longer periods of time and don’t know what to do about it. Here are a few symptoms you may be experiencing:

• Changes in your appetite
• Trouble chewing and swallowing
• Heartburn and reflux
• Pain in your stomach (just below your ribcage)
• Gas and bloating after meals
• Cramping and pain inside your abdomen
• Food sensitivities, intolerances and allergies
• Malabsorption of nutrients
• Chronic diarrhea or constipation
• Stools that look or smell unhealthy
• Issues with your liver and pancreas
• Imbalances in your gut flora
• Infections with viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites
• Increased permeability of the gut lining (“leaky gut”)
• Conditions like ulcers, celiac, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, polyps, or hemorrhoids

Some of these conditions are of a more functional nature, others rise to the level of debilitating disease and require medical intervention. Yet drugs and surgery alone are usually not the answer. Getting a more comprehensive understanding of your condition, and how you may have developed it, allows us to choose appropriate lifestyle changes and nutrition strategies, as well as treat the underlying imbalances with botanical therapy and nutritional supplements. Healthy functioning of your digestive system benefits from receiving acupuncture treatments regularly.

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is credited with the pronouncement that “all disease begins in the gut.” Thus, healing yourself also begins with gut health, or at least requires that caring for your digestive system be a pillar of your health restoration.