Stop Smoking with
Acupuncture
Among current U.S. adult smokers, 70% report that they
want to quit smoking and millions try to quit every year. If you have attempted
to quit smoking, you know how difficult it can be. Nicotine is a powerful
addiction. In fact, research suggests that nicotine is as addictive as heroin,
cocaine, or alcohol.
It is estimated that most smokers will attempt to quit
two or three times, or more, before finally kicking the habit. When
conventional methods to quit smoking have failed, smokers often look outside
mainstream approaches and turn to alternative medicine.
Acupuncture as an alternative approach to smoking
cessation has a growing number of converts. In fact, acupuncture is often a
court mandated treatment for drug addicts because of its ability to reduce
cravings and alleviate withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, anxiety and
difficulty concentrating.
In 2011, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), a
subsidiary of the US Department of Justice, in collaboration with the American
University, evaluated the effectiveness of acupuncture as an adjunct to
substance abuse treatment. This initiative ensued as a result of many drug
courts using acupuncture as an adjunct to the substance abuse treatments provided
to drug court participants. In the BJA review of the literature, they
determined a number of acupuncture studies demonstrated reduced cravings and
symptoms of withdrawal when coupled with conventional treatment plans.
A Formidable
Addiction
More than 50 million Americans smoke. The numbers are
even higher in other parts of the globe, with worldwide statistics showing that
one out of three people over the age of 18 are smokers.
The reasons to quit smoking are endless. Cigarettes have
4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and
400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide, as well as
formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic and DDT. According to the CDC,
tobacco is the cause of 443,000 premature deaths each year, and is associated
with emphysema, lung cancer, high blood pressure, shortness of breath, chronic
cough and an increase in frequency of colds and flu.
Many people want to quit because of the enormous expense
of a cigarette habit or are just plain tired of being dependant on a substance.
There is also considerable social pressure not to smoke. Most smokers can
recall a dirty look or rude comment from someone that was nearby when they lit
up.
How Does
Acupuncture Help Break the Cigarette Habit?
Acupuncture is successful with smoking cessation and has
turned a growing number of cigarette smokers into permanent ex-smokers.
Treatments take all of your symptoms into account and aim at balancing the
energy within the body to optimize health.
Acupuncturists are trained to address addictions,
especially nicotine addiction, following the principles of Traditional Chinese
Medicine. They assess the addiction from several perspectives, inclusive of the
physical, mental and emotional addiction. There are many acupuncturists who
utilize a technique where fine needles are inserted into a set of five
acupuncture points on the ear (auricular acupuncture), as promoted by The
National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA), a not-for-profit
organization who teaches and endorses this acupuncture detoxification protocol.
The acupuncture treatments focus on jitters, cravings,
irritability and restlessness; all symptoms that people commonly complain about
when they quit. It also aids in relaxation and detoxification.
In one study conducted at the University of Oslo, Norway,
acupuncture was found to significantly reduce the desire to smoke up to five
years after the initial treatment. Subjects of the study also reported that
cigarettes tasted worse than before treatment and that the treatments had
effectively reduced their taste for tobacco.
The acupuncture needles used are hair-thin. They are
superficially inserted into various points in the ears and body to assist with
smoking cessation. In between treatments, small pellets are often taped to the
acupuncture points on the ear. When a cigarette craving hits, gently pressing
on the pellets stimulates the acupuncture points to calm the mind and eliminate
the craving.
Acupuncture is not a panacea or a magic cure in the
treatment of any addiction, including smoking. But, acupuncture is effective in
making it easier to quit and remain smoke-free for good.
If you are ready to quit, call an acupuncture provider
near you for a consultation to see how acupuncture can empower you to take
control and begin a healthy and smoke-free life!
How does the
acupuncture treatment work?
From the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) point of
view, your tobacco withdrawal symptoms are being produced by the impeding of
your Liver’s functioning. Because you are addicted to tobacco, your Liver has
become used to the stimulation of the tobacco that is usually in your
circulation, and this has substituted a part of your Liver’s own energy, so
that your Liver now has less energy (in simple terms).
