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My husband and I want to quit smoking and have tried several methods; cold turkey, Chantix and recently Auricular Therapy.
We read an add in a newspaper that said no pain, no withdrawel symptoms, or urges for Nicotine. The article was from April 2008. We shoved it in a drawer until we recently decided it was time to quit.
I did research and found that it was like accupuncture but low electrical stimulation of key areas, and less painful than accupunture.
We called the office and talked directly to the person who would administer this "low intensity electrical stimulation". He answered all our questions and emphasized there would be no pain and that he has a success rate of 90%. The price seemed reasonable and if it didn't work the first time we could come back for a second treatment. He also stated that no one has ever come back and that he gets so many friend referrals that he no longer has to run ads.
We talked about it and then made two appointments. I went in first and was shown breathing techniques to use should the habit part of the addiction cause me to want to smoke and also a page with other ways to fight the emotional addiction of smoking.
The session began and the pain was a level 8 out of 10 most of the time. I thought I was in a constant state of anxiety and asked him to lower the frequency of the current a couple times but wow, talk about bad experiences, this was not quite what I expected! To me no pain, means no pain.
After the session he had me do the deep breathing to relax. Relax, hmmm. I had just been subjected to pain worse than a bad toothache! He asked if I was ok and I mumbled yes (thinking "sure, it's over now"!)
My husband went in next as I exited the room. Here's the best part. I see 3 people in the room who begin an extensive barrage of questions. Am I still a smoker etc. I don't know yet, although I sure hope so!
They proceed to let me know that the young lady sitting next to me was back for a second time in a week and that the first treatment hadn't worked for even an hour. I wondered where the "no one comesback" that he reiterated many times during the session came from, and more so ("how could this woman come back for more torture!")
Needless to say I needed a cigarette, and I needed it now, but for the sake of my husband, who had just paid for us to quit, I didn't light up. I hadn't had a cigerette for over 4 hours now and I was way past craving for one. So I lit up as soon as we walked into our house. Between naps all day, my husband tried to reset our video player but was so on edge that he was spouting anger and wasn't successful. So back to sleep he went. He did get up for dinner and off to bed he went. He's usually so upbeat and easy going I knew he was experiencing withdrawal symptoms but wouldn't give in that easy.
The next morning he was smoking and in better spirits.
We are now looking for something that will come closer to working as we are older and truely want to kick this destrutive habit.
I just wanted to warn people not to go to anyone that someone has not recommended personally and got good results. Anyone can plug in a stimulator and pretend they know what they are doing. No degree is necessary.
If anyone has had success with alternative smoking cessation besides the ones I listed we had already tried, please, please let us know! We have the will and desire to quit, but have smoked for years and smoking is worse to quit than heroin.
