Practitioner
Derek Climpson is a Health Professional member of Crohn’s and Colitis UK.
Examples of What People Say
For the past 3 years + I have suffered ulcerative colitis and have been looking to improve my condition and minimise the use of drugs including steroids. Acupuncture has greatly reduced my sysmptoms of pain and discomfort and frequency of visits to the toilet – so much so that my use of prescribed drugs has already been reduced by 40% – and I hope will reduce further as I continue my Acupuncture treatment.
Acupuncture makes me feel in control of Ulcerative Colitis rather than the condition controlling me.
Paula
I suffered for 10 years with severe ulcerative colitis, with almost constant flare ups. This consisted of loose bowels, constant diarrhoea, urgency for the bathroom, blood and mucus in stools. My gastroenterologist could only give me medication such as steroids to ease my condition, but this brought with it many side effects such as change in body shape, moon face, arthritis and osteoporosis. My friend’s mother suffered with ulcerative colitis and swore she was helped by acupuncture. I was very keen to try it for myself.
I think it was about 3 months that I noticed a huge difference in my overall health and wellbeing.
I was able to eat and keep the food in without losing it straight away. I felt comfortable to start going out again. I felt I had a lot more energy, as I had been constantly tired all the time.
Since I have been going to Acupuncture regularly, everyone has noticed my improved health . I rarely have a day off sick which is a big improvement. If I eat something that disagrees with me, rather than being ill for months and it triggered my colitis, I can now bounce back within a few days, like a normal healthy person.
Lynn
I have been having sessions of Acupuncture for several months and have found it beneficial in many ways. It is helping stabilise the colitis I have suffered from for many years with not si much distress and discomfort first thing in the morning. There’s the odd bad patch but these seem less frequent.
Alice
Research Evidence
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Various conditions, which are characterized by inflammatory processes of the digestive system, especially of small intestine and large intestine, are collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease. Two main types of these diseases are ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. It is estimated that in 2010, those illnesses caused the death of 34000 people. Because of the seriousness of symptoms, complications of long-term drug treatment, patients often look for additional methods of treatment.
In a study conducted in Norway, it was proved, that the use of complementary and alternative medicine is common among people suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases, and amounted to 49 % in the year before the study was conducted. In Spain 23% of patients, suffering from inflammatory bowel disease used methods regarded as alternative.
As physiology and pathology of the digestive system are regarded as an important issue in Chinese medicine, patients often turn their attention to techniques originating from this system, for example, acupuncture and moxa treatment.