How to Quit Smoking with Acupuncture
Cigarettes, and their highly-addictive substance nicotine, are one of the most common addictions worldwide. Millions of people are hooked on the roll of tobacco, which contains tar and other carcinogens. As a result, many die of smoking-related conditions like emphysema and lung cancer. Smoking should clearly be limited, if not stopped. One successful way for smokers to kick the habit is acupuncture.
Acupuncture to Stop Smoking
Acupuncture is a medical practice where needles are inserted in specific points on the body called acupuncture points. It aims to relieve patients from muscle pain and provide various forms of therapy, including limiting the craving for nicotine. Upon proper diagnosis, the doctor inserts filiform needles into the right acupuncture points to help the patient quit smoking.
How to Quit Smoking Through Acupuncture
Acupuncture to quit smoking isn’t successful unless the patient cooperates and shows a strong willingness to quit the habit. Many processes are involved, even before the formal acupuncture treatment begins. The doctor must have some information regarding your smoking habits, so he or she can determine which acupuncture points to address. To give you a clearer view of the treatment procedure, here’s a general overview.
Answer the Smoker Profile Questionnaire – Before the initial appointment, the doctor will hand you a questionnaire. The test will ask you about your smoking history, your reasons for smoking, the things that trigger your appetite for nicotine, and other details that pertain to your smoking habit. You need to answer all of the questions honestly, since this information is the doctor’s diagnostic tool.
Diagnosis – The doctor will review the questionnaire then discuss your answers with you. Once he or she gathers all the information needed, you are subjected to a physical examination. He or she will collate all the information. Upon reviewing the results of the written and physical examinations, your doctor will know which specific combination of needles and acupuncture points to use.
Conditioning to be a Non-Smoker – The doctor will tell you ways to suppress your nicotine craving and how to get through the withdrawal stage successfully. He or she will then schedule you for the acupuncture treatment, which gives you several days to test the methods.
Acupuncture Treatment – Treatment usually lasts four sessions. The first two are geared at limiting the craving for nicotine while the latter two are aimed at making the withdrawal stage tolerable. In each session, you will be asked to lie down as the doctor inserts more than a dozen needles in different areas of your torso. The procedure may be a bit painful at first, but you’ll eventually get accustomed to it.
If you’re having trouble quitting smoking even after the acupuncture treatment, consider re-discussing the diagnosis with your doctor. You can elaborate on how you started smoking and the things and situations that make you feel like lighting up a cigarette. After processing, you will be given a more suitable treatment, which may finally help you quit smoking.
Criticism of Acupuncture
Some medical practitioners are not convinced of acupuncture’s healing method. They dismiss the practice as a glorified form of the placebo effect. According to them, the results of acupuncture are inconclusive. People are supposedly better off with conventional practices, since they produce real results.
A Strengthened Resolve is What You Need
In your case, acupuncture is a welcome option, regardless of criticism about its efficacy. You don’t really need an expensive technological procedure to help you control your urge for nicotine. What you need is something that can strengthen your resolve to kick the habit. Acupuncture happens to do just that, placebo effect or not. If you ask former smokers who recovered through acupuncture, they’ll tell you it’s one of the best ways to quit smoking.