Stomachache is a common clinical symptom. Although there are many causes of stomachache, the major pathogenesis is poor intestinal peristalsis and poor Qi-blood movement.

The causes of stomachache

Many people have an experience of stomachache which is caused by tension at work, irregular eating habit, doing work or exercises right after having meals, excessive alcohol drinking, or improper diet.

Different from the view of western medicine, Chinese medicine practitioners divides stomach upset into “ stomach coldness ”and “ stomach heat ”.

Normally, our stomach secrets mucus to protect parietal layer, and digestive juice and hydrochloric acid to digest food. When a patient has “stomach coldness”, he or she suffers from deficient digestive juice and hydrochloric acid for digestion. Therefore, there are symptoms of poor appetite, decrease in taste sensitivity, abdominal distension, and even nausea. From the perspective of Chinese medicine, “stomach coldness” is the manifestation of low gastric function and poor stomach muscle flexibility which affect the supply of secretion and gastro-movement.

In the other hand, patients suffer from " stomach heat " feel thirsty with bad breath,  have good appetite and overeat a lot. The cause for good appetite is that stomach itself has less alkaline liquid, so peristalsis becomes more active and more quickly. Early phase diabetes patients could suffer from the similar condition of "stomach heat" ; thus, they tend to eat, drink, and urine more. If you have similar symptoms, you need to go to the hospital for further examination.

Dietary principles for stomachache

1. Keep a regular dietary schedule with fixed amount; to prevent hurting your stomach, do not overeat  or eat unevenly.
2. Don’t drink strong tea or coffee when fasting, and don’t smoke and drink alcohol.
3. Avoid foods that are fatty, spicy, greasy, fried, or hard to digest. For example, butter, fried foods, cheese, squids or glutinous rice. 
4. Eat bland and easy-to-digest food.
5. Don’t work or exercise immediately after meals. Patients should live with one core principle: always stay happy and relaxed.

DIY Diet

Szu Shen Soup ( Four Ingredients Soup )

• Ingredients include:
• Chinese yam 12g
• Poria 10g
• Euryale 10g
• Chinese yam ( Dioscorea opposita Thunb ) 10 g
• philoxeroides 10 g
• Chitterlings 250 g.
• Recipe :
• Use salt to clean chitterlings repetitively, and boil it with hot water.
• Wash the other ingredients.
• Put all the ingredients in the pot with adequate water to cover them all. Boil all ingredients first and stew for an hour.
• The aforementioned herbs are bland with the effect of invigorating your spleen and eliminating dampness. Those herbs are good for symptoms like diarrhea, abdominal fullness, and dyspepsia.

Stew pig bag with Ginger

• Ingredients:
• A pig bag
• Ginger 150 g
• Sesame oil and other appropriate sauce.
• Recipe :
• Clean the pig bag.
• Clean and slice Ginger. then put it into the pig bag.
• Put the pig bag in the pot with adequate water to cover it. Continually heat the pot with small fire after boiling and stew for one hour.
• It is good for patients with“ stomach coldnes s”. This cold-type of stomachache or gastric pain is caused by eating ice, cold drinks, or fruits.

Bergamot tea

• Ingredients:
• Bergamots 15g, adequate sugar.
• Recipe:
• Clean and shred bergamots.
• Put shred bergamots and adequate sugar in a teacup and then make tea with hot water for drinking.
• It is good for “ Liver depression and Qi stagnation ” type of Gastrointestinal discomfort when one is under stress.