We don’t need to tell you all the reasons why you should quit…but we will if you want us to! When you are ready, we would be happy to help you through this process with acupuncture and our full moral support. It is hard, and you have to be mentally ready.
You should plan on getting acupuncture on the first day of quitting, day 3, 7 and 14. We see the best results with this frequency. Don’t smoke 12 hours prior to the first visit, so that you really want to smoke by that point. We can help with the physiological addiction, and help your body not miss the loss of nicotine. We can help calm down your mind, so that you aren’t obsessing about it. We can help make it smell and taste terrible. By heightening the olfactory system, it will smell closer to the way that non-smokers smell it. We also tonify and strengthen your lungs, to help your body begin healing sooner.
Our advice to help you be successful:
Triggers: Make sure you have taken the time to identify what your triggers are. Are there certain times of the day that you want to smoke? If so, think about new things to do during that time to keep your mind occupied. Do you enjoy smoking with certain drinks (coffee, alcohol) and specific friends? Do you enjoy smoking on your work break, first thing in the morning, in the car, or late at night? Figure out when the urge comes on the strongest, so that you can avoid those situations or find new routines while you are trying to break this habit.
Throw away your cigarettes! If you come in for treatments, we can help you with your cravings. But if you come back home and there they are, staring at you, it’s way too tempting to light one up. You are setting yourself up for failure. Throw away ash trays! Why hold on to something you don’t plan on using anymore? You have to get rid of things that remind you of this old, bad friend.
Fill your fridge with healthy crunchy snacks. Part of the enjoyment of smoking is having something in your mouth. We don’t recommend smoking the carrots, but snacking on some healthy stuff will help you not gain weight and keep the oral cravings lower.
Exercise! There is nothing like feeling the damage of smoking as you gasp for breath on the treadmill as a blatant reminder of why you don’t want to start again. It will feel great as your lungs get healthier and you feel your stamina increase. It is a way to keep yourself occupied as well, to fill that time you used to spend smoking. If you feel bad spending the money on a gym or yoga classes, just calculate how much you are saving on those cigarettes.
Best of luck!!! (this was written by one of us who knows this struggle well)