Treatment Case of an Ulcerative Colitis Patient
Living Abroad at HanStep Korean Medicine Clinic
From cold abdomen type to inflammatory type, the journey of recovering to a normal daily life through the stages of causal treatment
Onset and Background of Visit
Hello. This is HanStep Korean Medicine Clinic, which has been researching and treating ulcerative colitis since 2007. This case is about a Korean expatriate patient who was living in Southeast Asia. Starting with diarrhea in June 2024, they experienced persistent bloody and mucus stools, and after returning to Korea, they were diagnosed with ulcerative colitis through a colonoscopy and biopsy.
Status at Time of Visit (October 2024)
- Weight Change: 12kg loss in 3 months (88kg → 76kg)
- Bowel Movement Status: 10 times a day, persistent loose stools, bloody stools, and mucus stools
- Main Symptoms: Cold abdomen type (abdominal coldness, diarrhea when consuming cold food), dizziness
Why symptoms worsen during treatment
Most patients have more than one root cause. This patient also experienced a temporary worsening of symptoms as the first cause, 'cold abdomen type,' was treated, revealing the underlying second cause, the 'inflammatory type.' This is a common phenomenon in the process of sequentially resolving the root causes of a disease.
Treatment Progress Record
Transition to Causal Treatment
With a prescription to warm the abdomen, the condition improved to normal stools within 10 days of treatment. As the inflammatory cause was later revealed, the prescription was adjusted to manage the worsening symptoms and induce improvement.
Complete Normalization
As a result of optimizing the prescription, the patient maintained one normal bowel movement per day, and bloody and mucus stools completely disappeared. Treatment was successfully completed at the end of 2025 after continuous management.