It seems like I”™ve been trying to quit smoking almost ever since I started.
It also seems like I”™ve tried everything in the past 8 years: the patch, the gum, a nicotine inhaler, prescription medication and even hypnosis.
So when it was suggested that I try acupuncture as a smoking cessation method, my response was classic:
Why not? I”™ve tried everything else.
Acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medicine that uses hyper-thin needles inserted into the skin, is used to treat a variety of conditions from infertility to migraines.
For smoking cessation, acupuncture is said to reduce cravings, help manage withdrawal symptoms and aid in detoxification and relaxation.
I went to see Jack Pessin, a traveling practitioner, at his home in Rye (the newsroom is probably not the best place to receive this type of treatment).
He started the treatment with a massage, concentrating on my ears to desensitize them. After about 15 minutes, Pessin inserted five needles into each ear and one in each wrist.
The half-inch needles in my ears were inserted two millimeters into my skin.
It wasn”™t painful, just a little weird. After a few minutes I did feel more relaxed, and my arms felt heavy.
“It”™s a standard protocol used for detoxing the body of anything from cigarettes to heroin,” Pessin explained of the placement of needles in the ears and wrists.
Although he has seen people quit smoking after just one session, Pessin admits it usually takes more than that to break the habit.
“It”™s totally random; there is no way anyone can predict how many sessions it will take,” Pessin said. “It depends on your willingness to make that change.”
Sometimes herbal medicines in capsule form are given to aid the patient, but “I find that people will just get very good results from the acupuncture alone,” Pessin said. “Changing your lifestyle is not necessary, but the more you exercise the more difficult it will be to smoke. One reinforces the other. You”™re hopefully going to cut down the cravings because you”™re not going to be able to breathe.”
An in-home session with Pessin costs $175 and includes a one-hour massage followed by the acupuncture treatment.
Pessin said acupuncture possesses great effectiveness to reduce stress. “Everyone”™s got some kind of stress and it”™s a matter of how it manifests itself in different people. Stress can be manifested as headaches or other kinds of pain.”
There is clearly not a shortage of patients ”“ as evidenced by the cigarette racks in so many stores ”“ but for many there may be a shortage of time and money.
Anat Raz, an acupuncturist with an office in Mount Kisco, said people don”™t generally come for acupuncture for stress relief alone, but “people usually have a specific problem and stress is almost always part of it.”
With acupuncture, Raz is not treating diseases and symptoms, but overall prevention and wellness maintenance.
“Sometimes people come because they have tried everything else,” Raz said. “I think more and more people come because they are curious and excited to try it.”
She said sometimes treatment is covered by insurance, although it is generally not.
“For the most part, people pay out of pocket,” she said.
Raz specializes in women”™s health, such as infertility, painful periods, polycystic ovarian syndrome and menopause.
“I think that in the West many people think of acupuncture just in terms of treating pain, but it is actually used a lot for what we call internal medicine,” she said.
Acupuncture can be used in conjunction with Western medicine and can help counteract the side effects of chemotherapy, proponents say.
The procedure is not painful.
“It”™s not like having blood drawn or getting shots,” Raz said. “People get into a deep relaxation. I”™ve never had anybody who didn”™t come back because of the needles.”
From fringe medicine a generation ago, acupuncture has achieved widespread acceptance.
“Acupuncture is being integrated into mainstream medicine more and more as time goes by,” said Yaron Seidman, an acupuncturist at Hunyuan Group, with offices in Greenwich and Weston, Conn.
“Most patients get referred from their physician. Sometimes doctors come to my office just to sit and watch the treatment.”
Seidman said for patients who have tried acupuncture, it”™s very common that they will come back.
He said although most people have heard the word acupuncture, they just don”™t really know what it is.
The needles can stay in up to 40 minutes.
“Normally people say it”™s the best 40 minutes of the day,” Seidman said. “In my practice, many patients actually fall asleep during treatment.”
Acupuncture is becoming more and more specialized for certain problems, and there is a boom in the use of acupuncture to treat infertility.
“After you are healthy, it”™s good to come periodically for tune-ups a few times a year,” Seidman said.
After the treatment, I did feel more relaxed, but the urge to smoke was not necessarily curbed. I didn”™t smoke on my way back to the office, but that was probably because I didn”™t have a pack of cigarettes.
If I could afford to have regular treatments, I could see acupuncture helping me quit smoking.
But at generally more than $100 a session (and I am sure ”“ recalling all that gum and all those patches ”“ I would need a lot of sessions to quit completely) it would be impossible for me to keep up with the treatments unless they were covered by insurance.