In the interval between you smoking each cigarette, the
level of tobacco in your circulation falls, and this means that your Liver does
not then have enough energy to function properly. This produces various
symptoms, which might include feelings of agitation, of anxiety, of depression;
difficulty in falling asleep; and also the craving for tobacco, which is your
body’s way of telling you that it needs this particular substance to function
properly.
Ordinarily, these symptoms would be eased when you smoke
a cigarette. This boosts the amount of tobacco that is circulating in your
blood, and thus provides the stimulation that your Liver has become used to
having in order to function properly, and because your Liver can then function
properly, all the above symptoms are eased—that is, until the tobacco in your
circulation starts to diminish again.
Acupuncture treatment works by stimulating the
functioning of your Liver (that is, by increasing its energy back to a more
normal level), and this then eases your tobacco withdrawal symptoms, since your
Liver can then function properly without the need for tobacco. When this
happens, you will be able to feel well, but will have achieved this without
having to smoke. Between treatments, this boosting of your Liver’s energy will
initially wear off, as your Liver returns to that state that it has become
accustomed to over many years. But as the treatments progresses (over a number
of sessions), your Liver functioning will gradually become better regulated
over longer periods of time, so that you will tend to feel well without having
to smoke to produce this feeling.
With smoking, as with all other addictions, you feel
unwell when the drug starts to wear off, so you ‘self-medicate’—i.e. you smoke
a cigarette—in order to feel well again. And your addiction consists of a
continuous cycle of self-medicating, then the drug wearing off, which produces
the withdrawal symptoms, so you self-medicate again to remove these symptoms,
i.e. to feel well.
Another effect that acupuncture treatment has, is that it
tends to change your experience of smoking. Some people find that the taste of
the smoke becomes unpleasant; others find that the smell of the smoke makes
them feel nauseous; and others find that smoking makes them become unpleasantly
warm. This change also helps you to stop smoking, by putting you off the
experience of smoking.
What Points Are
Used?
Each patient is custom-treated according to his or her
specific and unique diagnosis. Usually a combination of body acupuncture points
and points on the ear are used that are believed to influence the organs and
energetic pathways associated with smoking.
Commonly Used Points for Smoking Cessation include:
Ear points:
* Shen Men
* Kidney
* Sympathetic
* Lung Upper and Lung Lower
* Hunger or Mouth
Body points:
* Tim Mee- an extra-meridian point located on the wrist
between LU-7 (Lieque) and LI-5 (Yangxi), a specific point to quit smoking.
* The Four Gate Points (LI-4, LV-3)- would be used to
circulate energy (Qi) throughout the body and calm the nervous system.
Typical treatments last from five to 30 minutes, with the
patient being treated one or two times a week. After removing the needles, ear
press needles or silver pellets are often applied to stimulate the points
between treatments and reduce cravings.
Are There Herbs To Help Me Quit Smoking?
Often you are prescribed herbs or supplements to control
cravings or withdrawal symptoms.
There are three areas to address for herbal support;
dryness and tissue repair, irritability and cravings.
How Many Treatments
Will I Need and How Long Do they Take?
The length, number and frequency of treatments will vary.
Typical treatments last from five to 30 minutes, with the patient being treated
one or two times a week. Some symptoms are relieved after the first treatment,
while more severe or chronic ailments often require multiple treatments.
A stop smoking program will often consist of 4-6 initial
treatments scheduled in the first few weeks followed by monthly treatments for
four to six months.
Acupuncture Reduce Cravings, but Changing Habits is
Difficult
Physical cravings are only one aspect of cigarette
addiction. Many times, the habit of smoking is harder to stop than the
physical addiction.
If smoking helps you cope during difficult emotional
situations, not smoking can make you feel naked and vulnerable. If
smoking is part of a daily ritual, not smoking can make your day feel
“off.” All of this is normal and challenging.
We recommend that people use all the support systems they
have available. Get help from family and friends. Join a support
group. Exercise. Find new smoke-free activities. Stopping a smoking
addiction requires support—physically, emotionally and socially. Fight and win!
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