Acupuncture helps treat many addictions from alcohol and smoking (Wang, 2016) to food and opiate addictions.
How does acupuncture help?
There are different points in the body that reduce withdrawal symptoms associated with different circumstances. Emotions often overwhelm a person when quitting; stress, anxiety, depression, boredom, etc. make it difficult to overcome and leads to relapses.
In addition to treating withdrawal symptoms, acupuncture speeds up the detoxification process pushing the nicotine out of the body faster. There are also points to suppress appetite limiting food cravings and overeating.
Acupuncture also improves sleep which revamps all activities of daily living.
Smoking Cessation Protocol:
*5-day back-to-back treatments to ensure the patients do not fall back into their old habits on off days.
*Ear seeds to press on when craving cigarettes
*Herbal formulas and teas to fight cravings (optional)
References
Wang, et. al. 2016. Acupuncture for Smoking Cessation in Hong Kong: A Prospective Multicenter Observational Study. Hindawi Publishing Corporation