Referring to a number of chronic gastric mucus inflammation, gastritis can be caused by different pathogenic factors. Chronic gastritis can be divided into 3 categories based on the pathological changes it causes. These include: hypertrophic, atrophic, and superficial types of gastritis. The symptomatic clinical manifestations of this condition are atypical and they include belching, vomiting, nausea, dyspepsia, anorexia, pain and oppression in the upper and mid stomach, and recurrent fullness. In traditional Chinese medicine, chronic gastritis may show similar symptoms as that of stomach fullness and epigastralgia. It is often the result of overstrain, improper diet, emotional distress, and weakness caused prolonged illness that leads to qi stagnation, depression of liver cold in middle energizer, and insufficiency of stomach yin, or by stagnation of blood in the collaterals
Treating Chronic Atrophic Gastritis with Moxibustion and Acupuncture in Jacksonville
One recent study was conducted to see if moxibustion and acupuncture can help in treating chronic atrophic gastritis. The study involved 88 patients all suffering from chronic atrophic gastritis. They were equally divided into three groups. One group (30 patients) was treated with acupuncture. Another group (30 patients were administered with a combination moxibustion and acupuncture treatments. The rest (28 patients) were designated as the control group. Two months after the start of the treatment, the groups treated with either acupuncture alone or moxibustion/acupuncture manifested significant improvement of their symptoms with the group treated with a combination of moxibustion and acupuncture having the most remarkable results. In terms of intestinal metaplasia and glandular atrophy conditions, the moxibustion/acupuncture group experienced marked differences before and after treatment showing an effectiveness rate of 66.7%. All three groups, after treatment, manifested substantial improvement in serum gasrtin level with the moxibustion/acupuncture group, again having the best results.
The researchers concluded that moxibustion and acupuncture definitely possess therapeutic benefits for the treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis, more so, for the improvement of symptoms. Moxibustion combined with acupuncture or acupuncture as a standalone treatment can help reverse the pathologic consequences of intestinal metaplasia and glandular atrophy for chronic atrophic gastritis sufferers. Best of all, moxibustion/acupuncture treatment is a safe mode of treatment for these gastritis sufferers.