Problems With Constipation? Digestive Care and Chinese Medicine

Welcome to Best Chinese Medicines. Today, let’s tackle constipation.

Now, most of us don’t really go about our day thinking too much about our bowel movements. Maybe we’re pretty regular or maybe we’re use to an irregularity or an issue with your bowel movements, but as the day goes on it’s not really at the top of your priority list.

However, in Chinese medicine, the health of your bowel movements can tell you a lot about the health of your internal body. So, we pay a lot of attention to bowel movements and the entire digestive process in Chinese medicine.

Now, we want to look at the regularity, the quality, and the consistency of a bowel movement to tell if it’s healthy or not. So, we want bowel movements to be regular once to three times a day. We want them to be easy to pass, well formed, and relatively painless or not causing any sort of discomfort.

Many of us, however, experienced changes in our bowel movements that might cause constipation. In this case we might be going less than once every other day, sometimes just a couple of times a week. For some of us it might mean hard stools or difficult to pass stools. We might even have issues with hemorrhoids or other issues that come with difficulty in the bathroom.

Chinese medicine is fantastic at treating constipation. This is because herbs can be used to actually change the way that the large intestine absorbs and deals with water and other hydration and nourishment, but it also helps our bodies to actually process food better. So, we’re getting to the root of the problem as we do with most conditions in Chinese medicine.

One specific formula that I love for treating those who have had issues with constipation, and those who have had issues with constipation their whole lives, is called Run Chong Wan. Perhaps elderly people, those who have just undergone major medical issues or long-term illness, trauma, where the digestive system has been impacted. Also, if you’re someone who has always tended to be on the slower side and it gives you trouble, this one might be a good gentle formula to start with. The herbs in this formula are very gentle, healing, and tonic. They help the stool to become more moist and easy to pass.

Another good formula is Bao He Wan. Now, this is for the other side of things. This is for people who tend to get stuck or have a hotter constitution, or their constipation might be more due to dietary issues, stress, or other lifestyle issues. This is less of a deficiency of not being able to pass a bowel movement, but more that the system is getting stuck and we need to help things move. We may need to address any issues, dietary issues, and that sort of things.

Those are two highlighted formulas, but in our blog we’ve got several formulas that can help to treat a various range of different why you might be having constipation. So check that out, read up and see what kinds of herbs might help you get a little more regular.