Blog & Columns
Useful information about health and Korean medicine.
Total 688 posts
Why You're Not Losing Weight Despite Eating Less: 5 Things to Check First When You Hit a Diet Plateau
5 Things to Consider First When You Hit a Diet Plateau: Why You're Not Losing Weight Despite Eating Less There comes a point when your weight stops dropping, even if you've reduced your food intake. At this juncture, many people start wondering, "Is my body just naturally resistant to weight loss?" or "Do I need to starve myself even more?"...
Rough Skin Around Your Fingernail: How to Tell if It's a Periungual Wart or Eczema Before Cryotherapy
When the skin around your fingernails becomes rough and cracked, it's common to see perionychial warts, eczema, and barrier damage appear intertwined. We've compiled the key differentiating points to identify before cryotherapy.
I Get Bloated Just From Dieting | A 30-Something Office Worker's Traditional Korean Medicine Constitutional Improvement
Through the case of a 30-something office worker experiencing indigestion while on a diet, we introduce constitutional causes and recovery methods. Regular meals and stress management are key.
Why Do We Always Fail Our Diets? | Constitutional Causes According to Korean Medicine
The reason diets fail despite diet and exercise is due to constitutional differences. We introduce obesity types and tailored strategies for each Sasang constitutional type: Tae-yang, So-eum, and Tae-eum.
"Always Bloated and Uncomfortable" | Chronic Indigestion in a 40-Something Woman
Always feeling bloated and uncomfortable...
“My Stomach Feels Bloated Whenever I Diet” | Indigestion in a 20-Year-Old Female Dieter
Every time I start dieting, I get bloated...
"Bloated with Neck Pain" | Cervical Disc-Related Indigestion in a 30-Something Office Worker
Bloated with neck pain at the same time...
“My Stomach is Twisting and Diarrhea Won’t Stop” | 30s Office Worker Indigestion & Diarrhea
null
My Stomach Feels Like a Ball of Fire! | A 30-Something Office Worker's Chronic Indigestion and Heartburn
<p>Let me explain by sharing a case I encountered.</p> <p>In August 2017, a woman in her early 70s came to me. She reported having received <b>treatment, including surgery, for several years at another clinic, but with little effect.</b></p> <p>Initially, she presented with merely <b>leg numbness caused by chronic lower back pain.</b> However, as time went on, she experienced weakening in her legs and ankles, which progressed to <b>'foot drop,'</b> where her foot would drop involuntarily. Unable to lift her foot properly, walking became challenging, and she required assistance to navigate stairs.</p> <p>At that time, this patient's mobility was severely impaired due to lower back pain, leg numbness, weakness, and foot drop, leading to a significant decrease in her quality of life.</p> <p>Detailed examination results led to a diagnosis of <b>'peripheral neuropathy'</b> caused by <b>'spinal stenosis.'</b> The patient's foot drop was a symptom resulting from nerve compression due to spinal stenosis.</p> <p>Spinal stenosis is a condition in which the spinal canal, the passageway for nerves within the spine, narrows. When the spinal canal narrows, it leads to nerve compression and inflammation, resulting in lower back pain, leg numbness, and leg weakness. In severe cases, it can even be accompanied by leg paralysis symptoms such as <b>'foot drop.'</b></p> <p>As this patient had already undergone multiple surgeries, she desired <b>'non-surgical treatment'</b> that could address her condition without further surgical intervention. Therefore, I recommended <b>'epidural neuroplasty'</b> to her.</p> <p>Epidural neuroplasty is one of the non-surgical treatments for spinal stenosis, a procedure that directly injects medication into the spinal canal to alleviate inflammation and swelling. It involves administering local anesthesia and then inserting a thin, specialized catheter towards the tailbone to deliver the medication.</p> <p>The patient underwent epidural neuroplasty a total of 5 times, with 2-week intervals. <b>Starting from the third week of treatment, the patient's pain improved, and by the fifth week, she felt strength returning to her legs.</b></p> <p>The patient, who had been unable to lift her foot well due to foot drop, found that <b>after the completion of treatment, her ankle strength improved, enabling her to lift her foot and walk more comfortably than before.</b></p> <p>The effectiveness of epidural neuroplasty in patients with spinal stenosis accompanied by foot drop can also be confirmed in the following paper:</p> <p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6902251/">Efficacy of Percutaneous Epidural Neuroplasty in Patients with Lumbar Spinal Stenosis with Foot Drop: A Retrospective Study of 17 Cases</a></p> <p>As such, foot drop caused by spinal stenosis can be effectively improved with non-surgical treatments, including medication, physical therapy, injection therapy, and neuroplasty.</p> <p>Therefore, even if foot drop symptoms arise due to spinal stenosis, rather than worrying prematurely and opting for surgery, it is advisable to <b>first consider non-surgical treatment.</b></p>
Feeling Bloated and Uncomfortable from Indigestion | A 30-Something Woman's Indigestion Workouts
In our busy daily lives, such indigestion and abdominal discomfort have become common, but they are signals that should never be taken lightly.<br><br>If dismissed as a temporary phenomenon and left untreated, it can lead to chronic indigestion, which not only significantly lowers the quality of life but also can be the cause of various gastrointestinal diseases such as gastritis and reflux esophagitis.<br><br>Furthermore, in severe cases, the possibility of developing into fatal diseases such as stomach cancer cannot be ruled out.
Bloating and Wild Blood Sugar Swings | Indigestion & Blood Sugar Management for 40s Women
Our body is an organism. While the digestive process and blood glucose regulation may appear different at first glance, they actually influence each other within the larger context of fundamental biological processes. When explaining the relationship between these two, I often liken our body to 'an intricately connected city.' Food is the energy that powers the city...
My Stomach Feels Bloated and Uncomfortable | A 40-Something Housewife's Chronic Indigestion
Such chronic indigestion goes beyond mere discomfort, significantly impairing our quality of life.