Gastrointestinal System: What is it?

The Gastrointestinal System is one of the most basic anatomical systems of the organism. Its primary role is the passage, the digestion, the use and excretion of food.

The Gastrointestinal Tract extends from the mouth to the anus and includes all digestive organs in humans and animals.

Gastrointestinal System: How does it work? 

The Gastrointestinal System is responsible for the regular energy operation of human body and is not a passive system.

The Digestive System protects the body by detecting food that can negatively affect one’s health by rejecting it through vomit, diarrhea or other symptoms. On its surface, the Gastrointestinal System has a complex set of nerves and various cells that belong to the Immune System. In order for a body to have a healthy Digestive System, each person needs different types and quantities of food. 

Food that reaches the Gastrointestinal System contains nutrients as well as toxins. The toxins may be of many kinds, from food additives to pesticides. The digestion process takes place on the surface of the Gastrointestinal System through the secretions from the glands. The two glands supplying most chemical substances used by Gastrointestinal System are the liver and the pancreas. 

Therefore, the result of daily food consumption and especially that of particular food combinations is the dysfunction of Gastrointestinal System. This may be the result of immune reactions in choices or combinations of certain foods that cause a variety of clinical signs to the Gastrointestinal System such as allergies, bloating, constipation and diarrhea. These types of food intolerances are responsible for many digestive problems. The Gastrointestinal System communicates with the brain at a hormonal level, i.e. it is a neurotransmitter that mediates between the brain and several chemical substances.

Gastrointestinal System: Conditions

The Gastrointestinal Conditions refer to diseases that include the Gastrointestinal Tract, i.e. the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and the rectum as well as the assistant digestive organs, the liver, gallbladder and pancreas.

The irritation and inflammation of various organs of the Gastrointestinal Tract are manifested as:

• gastritis (stomach)
• spastic colitis (large intestine)
• ileitis (small intestine or ileum)
• hepatitis (liver)
• cholecystitis (gallbladder)

Gastrointestinal System: What can Medical Acupuncture offer and treat?

Traditional Chinese Medicine has been treating stomach and intestinal disorders for millennia. As far as gastrointestinal disorders are concerned, Medical Acupuncture may provide significant benefits, acting not only upon the symptoms but mainly upon the causes, something that applies in Chinese Diets too. In fact, the treatments proposed by the Traditional Chinese Medicine act on all causes responsible for gastrointestinal disorders, both physical and psycho-emotional. 

More than 3 Acupuncture sessions of treatment are required with the cause and the intensity of symptoms defining the final number of them.

Consequently, the application of Medical Acupuncture is considered a safe, painless and effective intervention in treating gastritis as well as gastro esophageal reflux disorder. Even more, it contributes to the treatment of symptoms such as vomiting, stomach and duodenal ulcer, indigestion, anorexia and hiccups which afflict the sufferer. It may also provide analgesia, through the appropriate placement of special needles, on symptoms caused by spastic colitis, known as irritable bowel syndrome, such as diarrhea or constipation.     

Finally, the complementary treatment of Acupuncture contributes to the relief of symptoms caused by various inflammatory intestinal diseases, with the most common being the ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The latter is manifested on the inferior part of small intestine, the ileum.