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Treating addictions ( tobacco )

By Archived User | Updated: Dec 31, 2021 | Published: Dec 31, 2021

Hi Chad

I wanted to know the degree of efficiency of acupuncture in the treatment of addictions ( tobacco ) . Is acupuncture sufficient or do we need to add botanical medicine ( herbal medicine ) to it ?

As for acupuncture points, the only ones that come up to my mind are: a point located between LI 5 and LU 7, Bitong and that's about it. I'm not specialized in the treatment of addictions. I'm sure we can also some add some ear points such as Shenmen, Liver...............I know there's a protocol, NADA which is used for detoxifying, but have note been trained with.

What I need to know is how effective acupuncture can be in the treatment of addictions, how long would a treatment cycle be, which "basic points " ( appart from the treatment of the Ben and Biao ) could be used to treat that condition, and I herbal medicine should also be used.

Thanks a lot,

Ted.

Archived Comments

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

Start with our acupuncture for smoking cessation section - it should answer most of your questions. The main thing with smoking is looking at the underlying reasons (depression, anxiety, etc.) - so there are general smoking points that help with addictions and detox and then you treat the person as you would with any condition.


Personally I rarely use herbal medicine in conjunction with smoking cessation. That said, if the person has strong underlying patterns of depression or anxiety we might use formulas for the pattern overall. Xiao Yao Wan, Gan Mai Da Zao Wan, Tian Wan Bu Xin Wan, etc. come to mind. This is a similar approach as in western medicine when they use drugs such as Welbutrin to aid with smoking cessation. Acupuncture alone, however, is generally strong enough.

Comment by Archived User

Ok Chad, I will give it a try and get back to you in a few weeks for some feeback.


Thanks for you message and your help.



Ted.

Comment by Archived User

How many sessions do you think are needed ? Should web start up with a 10 sessions cycle and the see ?



Thx

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

That's about right. When you use western meds you are looking at a 4-6 week time frame before you can really see results and acupuncture is similar in many regards. For us it just depends on the case. Some people we treat them once or twice, have them quit "cold turkey" and then treat a few more times and they are fine and others we treat for 2-4 weeks first, then taper them down, then treat for another month or so. All in all we have a good response rate but you really have to treat each case a little differently.

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