Jessica Kennedy - Acupuncture in London SE1

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Acupuncture for digestive problems

Eating happily again

Acupuncture is often used to help with digestive problems such as bloating, wind, constipation, sluggish bowels, loose stools, mucous in the stools, digestive pain, IBS, nausea, heartburn, sour regurgitation, and even lingering food poisoning.

These digestive problems can be a real pain to live with! IBS in particular, with unpredictable combinations of these symptoms over many months and years can be a particular burden. Your symptoms may worsen with certain foods, or with alcohol, or with stress.

Happily, these digestive problems often respond really well to acupuncture, and the goal is to get your system back to a more robust state of health where these problems are much less likely to flare up.

Case studies

"I had always been cynical about alternative medicine and was just quite happy to take painkillers and medication, until they stopped working and were no longer able to cure my stomach pains caused by IBS. A friend recommended Jessica and I decided to try it. It was amazing! I couldn’t believe it. The minute Jessica started putting the needles in, I could feel the tension in my stomach easing. Those were the short-term signs that the treatment was working, but after a few months I have noticed changes in many other areas that had problems I wasn’t even aware of! There is so much that can be treated with acupuncture and no one even knows! The best thing about Jessica is that she has such a wealth of knowledge and seems to know how to deal with anything. And she is just so kind you feel totally comfortable talking to her about your problems. Seriously, give it a go!"

An event manager in her 20s

"At the time I began seeing Jessica for treatment, I had just left a very stressful job and was suffering from stress-related irritable bowel syndrome, headaches and exhaustion. All of these symptoms have improved greatly since then ... Jessica's skills extend beyond the physical results she gets. In treating patients such as myself as whole people, whose health is intertwined with their thoughts and feelings, Jessica has shown remarkable insight and sensitivity. If you are considering acupuncture, I warmly recommend Jessica to you."

A researcher in her 30s

click for more case studies

Research

A 2003 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO)(1) found that biliary colic, acute baciliary dysentery, acute epigastralgia, nausea and vomiting are some of the digestive conditions "for which acupuncture has been proved - through controlled trials - to be an effective treatment". Acute cholecystitis, Cholelithiasis and ulcerative colitis are listed as conditions "for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed". Irritable colon syndrome is listed as a condition "for which there are only individual controlled trials reporting some therapeutic effects, but for which acupuncture is worth trying because treatment by conventional and other therapies is difficult."

Meanwhile a review(2) by the British Medical Journal described acupuncture as "very safe" when practiced by an appropriately-qualified practitioner.

The modern evidence base for acupuncture is incomplete, and this is true for a great many areas of conventional medicine too. The Clinical Evidence website of the British Medical Journal tells us that of the 2,500 conventional medical treatments their databases cover, 46% are of unknown effectiveness (as at October 2009)(3).

Jessica continues to witness the benefits of acupuncture for many people in her work, utilising the knowledge and practice of Chinese medicine built up over thousands of years. She's happy that more and more modern scientific research is being done into acupuncture, helping to bring it to a wider audience.

Contact Jessica

Each of us responds differently to acupuncture. Do get in touch to discuss whether acupuncture is likely to be right for you, or to make an appointment.

Other conditions

Acupuncture can help with a wide range of health problems, click below to find out more:

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Detailed references

(1) http://www.acupuncture-schools.us/national-institute-health-nih-acupuncture.cfm, referring to World Health Organisation (2002). Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trial, see http://apps.who.int/bookorders/anglais/detart1.jsp?sesslan=1&codlan=1&codcol=93&codcch=196

(2) Rampes (2001). The safety of acupuncture. British Medical Journal 2001;323(7311):467 (1 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7311.467, see http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/323/7311/467

(3) From the 'About Us' area of the Clinical Evidence BMJ website, page titled 'How much do we know', http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp. Extract at Oct 2009: "So what can Clinical Evidence tell us about the state of our current knowledge? What proportion of commonly used treatments are supported by good evidence, what proportion should not be used or used only with caution, and how big are the gaps in our knowledge? Of around 2500 treatments covered 13% are rated as beneficial, 23% likely to be beneficial, 8% as trade off between benefits and harms, 6% unlikely to be beneficial, 4% likely to be ineffective or harmful, and 46%, the largest proportion, as unknown effectiveness"