Acupuncture points way to stop smoking
If you don’t want to quit smoking now, then when?
It’s a question Wayne Mesiano isn’t afraid to ask. A certified acupuncturist who has studied Chinese medicine and practiced locally for 10 years, Mesiano recently opened Evolutions for Conscious Living, a holistic health center at 1350 S.W. Boulevard in Vineland.
Mesiano knows people addicted to nicotineare aware of how time flies.
“When you’re 40, you can kick a cold without much trouble. At 70, smokers tend to develop bronchitis and other complications whenever they catch a cold,” he said. “There are other negatives: smoker’s cough, secondhand smoke around your grandchild — they all weigh on a smoker’s mind.”
Smoking-related diseases caused by cigarettes account for 419,000 deaths a year, according to the American Cancer Society. Nicotine is just one of 499 ingredients packed into cigarettes, including 43 chemicals known to cause cancer.
“If you quit, the positives you see immediately are: breathing easier, feeling more energized, less coughing,” Mesiano said.
But smoking is not just a habit. It’s an addiction, and the physical, mental and emotional pain of withdrawal can defeat the best of intentions.
Acupuncture can be an ally in the fight.
“Acupuncture is energy medicine,” Mesiano said. “The body’s energy is connected with the emotions and mental thought patterns that manifest as physical symptoms.”
Directing energy
An acupuncturist works on the lung meridian, a channel that runs from the clavicle down the biceps and forearm to the thumb. At 11 points along the path, by inserting thin needles, Mesiano can direct the current of energy to where it is needed to tone, or strengthen, the channel.
“If the pulse is low, I set the needles in to stimulate it, to boost the flow,” he said. “If the path is congested, I do the opposite. This causes the symptoms to change.”
In general, a person comes in for atwo-hour consultation where Mesiano takes a health history and provides a 60-minute needle treatment. After that, they meet for anhour eachweek for four weeks. The first visit costs $125, and the follow-ups are $65 apiece.
Mesiano follows a protocol developed by the National Acupuncture Detox Association to help patients detoxify from addictive substances, such as cigarettes, alcohol or other drugs.
Sometimes, a smokercomes in with a complaint he thinks is unrelated to his habit.
“For example, smoking andlower back pain are very much related,” Mesiano said.
“By not smoking, you can reduce pain. Back pain involves inflammation of the joints, the cardiovascular system and the muscles. If you add nicotine to the body, it induces heat in the nervous system, and symptoms get worse. Nicotine zaps the water in the body that the kidneys and liver rely upon to filter and metabolize nicotine.”
“Our bodies are 70 percent water,” he added. “We need to stay hydrated in order to regulate the temperature around the organs, especially in withdrawal.”
Acupuncture for smoking cessation usually focuses on five points in the ear.
One point helps the body get rid of toxins caused by smoking.
Another point promotes relaxation.
“When you’re going through withdrawal, you get very stressed out, and the effect is like a ‘fight or flight’ reaction to a threat,” Osofsky said. “Acupuncture works on the nervous system like the opposite of that reaction. You relax and realize that it’s just a finite, necessary phase of quitting.”
The good news is acupuncture hurts only a little.
The needles are hair-thin and made of stainless steel. They only go in about a quarter-inch into the ear.
More good news: Even after 30 years of abuse from tobacco smoke, the lungs can start cleansing themselves, Mesiano said.
Timetables vary
There’s no set time in which a program works, according to Shoshana Osofsky, a licensed acupuncturist at HeartPath Acupuncture, which is based at Partners in Care, 7 Bridgeton Ave., Bridgeton.
“Sometimes a person quits smoking with one acupuncture treatment because it’s the right time and the person has committed to quitting,” she said. ” But you can’t expect it.”
Osofsky follows the eight-week smoking cessation treatment plan developed by the National Acupuncture Detox Association, as practiced at Lincoln Hospital in Bronx, N.Y. The program, developed for addiction to drugs, alcohol and nicotine, is where she trained.
Her group smoking cessation class costs $225 for eight weeks, or $50 for individual sessions.
Needlework is included in both group and private sessions.
The single best thing people can do for their health is to quit smoking, Osofsky said.
“It’s so harmful and creates so many risks to every system of their bodies: circulatory, respiratory, neurological, heart, kidneys — all of the major body systems.
“My wish is to do groups of five to 10 people,” she said. “I’ve invested a fair amount of time in putting together a program, but I haven’t had many takers so far. It’s puzzling.”
The acupuncturists express a passion for helping people break the chains of nicotine.
“Commitment is important, but it doesn’t always equal success,” Osofsky added. “I remain open-hearted to people who are trying. Not all of us get it the first time. We struggle with changes. If the program doesn’t work for someone in the group, then he can go through it again at no charge. It takes what it takes.”
Mesiano says healthy changes provoke two reactions in people: inertia and resistance.
“The will becomes weak in the face of stress. Where I come in is helping them break through that so they can get to the other side,” he said. “But there’s another level to it: I believe we all have a meaning and purpose for our lives. Cigarettes and addictions are an unhealthy diversion. I bring urgency into the picture. If not now, when?
“Smoking is covering up for not having uncovered your passion,” he said. “Looking at it from that bigger, holistic context, you bring hope, meaning and purpose to life. That’s what integrative medicine does.”
