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Mark Twain once said, “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a thousand times.”

In light of what is now known about smoking—that it causes disease and death—Twain’s joke is no longer particularly funny. It is, however, still unfortunately relevant; once embroiled in an addiction to nicotine, trying to break the habit is one of the hardest things a person can attempt. In fact, The Royal College of Physicians in London concluded that the addictive properties of nicotine are on par with those of heroin and cocaine.

Smoking cessation (quitting smoking) is a necessary, lifesaving process. The U.S. Surgeon General has said, “Smoking cessation represents the single most important step that smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives.”

According to statistics compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO), one person dies from tobacco use every eight seconds. That figure translates to approximately five million deaths annually. In the United States alone, smoking is responsible for nearly one in five deaths, and about 8.6 million people suffer from smoking related lung and heart diseases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years because of smoking.

The main health problems and diseases associated with smoking include:

• Cancer: It is common knowledge that smoking can cause lung cancer. Most cases of lung cancer (close to 90% in men, and 80% in women) are caused by cigarette smoking. However, smoking is also a risk factor for cancer of the mouth, voice box, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, and stomach.
• Heart attacks, blood vessel diseases, and stroke: Smokers are twice as likely to die from a heart attack, and are at an increased risk for peripheral vascular disease (a narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood to the leg and arm muscles). Smoking also affects the walls of the blood vessels that deliver blood to the brain, which can lead to stroke.
• Lung diseases: Smoking increases the risk of lung diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. This group of illnesses falls under the umbrella of the term COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes chronic illness and disability and can be fatal.
• Blindness and other problems: Smokers put themselves at a greater risk for macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness in older people. Smoking also has a number of unattractive side affects such as premature skin wrinkling, bad breath, tooth and gum problems, yellow fingernails, and a general unpleasant smell that becomes attached to clothing and hair. Nicotine addiction alienates its victims by separating them from the (non-smoking) majority in order to smoke and by causing these unappealing qualities.

The Problem with Quitting: Withdrawal

Why is it so difficult to give up this unhealthy habit? Nicotine is an extremely addictive substance that causes pleasurable sensations. It also has relaxing, depressant qualities because it interferes with the flow of information between nerve cells. All of these effects happen quickly, too; cigarette smoke reaches the brain even faster than drugs that enter the body intravenously. Eventually, smokers develop a tolerance to nicotine and require more of the drug to get the same effect once produced by smaller amounts.

Smoking cessation can lead to withdrawal symptoms that are extremely unpleasant. Starting within a few hours of smoking a final cigarette, the withdrawal process peaks about two to three days later, when the majority of the nicotine has left the body. The process continues for at least another few days but can last up to several weeks.

Withdrawal symptoms include anxiety; irritability; sleep disturbance; increased appetite and weight gain; cough and sore throat; restlessness; and trouble concentrating (among others). This experience is enough to drive many well-intentioned quitters back to smoking.

Alleviating the Symptoms of Withdrawal with Acupuncture

Withdrawal symptoms are the main reason that most people fail to quit smoking. It is an intuitive decision, then, to find the best possible treatment to lessen the unpleasantness of smoking cessation.

Acupuncture helps quitters avoid the irritability, restlessness, and headaches that accompany the cessation process. It also helps the body return to a more natural balance by speeding up the detoxification process.

Monmouth Spine and Rehabilitation Center offers the Quit Smoking Now Program, which includes acupuncture and has a success rate of approximately 75%. In contrast, smokers who used a combination of counseling and the drug Bupropion (Wellbutrin) had a success rate of only 30.5%. Even worse, just seven percent of people who used the nicotene patch or gum were successful after six months.

The Quit Smoking Now Program at Monmouth Spine and Medical recommends that smokers go ‘cold turkey’ after the first acupuncture session. This smoking cessation plan usually includes five treatments over a period of two to three weeks, but each smoker’s plan is customized to fit individual needs.

Please contact Monmouth Spine and Rehabilitation Center now for a complimentary consultation to determine whether you are a candidate for the Quit Smoking Now Program at our Monmouth County office.