Acupuncture and Drug Abuse

How Acupuncture Can Help with Recovery from Drug Addiction

While an addict is busy recovering there is a natural urge to get another fix or another drink. The addict needs to get past that urge and if this can be achieved there is the hope of another successful day. Obviously there are numerous chemicals to help overcome that feeling and there are nicotine patches to help stop smoking. However, it is not widely known that acupuncture is one way for drug addicts and alcoholics to get on the road to recovery. The major advantage to using acupuncture is that no chemicals are used, it can be used to treat various addictions and it is relatively very cost effective compared to other methods of treatment.

A clinic that was treating addicts used to be a very noisy and unpleasant place to be in. However the same clinic then began using acupuncture for treating patients. The treatment room holds a number of chairs which are placed in such a way that the clients can see and talk with each other. The patients were often very agitated and troubled, but now the atmosphere is one of calmness and peace. New clients are often helped by this arrangement if they are nervous about the treatment. Each patient can have five long needles inserted in each ear and some may have other needles in their hands, feet or arms. When the time arrives to remove the needles, usually around forty five minutes, some patients remove the needles themselves, or it may be done by the acupuncturist or an assistant.

Acupuncture treatment for an addict provides a release from the feeling that a fix or a drink is needed. They describe it as being similar to arriving home at the end of a hard day’s work, and shedding the shoes. Treatment effects last for around twenty four hours and the new patient needs daily treatments. Dry alcoholics would more likely be treated on a periodic basis. They themselves will often feel the need for another treatment and attend a clinic. The patient needs to lead a daily non stressful life, for if anything upsets the routine, then the cravings can reappear. Acupuncture treatments can improve the physical appearance of a person.

Detox Clinics are using Acupuncture

Often detox clinics using acupuncture include it as part of their program and acupuncture is the first stage. These treatments would normally last for ten days and at each treatment the clinic would take a sample to check that the patient is not taking drugs. If the ten day period shows that the patient is still producing a clean sample, then the program would move into the next phase, which could be a twelve step program. The acupuncture treatments still continue during this next phase, but if the patient has a relapse then the ten day cycle commences from the beginning.

Recovery programs that include acupuncture have a far better chance of success. They are also more advantageous both from an economic and a physical well-being of the patient on the road to recovery. This is just another situation where acupuncture looks after the areas of physical, emotional and mental.