CASE STUDY: IBS and Canker Sores
24yo, female, graduate student
A 24 year old female had a chief complaint of IBS and chronic canker sores. Both conditions had started a year prior when the patient suffered a traumatic life experience and a case of Mono. She was enrolled as a doctoral student during our time together.
Main Signs/Symptoms:
2-3 days of constipation/week alternating with days of yellow diarrhea that would happen 2-7x/day. She would have great urgency, with cramping, and would not feel complete after going.
Her canker sores were daily, and most of the time, there were multiple of them.
Patient also presented with:
Brain fog
Frontal headaches - 3-4/10, 5-7 days/week
Excessive urination
GERD
Nausea after eating
Increased hunger
Ribside sharp pains that would come and go 1x/week
Kidney stones - last one was the year prior
Hair thinning
Weight gain
Falling and staying asleep - she had increased energy after 10pm
High-pitched tinnitus
Lower back pain
Fatigue
High morning cortisol
Pre-Hashimoto’s - had antibodies
Eye floaters
Cervical myelopathy
Dates of treatment:
5/21/24: Felt a sense of calm post-treatment.
5/28/24: She had a normal BM the day after treatment. She had two days of looser stools, one day with a sense of urgency, but not going as frequently as before. She was nauseous as she came in but was not the other days of the past week.
6/4/24: She had one day of 3x diarrhea. 3 days of no bowel movement. 2 days of normal bowel movements. She had one day of cramping. She noticed less canker sore development and less burping from GERD.
6/11/24: The patient was traveling this week so her routine was off. Her sleep did not feel restful. No canker sores this week. Bowel movements were normal up until 6/10 where she had a bout of diarrhea.
6/18/24: She had no tight cramping pains or urgency associated with her bowel movements this past week. Her bowel movements were soft everyday, but not diarrhea. She had a lot less bloating, better sleep, better energy.
6/25/24: She felt good this past week although she had some weekend constipation. Her bloating increased slightly for the past 3 days. She got one canker sore 2 days ago. She had a quick upper respiratory infection mid-week, since cleared, with sneezing and yellow phlegm in the AM.
7/2/24: Her bloating went down again. She had normal bowel movements until 3 days ago when she had urgency and diarrhea. Her canker sores went away. Her cramping continues to be less.
7/9/24: No cramps this week. She drank in excess this weekend and had no bowel movement on Saturday and Sunday. She also felt more bloated from that. For the past 2 days it’s been soft. No new canker sores.
7/23/25: She had 1 bowel movement each of the two days post-treatment. She didn’t go Friday or Saturday and then drank in excess on Sunday. She had diarrhea after drinking. She also got her period on Sunday. Sleep hasn’t been as restful.
8/6/24: No canker sores. She had normal bowel movements until the weekend where she was a bit more constipated. She had diarrhea yesterday. Her stress has been high with finals and projects.
8/13/24: Bowel movements were normal for 3 days post-treatment. She had diarrhea on Saturday and was constipated yesterday. Her stress has decreased since last week but is still medium-high. She had 1 canker sore that came and went very quickly.
Key takeaways:
This is just with acupuncture. We had prescribed Yu Nu Jian in the beginning of July but she didn’t end up taking it consistently and it was eventually phased out. Herbs in a consistent dosage would’ve been helpful here.
For TCM nerds: this patient had a mix of Stomach Fire, Liver & Kidney Yin Deficiency, and the start of Wind development.
There is a pattern in this patient’s symptoms. She would get better until the weekend when she was usually traveling long distances for various reasons, drinking in excess, or under a lot of stress with school. This patient, therefore, could’ve benefited from treatment 2x/week at least. She was unable to come that often at the time and 1x/week still provided massive relief.
She never had the yellow diarrhea up to 7x/day again after receiving her first treatment.
Her daily canker sores that had been occurring for a year had ceased. When she did get one that popped up, it went away much quicker.
She felt an immense amount of gratitude for her treatments. She noticed a real difference not only in her bowel movements and canker sores, but in her general outlook on life. She acknowledged that she could’ve changed more about her lifestyle such as diet, alcohol consumption, sleep schedule, and stress levels.
Website to book an acupuncture treatment or herbal consult: theidiosyncraticneedle.com
Thanks for reading!
IG: kieradlayne
