“This
will be the year. I will finally quit.”
Every
year, thousands of nicotine addicts tell themselves
that on Jan. 1, they will put out their cigarette
butts once and for all. To stop smoking is the No.
1 New Year's resolution for 2005, according to the
Smoke Free Society's Web site.
As
the ball drops this year, many Columbia County smokers
probably will be sticking nicotine patches to their
arms, chewing Nicorette gum and trying to quit cold-turkey.
Some people even will try more extraordinary treatments,
such as nicotine-laced water, acupuncture and laser
therapy.
Baya
Pharmacy owner Carl Allison said many customers
start asking more questions about nicotine-replacement
therapy at the beginning of the year.
“There's
much more interest in it,” he said. “Everybody's
making a New Year's resolution.”
Allison
kicked his own tobacco-dipping habit in June with
the help of smoking-cessation aids.
“I'm
using the lozenges and the gum,” Allison said.
“It wasn't bad at all. I didn't miss the dip
or the tobacco because I was replacing it with the
gum.”
But
nicotine-replacement therapies typically only work
for serious quitters, said Joel Rosenfeld, pharmacist
at North Florida Pharmacy, Inc.
“Whenever
I've seen any literature, it makes it seem like
most of the time these things fail,” Rosenfeld
said. “My personal opinion is that the person
really has to want to stop. If they make it (nicotine
products) too much of a crutch, they end up going
down in flames.”
The
Smoke Free Society, a non-profit organization in
Palm Beach, has been helping smokers quit gradually
since June 2004.
“With
going cold-turkey you're not addressing the psychological
and the physical aspects of quitting,” founder
Linda Seyedin said. “By weaning themselves
off, it makes the withdrawal symptoms much less
severe.”
The
organization aims to help people give up their cigarettes
completely in 17 days through literature, seminars
for corporations who want a smoke-free staff and
a support system that includes daily e-mails.
Smoke
Free Society's Web site is offering a free download
of it's basic plan, which usually is $39.95, through
the month of January.
People
who want a more physical smoking-cessation plan
are looking into laser therapy. Anne Penman Laser
Therapy in Jacksonville has been treating smokers
with a cold, non-invasive laser for more than two
years. Manager Connie Hoefener said the laser helps
about 60 percent of smokers quit.
About
98 percent of those who do benefit from the therapy
need only one treatment. However, the company asks
people to come in for at least one follow-up “booster
session” about two days after the initial
treatment. The entire program costs about $269.
The
laser targets specific energy points: The ears,
nose, hands and wrist. Hoefener said the laser stimulates
endorphins and reduces anxiety.
“It's
a low-level light beam that has a pulsating frequency,”
Hoefener said. “There's no pain. A lot of
people get a sense of euphoria after this.”
Hoefener
said the laser center's phones have been “ringing
off the hook” with people who want to extinguish
their nicotine habits in 2006.
“I
think you're going to start seeing lasers crop up
everywhere,” she said.
While
lasers are a new development in the smoking-cessation
industry, acupuncture is an ancient therapy that
has been helping smokers quit for thousands of years,
acupuncturist Ashley Dunn said.
Dunn's
acupuncture treatments have assisted at least four
people in their quest to become smoke-free. He said
his success rate is low because most people aren't
truly committed to quitting. For some clients, Dunn
also prescribes homeopathic tobacco remedies that
make cigarettes taste bad or refers them to hypnotherapy,
which he said is sometimes helpful.
“It
(acupuncture) won't make you quit smoking, but it
helps to relieve the cravings,” Dunn said.
Dunn
uses hair-thin needles to pierce six points in the
ear for every one of his clients. He then targets
different areas of the body based on individual
needs.
“Some
of the acupuncture points in the ear (feel) like
a mosquito-bite sensation, but the rest of the points
in your body are usually painless,” Dunn said.
The
acupuncture treatments run about $50 per session.
Dunn recommends about two or three of them in the
first week to get through the “three-day hump,”
after which the body's craving for nicotine usually
begins to subside.
“Then
you're left with the mental cravings,” Dunn
said. “You have to really, really want to
stop smoking when you come in to start the process.
You've got to make smoking inconvenient for yourself.
There's nothing out there that's going to be a quick
fix.”
http://www.lakecityreporter.com/articles/2005/12/29/news/top_story/news01.txt
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