Longview resident Brooke Stafford has been smoking since she was 18 years old. She told herself she would quit smoking when she turned 25, but she missed that deadline by a year. Now 26, Brooke's ready to get serious about cutting cigarettes out of her life for good. She visited a local acupuncture clinic. Here's what happened:
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Brooke lays on the bed during her acupuncture treatment.
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The doctor inserts tiny needles into the pressure points in Brooke's hand.
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"Three years ago I quit smoking for two months. In those two months I noticed how much more alert I was, and my hair actually smelled like shampoo all day long! Those memories are my motivation to quit for good this time. I had already cut back on my habit, going from five packs a week to only one pack a week. I just needed an extra push to quit for good.
That's when I decided to try acupuncture.
During my first session at the clinic, the doctor interviewed me before beginning the acupuncture treatments so he could make sure that I truly wanted to quit. He told me that the idea of acupuncture to quit smoking is to relieve the anxiety and stress associated with the effort to quit smoking.
I went to a total of three treatment sessions to kick my addiction. Each time, the doctor pushed eight to 12 needles about a half-inch deep into my skin. These needles weren't just placed anywhere – they were resting on specific pressure points and nerve endings in my body.
Small electric currents were transferred through the needles which massaged the pressure points for about 25 minutes. No pain, I promise!
After each treatment, the doctor taped herbal seeds to three pressure points in my ears. These seeds stayed taped to my ear between visits. Whenever I wanted to smoke, I pressed each seed 10 times to relieve the craving, and it worked! It was an excellent distraction that gave me time (it took a good 15 seconds to squeeze 30 times) to re-focus my mind on something other than smoking a cigarette.
Tiger Balm is another useful tool I got to kick the habit. Again, if I had a craving I was to rub the Tiger Balm on both temples, on the bridge of my nose between my eyes, and just below my nose. The herbal scents were meant to curb my cravings.
Overall, the acupuncture and herbal aides definitely relieved the anxiety I felt in dropping the last of my bad habits!
