Withdrawal symptoms occur when a person becomes physically and mentally dependent on uninterrupted drug / alcohol use but unable to get. While herbal food products formulated by Traditional Chinese Medicine guidance are dispensed to ease all symptoms associated with drug or alcohol withdrawal, we also well utilize acupuncture method to help the detox process.

Due to strong abnormal reaction from frequent use of drug / alcohol, patients will be firstly confronted with the deteriorated status of both sleep and appetite, causing the disorder of autonomic nervous system. The affected nervous system function will in turn downgrade the quality of patient’s sleep and appetite, resulting to a vicious cycle.

However, as the needle stimulation creates special effect to help regulate the function of organism, we apply acupuncture techniques to improve the quality of sleep and appetite, thereby leading to a better conditioned autonomic nervous system. The practice can be generally described in the following:

1. To treat drug addicts, work mainly on the following 2 groups of acupoint:

A. 内关Neiguan [PC6] left side; 神门Shenmen [HT7] right side; 足三里Zusanli [ST36] both side.

B. 内关Neiguan [PC6] right side; 神门Shenmen [HT7] left side, 三阴交Sanyinjiao [SP6]; both side.

Switch A. and B. every other day. Use electrical pulse charging device if available to enhance the effect by selecting continuous wave pattern at the frequency of 90 per minute, and set the intensity to whatever the patient can tolerate. Treatment time is 1 hour. In addition, the stimulation to acupoints of水沟Shuigou [GV26], 素髎Suliao [GV25], 百会Baihui [GV20], 医风Yifeng [TE17], 三间Sanjian [LI3] can also be appied to relieve pain and achieve tranquilization result. Add至阳Zhiyang [BL67] for symptom of anxiety and restlessness.

2. To treat alcoholics, stimulate the so-called “12 WELL” acupoints, i.e. 少商Shaoshang [LU11], 商阳Shangyang [LI1], 历兑LIdui [ST45], 隐百Yinbai [SP1], 少冲Shaochong [HT9], 少泽Shaoze [SI1], 至阳Zhiyang [BL67], 涌泉Yongquan [KI1], 中冲Zhongchong [PC9], 关冲Guanchong [TE1], 足窍阴Zuqiaoyin [GB44], 大敦Dadun [LR1] interchangeably, plus水沟Shuigou [GV26] to tranquilize the patient, then to furtherly add百会Baihui [GV20], 内关Neiguan [PC6], 太冲Taichong [LR3], 合谷Hegu [LI4].

3. Needle techniques are of larger scale of push / pull movement and vigorous twist intermittently for 20-30 minutes to gain best result. Caution must be exercised to avoid needle bending, needle locking, or needle breaking. In case of dizziness due to needle shock, suspense the treatment and lay the patients flat on bed for fast recovery.

4. For those who are very sensitive to or just scared about the needle penetration, use different size (diameter of from 1 mm to 5 mm at the end) pressing stick made of ox horn to do the stimulation with various pressure at the acupoints as an alternative tool. The effect will be discounted but serves the same purpose when the treatment time is proportionally extended. 5. For those who are familiar with acupoints at ears, stimulate the corresponding counterpart of body acupoints as stated above can be applied too.

Remarks: All names and numeric numbers are based on:

Chinese – English Illustrated Meridians and Acupoints, ISBN7-5323-8594-9 published by Shanghai Scientific and Techinical Publishers in China