Many people ask us “acupuncture for smoking does it work?” At TCCA/Soulville Community Acupuncture we use a unique set of treatments to help people to stop smoking. What we have found over the twenty years we have been doing this treatment is that the smoking urge lasts 240 seconds and that withdrawal from nicotine starts within 3days, So to offset withdrawal we schedule the patient every 2 days starting on Monday. That means that the next day they will be treated is on Wednesday before the day 3 withdrawal. The next day for treatment is Friday and then they can tough it out over Saturday and Sunday and come in on Monday. If they cannot go the weekend then they can always come in for a Saturday treatment. By the end of week 2 they should be ready to go down to a once or twice a week treatment as they are over the withdrawal and have detoxed themselves.
To get over the sudden urges during their 2 week detox we use magnetic balls on clear tape which we attach to special points on their ears. They wear these on their ears between treatments. This is called auricular therapy and when the feel the urge to smoke they just press on these metal balls on their ear.
We also give them a small bottle of Chinese herbal pills to use during this treatment. It is a special formula to calm them down and take the edge off of their withdrawal. This same formula is used for general stress and many patients stay on it a while to offset the increase in eating that often is a side effect of smoking cessation.
Is this program successful? Definitely yes, it works. It has been more successful than we thought it would be when we were in school learning about it. We have been amazed at the will power and determination people will show when they realize that they are endangering their health and losing their ability to enjoy their lives.
How much does this program cost? The cost varies according to people’s financial means and motivation. TCCA/Soulville CA charges on a sliding scale of $20-$40/visit so if you paid $40 for each visit the program would cost $240 and if you paid $20 it would cost $120, so the cost is on a sliding scale of $120-$240 for the 6 treatments, but people do not always come in for the full schedule of treatments and this has to do with motivation to quit smoking. The people who do the full course of treatments show the most success in smoking cessation.
