Cumbria Acupuncture Blog

Neil，a 54 year-old teacher had Crohn’s disease for more than 30 years. This is a chronic inflammatory disease in the digestive system, typically the lower part of the small intestine (ileum) or the large intestine (colon). The cause of it is unknown, and according to modern medicine, there’s no cure. Treatment for this disease is always very tricky. Twenty years ago Neil had the worst time for it, and the doctors had to do an operation to remove the damaged part of his intestines. Over the years, he had tried many different medications, but none of them really helped, and they made the condition even more complicated. Having lost faith for medications, Neil finally decided to stop taking them. When he came to see me, he looked terribly thin. He normally had to go to the toilet 4 times a day to empty his bowels. The stools were always watery, and sometimes he had discharge coming out from the bowels. He had been feeling extremely tired for about a year, and was really struggling with work. His tongue looked very pale with yellowish coating. His pulse felt very thin and weak. I believed he had Qi and blood deficiency and “dampness” accumulated in the body due to weakness of the Spleen function. Since his condition was complicated, I decided to use both acupuncture and herbal medicine. After 4 sessions of treatment, he felt more energetic. After the 7th session, his bowels movements reduced to 3 times a day, and the stools were better formed. After 4 months, he felt a big improvement with his energy level. Then we stopped the herbal remedy and carried on with the acupuncture. During that period, Neil’s condition remained stable. Though occasionally the symptoms could play up a bit, he always felt an instant improvement after each acupuncture session and even found the ulcers in his mouth which he'd had frequently for years could heal up very quickly. One day this quiet man said to me: "This has helped me a lot. Thank you so much. You should be very proud of what you do." With the help of acupuncture, Neil kept on working until he retired 2 years later.