Quit Smoking with Acupuncture

Christopher R. Reilly, L.Ac., MSA

A Personal Decision, A Team Effort

As anyone who has used tobacco regularly knows, quiting is never easy.  Just making the sincere decision that it's time to quit usually isn't enough.  The personal decision is a required first step, an empowering step, and certainly something that no one else can do for you.  That provides you with day 1 of your smoke-free life.  This piece is designed to address all of the days that follow in terms of realistic and effective methods for both short- and longterm success, including acupuncture.  For this reason, I have touched on a lot of different subjects.  Please use the bold headings to guide you if your interest lies in only one specific area.

The Physical Addiction

Within the first two weeks, this is probably the most important factor to deal with effectively.  Even if you've whittled down to a few cigarettes each day, you can still feel the effects of withdrawal when you make the jump to a smoke-free life.

Withdrawal is the body having to readjust from a physiological state that accounts for the presence of a substance, to a state which is balanced without that substance.  This can include changes in brain chemistry, digestive activity, hormone balance and many other areas.  It's almost as bad as going through puberty, although fortunately it doesn't last nearly as long!

Acupuncture Facilitates a Smooth Transition

Acupuncture is used in the treatment for many forms of withdrawal including nicotine, heroine, cocaine, amphetamine, and alcohol.  Most chemical addictions are treated with a team of providers including medical doctors, counselors, support groups, and therapies such as acupuncture.  Nicotine abusers are unusual in that they almost always try to quit on their own, or with minimal levels of support.

Acupuncture and Chemical Dependency

Acupuncture can be used with two primary goals in mind.  First is to help the body achieve a new physiological balance without the presence of nicotine.  Acupuncture is known to influence area's of the brain implicated in addiction, as well as digestive activity, circulation, hormonal activity and other area's that are forced to readjust when eliminating a chemical dependency.  This ability to help the body adjust at a physical, biochemical level is the reason why acupuncture has become so widespread in the field of chemical dependency treament.

Acupuncture and Psychological Dependency/ Ritual

The second of the two primary strategies with acupuncture is helping to ease the emotional and mental stress of breaking with a ritual that has become both a coping mechanism and a crutch.  Rituals make us feel comfortable and are very individual.  Running, meditating, reading, talking with loved ones, and smoking can all be rituals used to help clear our minds, calm us down, or simply provide a break from the stress of the "outside world." 

Being cut off from a source of comfort and stress release can be very distressing.  Acupuncture provides not only a therapy shown to have profoundly relaxing and "de-stressing" effects, it also provides a new, temporary replacement ritual.  A visit to the acupuncturist provides the chance to adjust your chemistry and clear out accumulated stress, as well as time spent specifically for your own transformation in a very supportive environment. 

Acupuncture as Part of a Complete Plan

Acupuncture is excellent and unique in its ability to help the body adjust to a new chemical balance through the period of physical withdrawal.  It is an invaluable source as an aid to relieve the stress and discomfort of breaking from old rituals.  In the long run, unless you bring along your acupuncturist when you hit happy hour with all of you old smoking buddies, it really takes a complete picture of support and strategy to optimize the chances that you will stay smoke free in the long run.

Addiction is a Disease

After the first couple of weeks, your body has reached a point where the physiology is pretty well re-adjusted, and it is comfortably operating without nicotine.  However, as any addict can attest to, the disease of addiction is still present.  There are social, sensory and behavioral cues that can set off cravings years and years after you've smoked your last cigarette.  You wouldn't offer an alcoholic a drink no matter how long it's been since his or her last trip to rehab.  It's important for nicotine addicts to understand this point for the sake of long term success, and to adopt behavior and cognitive patterns accordingly.

Out With the Old, In With the New

Take a break from spending time with the crowd that you normally smoke with.  Whether it's the Friday happy hour crowd, or the buddies that you watch the game with.  You will also benefit by taking a break from alcohol, late night walks, television, surfing the web or whatever other substances or activities that you associate smoking with.  Avoiding these activities for at least three months is a good idea.  The first time you do head back to some of these old activities, bring a supportive friend along and stick to non-alcoholic drinks for a while.

In addition to dealing with the physical addiction, breaking the smoking habit is all about breaking the routines and rituals associated with that habit.  If anyone told you quiting would be easy, this is the point where you should feel free to growl, complain, and call them a liar.  But don't give up!  Making it to this point is a huge accomplishment, and you have now opened up the room in your life for some very exciting and productive transformations.

Taking Control

Be inventive and proactive about supporting your decision.  If you know that the evening time is when you're most tempted, invite friends over who are enthusiastic about you quiting and are willing to help distract and support you.  If you live with family, don't stay up later then they do. 

Start an evening yoga class, get out to the gym, pick up a new hobby like rock climbing or painting.  In short- fill the void left by the smoking and smoking rituals that you have decided to eliminate.  Without replacements to fill the gap, the pull to refill it with old habits will be all the more difficult to resist.  The best replacements are those that get you into supportive social environments, and provide you with positive momentum, e.g. a new exercise routine that has you looking and feeling better gives a positive experience that you won't want to sabotage by smoking.

Keep it Up

Getting through the physical withdrawal, accepting the loss of an old ritual and filling the void with new, productive ones that provide you with positive momentum is central to getting through the first three months.  At this point you have a lot of positive momentum behind you, and have established the patterns of a non-smoker.  You're probably feeling a lot healthier and happier, and you absolutely should.  The effort doesn't end there, though.

The recognition that you are still an addict after you've quit is surprisingly understated when it comes to smoking.  It is widely practiced in other area's of addiction to acknowledge that the disease of addiction never goes away, even if one is not currently abusing.  In fact, it is regarded as central to the longterm success of treatment that this be understood.

Although it may sound severe, an addict will never be safe "having just one" no matter how long it's been since the last one.  In this area, self-discipline and an understanding of the disease will have to be kept at the forefront indefinitely.  With ever increasing positive momentum and motivating factors, this will get easier with time, but it can't be forgotten entirely.

Stay Positive

As daunting as a lot of this sounds, quiting longterm is a reasonable and readily attainable goal that begins with the single step of deciding to quit.  Millions of people achieve longterm success.  Millions do not.  My experience has been that those with the most support and the most comprehensive plans increase their likelihood of success by a huge margin.  By deciding to quit, you are making the choice to improve the rest of your life, and the lives of every single person on the planet that loves you.  Honor that by giving yourself all the support and education that's available to you, taking one step at a time while following a comprehensive plan for the longterm.