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*Up in Smoke*
Kicking the habit before it kicks you
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Tasty peach flavor |
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| Your health insurance: tasty liquid vitamins and antioxidants with all-natural ingredients and minerals plucked from plants and the earth itself - no sugar or artificial preservatives added. |
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Author: Dr. Gordon Sims, ND, LAc |
Acupuncture to quit
My first experience with this treatment occurred at a heroine addiction clinic in Portland, Oregon, where I was an intern. There, the clinic administered the state-sponsored "STOP" program, which offered heroine addicts who had been arrested the choice between either losing the addiction, or serving their time for their felony.
While it might be a stretch to draw a parallel between Canadian smokers and their anti-smoking legislation and Portland junkies and their jail time, the use of acupuncture to treat either addiction is not.
Participants of the STOP program were offered a variety of options to help them break their heroine addiction, including methadone, counseling, and acupuncture. Interestingly, the clinicians found that acupuncture was comparable, if not better, than other strategies. Fortunately, for smokers, the same technique can be adapted to treat nicotine addiction. Indeed, acupuncture has been used to address a variety of addictive cycles, ranging from heroine, smoking, other drug use, and even compulsive eating (specifically when there is an addictive quality).
Those familiar with acupuncture may recall that there are twelve main "meridians" in which the acupuncture points are found. Each meridian is responsible for controlling a variety of body functions. The most typical protocol for treating addictions involves auricular (ear) acupuncture, a technique pioneered by the French rather than the Chinese.
Five acupuncture needles are inserted into specific zones on the outer cartilage of the ear. The zones correspond to different points that affect the nervous system. It is thought that the acupuncture, in this case, affects endorphin levels. Endorphins bind with opiate receptors in the brain and influence what we experience as "craving". After the auricular acupuncture is done, other points on the body are chosen to make the treatment "addiction-specific". For example, quitting smoking calls for acupuncture points on the lung meridian, whereas compulsive eating calls for points on the stomach meridian.
Curiously, in my own experience of treating addictions with acupuncture, the severity of the habit (i.e. half-a-pack-a-day smokers versus two-pack-a-day smokers) does not necessarily correspond to the duration of the treatment needed, nor the success rate. Normally, two acupuncture sessions will put enough distance between smokers and their addiction to break the habit.
Relax to quit.
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By courtesy of Sheila Waters, Nutritional Consultant & Manager
Sangster's Health Centres
418-500 Country Hills Blvd NE, Calgary - Canada
Phone: (403)226-5910 Fax: (403)226-5912 www.sangsters.com | | | |
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