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December 31, 2007

Looking to quit smoking? Acupuncture just might help you stick to it

By Crystal Garcia

TERRE HAUTE — Julie Hickman has taken a different approach to achieving her new year resolution, this time,

Hickman had been smoking for more than 20 years and wanted 2008 to be different.

As she sat in the Union Hospital Maternal Health Clinic, she didn’t reach for her gum or a patch.

Instead, she reached for an alcohol swab and began cleaning her ears while Dr. Deborah Stevens waited with the acupuncture needles.

“I was a little apprehensive. I don’t particularly care for needles,” Hickman said. “Just having not experienced it before, I just wondered if it would really do anything, but I knew after the first time that it did.”

Resolving to quit smoking is one of the most popular resolutions in the United States, according to USA.gov, the U.S. government’s official site, managed by the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Communication. Other resolutions include eating better, saving more money, getting a better education and reducing stress.

In an effort to quit smoking, Hickman took part in a smoking cessation program at the clinic.

During each session, acupuncture needles are placed in five points on each ear and left there for about 45 minutes to achieve a centered and balanced feeling.

“The first couple times it took a long [time],” Hickman said about the feeling, “… I mean it took well over a half an hour to get to a place like that and I didn’t think I could sit still that long, I really didn’t.”

After a few more sessions, Hickman said she was in that place within 10 minutes and surprised that the 45 minutes had gone by so quickly.

Acupuncture uses needles, application of heat and/or finger pressure to stimulate various points on the skin. It was developed by the Chinese more than 5,000 years ago. To the Chinese, the mind and body are one, with the mind representing the less material aspect and the body the more material aspect.

Although there are points throughout the entire body that can be used for acupuncture, pathways in the ears correspond to pathways in the whole body.

For example, three of the five points used in the cessation program correspond to the liver, kidney and lung. The other two points are sympathetic or autonomic nervous system and shen men, which is also known as “spirit gate.”

Each organ point controls various flows of energy. The liver is the emotional balance that rules the flow of “Chi,” or energy circulation in the body. The kidney is the essential energy or the “yin and yang” source and the lung is the life force balance that rules the Chi.

“What I like about the acupuncture is the experience because you get calm and peaceful,” Stevens said. “When you come out of it, usually people feel restored and it kind of empowers them to be able to deal with a difficult issue of quitting smoking or dealing with whatever drug dependency.”

Despite the use of needles, Hickman said acupuncture doesn’t hurt. Stevens said they sometimes advise people to not have caffeine or smoke before their sessions because it makes them more sensitive. Also, some people may experience a little bleeding when the needles are removed, or a slight dizziness.

“But it’s a unique, individual experience,” Stevens said. “Everybody has their own.”

Because Hickman was a heavy smoker, lighting up about two packs a day, it may take longer than the standard six sessions for her to quit, Stevens said. However, after only four sessions, Hickman said she had cut her habit in half.

“… It really reduced my stress level, which would obviously create a difference in my smoking,” she said. “And then, by the second [session], then I started to tell a little difference in the fact that cigarettes just didn’t taste good anymore, so then that started affecting how much I’m smoking …”

Unlike other smokers, Hickman doesn’t have what would be an advantage of working in a non-smoking facility in the fight to quit. As the owner of Hickman Photography, Hickman makes her own rules about smoking.

“I think the rules help people quit, to tell you the truth,” Stevens said, “and we do have some of that in Vigo County now, not completely, but we’re on our way to being smoke-free.”

Other differences Hickman has noticed since starting the treatment include being less frustrated and breathing better.

“Acupuncture’s about moving energy,” Stevens said. “It’s all about Chi, the life force. And if [Hickman] had any kind of blockage, the acupuncture is going to help release that.”

To get Hickman through the period between acupuncture sessions, Stevens puts acupressure beads on two points behind each ear. The beads are small, gold balls that the Chinese believe are energizing, Stevens said, and by putting the balls on calming points, it can relax and stimulate a person at the same time — similar to the effect of nicotine.

Being in the habit of lighting and holding a cigarette, Hickman said she finds herself touching her beads whenever she gets an urge for a cigarette.

“They’re my friend and they’re helping me instead of the cigarette being my nasty companion,” she said. “ … I like them. They are making such a big difference.”

She joked that when she’s not smoking anymore, she’ll have a “bead addiction.”

Though Hickman said she hasn’t recruited anyone to try the program, she has recommended it to many.

“I ask them if they’ve ever had acupuncture before and then tell them that it’s fabulous,” she said. “Don’t be a skeptic, try it because it’s fabulous.”

Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.

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