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Substitution Treatments
The idea behind substitution therapies is that smokers smoke because their body needs or craves nicotine. The gum and patch administer a light, continuous dose of nicotine until the person stops smoking. They give higher results when combined with psychological treatment to help the smoker deal with the ups and downs of life without cigarettes.
Nicotine Gum
It is important to understand that chewing nicotine gum is not like regular gum. For the treatment to have the most effect it is important to:
- chew slowly until the flavour is gone
- after 10 chews, pause to rest it between your cheek and gum
- wait until the flavour has lessened
- start again to chew slowly
Nicotine gum has a dose of between 2 - 4 mg of nicotine. But only about half of the dose is absorbed by your body. So if you chew a 2 mg gum, you won't absorb more than 1 mg of nicotine. The treatment lasts from 8 weeks to 3 months and should not be interrupted since that would drastically reduce the probability of effectiveness. Some common side effects are: inflammation of the mouth and throat, nausea, headache, stomach ache and hiccups.
Nicotine Patch
This is a transdermal patch which contains and releases nicotine through your skin and into your bloodstream. You apply it once a day and it continuously releases a controlled amount of nicotine. Unlike smoking, it takes nicotine from the patch up to 3 hours to work its way into your body.
The treatment lasts from 8 weeks to 3 months. If the smoker has a strong desire to smoke, the dose is usually increased and/or they are recommended to use nicotine gum in combination. Usually the patch is applied when you wake up, in the morning and it should be worn 24 hours or at least 16 hours. It must be applied to an exposed part of your skin which is dry. You should change the location everyday to avoid soreness (waiting a week before putting it on the same spot). You can take a shower or bath while wearing but if for some reason it comes off, you can reapply it and hold it in place with a bandaid.
Side effects of the patch include: insomnia, increased heartbeat, skin rash or soreness, headache, nausea, dizziness, and vertigo.
Medications
The most commonly used drug to "treat" smoking is Bupropion. It is more commonly known by its brand names: Wellbutrin and Zyban. It is classified as an antidepressant and according to studies produces similar effects as nicotine in the brain. The effects of Bupropion on the brain are not completely understood but it seems that it reduces the desire to smoke (and eat). You should only take this drug after consulting with your doctor and receiving a prescription.
Some, but not all, common side effects of this drug are: dry mouth, tremors, anxiety, loss of appetite, agitation, dizziness, headache, increased risk of seizures, aggressiveness and both initial and terminal insomnia. As well, suicidal thoughts and attempts have been reported in children and adolescents.
Willpower or "Going Cold Turkey"
Going cold turkey is when you decide one day to simply quit smoking and use your willpower to not start again. While there are certainly a few smokers who have quit this way, for the vast majority it is a very painful and ineffective method. Trying to not think about something is precisely thinking about it. Try this: for the next minute, try to not think about a white kitten.
As you've discovered it is frustrating and futile. There is that white kitten. Why is this? This is because your mind can not operate in the negative. When your conscious mind thinks "Don't think about smoking" your subconscious mind receives the simple message: "Think about smoking". For all its power, your subconscious is non-analytical and rather unsophisticated, so it obeys!
Willpower is a spontaneous faculty of our conscious mind. It can not be forced. When it is, paradoxically, it ends up becoming a tremendous obstacle to the result you want to achieve. Wanting the absence of something through willpower only intensifies the yearning for it. Since smoking is a subconscious behaviour, conscious attempts (such as willpower) are either irrelevant or an impediment.
Acupuncture & Laser Treatments
Acupuncture consists in stimulating specific points on the body by placing small, thin needles into the skin. It can also take other alternative forms such as acupressure and electro-acupuncture. The treatment for tobacco dependence usually consist in stimulating specific points in the hand or ear which are related to the pleasure centers in the brain. As well, it is common to place small stickers on the ear (which don't contain nicotine). Acupuncture is similar to hypnosis because the quality of the treatment depends on the skill and competence of the professional. Such treatments are usually free of side effects but because they require several sessions, they can take months to yield results.
Laser acupuncture is very similar to traditional acupuncture, but instead of needles, a device is used to stimulate specific points on the body. There is no sensation involved as the laser is innocuous. There are many different devices and companies which manufacture the laser equipment used. The objective of the treatment is for the laser to stimulate the brain to release hormones (like endorphins) to calm anxiety and reduce the need to smoke.
Studies have shown such treatments to be difficult to evaluate since many different types are known by the same name. However, most of them show that laser treatments are not effective at all or as effective as placebo. Acupuncture has shown limited success but it usually is temporary, lasting up to six months.
The Rowshan Method
According to the Rowshan Method, the physiological dependence of nicotine is quite weak (especially compared to other narcotics such as heroine or alcohol). What really hooks a smoker and makes it difficult to stop is their personal beliefs about smoking. In other words, their psychological dependence on nicotine. When smokers discover why nicotine hooks them and when - with the help of the subconscious - they are able to see tobacco in a different light. Then they are able to stop smoking with seemingly no effort.
The Rowshan Method helps smokers to transform themselves into non-smokers. The mistake that smokers (and some treatments) commit is to maintain the same mental state while trying to fight against the thoughts and temptations of smoking. It is like being in a nightmare:
You try to escape from a monster that is pursuing you, but the monster runs faster. You try to hide, but the monster finds you. You try to fight against the monster but it is too strong. The result is that you suffers and all your attempts against the monster are really dead ends. What's more, someone tells you from outside, "C'mon! you're not really trying. Use you're willpower. Try harder."
This would mean asking the person inside the nightmare to make more of an effort, to run faster, to hit the monster harder. But the best way to free oneself of a nightmare is to simply wake up! In that instant, you change your reality. You no longer are in the reality of your dream. You're in another. You are awake. And free.
The Rowshan Method helps smokers make such a change: leave the reality of a smoker and enter the reality of a non-smoker.
As you've seen in the example of the nightmare, willpower doesn't help. Often, the force of willpower makes real change that much harder. The Rowshan Method avoids this struggle. Once you have transformed into a non-smoker, you're free from the nightmare of smoking. You're reality has changed and you've started to think and act like a person who doesn't smoke.
Comparing the Rowshan Method to the other treatments we find:
- much shorter: being only one hour long session
- totally free of side effects since it is 100% natural
- immediately effective: no time lag between treatment & result
- requires no willpower: you won't find yourself fighting against urges
- does not result in weight gain or anxiety
- has a very high success rate: 60-70%
If you have any questions, comments or would like to make an appointment, please at contact us the Integral Health Clinic.
