How to Quit the Holistic Way

People suffering from drug and alcohol addiction are turning to alternative medicine to kick their habit—and it's working.

By Marianne Apostolides, published on September 01, 1996 - last reviewed on August 11, 2006

Vitamin C is sometimes used by nutrition therapists to moderate both the physical and emotional withdrawal symptoms of detoxification. "It was being used for some time with narcotics addicts," says Dr. Gaby. "The most dramatic case I've seen was a patient who sniffed morphine every day. He came to me on his second day of withdrawal. His shakes were so bad that he couldn't sit still. I gave him an intravenous injection of about 4 grams of vitamin C, along with magnesium, calcium, and B vitamins. About halfway through the injection he calmed down, and ultimately his withdrawal symptoms subsided. That lasted about 36 hours. He had to come back for three more injections over five days, but he essentially went through withdrawal without symptoms."

After detoxification, nutrients such as niacin, chromium, and magnesium are given to alleviate hypoglycemic reactions, which a high percentage of alcoholics, as well as a lesser number of amphetamine and heroin users, experience. Hypoglycemia, a metabolic condition that results in low levels of glucose in the brain, can cause depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and mood swings, perhaps bringing about more substance abuse.

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For three years, Rita, now 34, tried unsuccessfully to stop drinking. First, she tried a traditional 28-day treatment center, where, she says, "they kept saying, 'You're helpless, you're helpless.' And to me that meant I might as well drink." After losing her job and having her husband give up on her, Rita eventually wound up at HRC. During the six-week program, she learned she had high levels of histamine—a neurotransmitter that regulates mood and energy—in her brain. This abnormally high level made Rita's mind race, and contributed to her obsessive-compulsive behavior. "I used alcohol to calm and soothe myself," she says.

By taking one methionine pill each day—an amino acid that reduces the effects of histamine on the brain—Rita says she no longer needs alcohol to stop her mind from racing. She also participated in cognitive-behavioral counseling to develop new ways of thinking and acting. "I don't feel I could've taken the nutrients without having some counseling," she says. "But I also know talk therapy alone wouldn't have been enough, because I've tried that." Three years later, Rita continues to take methionine and has remained sober. She and her husband reconciled, and their first child was born this past summer.

Rita's is not an exceptional case, according to Mathews-Larson, who claims that 75 percent of the people who complete her program are "abstinent and stable" three years after completing treatment.

ACUPUNCTURE

Acupuncture's use as a treatment for addiction was discovered in 1972 by Wen, a Hong Kong neurosurgeon. Testing its use as an anesthetic, he accidentally determined—because many of his volunteers were opium addicts—that it reduced withdrawal symptoms such as nausea and the shakes. Since Wen's discovery, acupuncture has become the most widespread holistic therapy for treating addictions to cocaine, alcohol, nicotine, and heroin.

Like much of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture works on the theory that networks of energy, called chi, flow through the body along natural pathways, and disease grows when that energy is out of balance or blocked. By inserting needles at precise positions along these pathways, acupuncturists aim to stimulate the body's flow of energy, restoring balance.

Acupuncturists learn how to touch and relate to their patients, respect their space, and express sympathy. In addition to the biological effects of acupuncture, this kind of care gives patients a sense of confidence, calmness, and motivation to start or continue treatment, says Michael O. Smith, M.D., a psychiatrist and director of Substance Abuse at the Acupuncture Clinic at Lincoln Hospital in New York City, where between 3,000 and 4,000 auricular acupuncturists have been trained.

Acupuncture is used at all stages of an addiction, from the time people seek help to the time they are abstinent. It can ease the discomfort of withdrawal symptoms including insomnia, muscle ache, profuse sweating, and nausea for heroin; depression, cravings, and fatigue for cocaine; and seizures, diarrhea, and hypertension for alcohol. Additionally, acupuncture may help people stay off drugs after they've gone through withdrawal. By enabling people to clear their minds and decrease stress, anxiety, depression, and cravings, acupuncture can help people deal with the issues that caused their addiction. "It helps people settle down and center themselves so they can participate in their own internal growth," says Dr. Smith. "They're less defensive, more thoughtful, and more open-minded."

In the last five years, acupuncture's use in addiction has spread to more than 300 clinics. Even the government has given its tacit approval of the therapy: almost half of the drug treatment facilities linked to U.S. drug courts include acupuncture in their programs. Yale University Medical School's Arthur Margolin, Ph.D., who, along with Dr. Gawin, is part of the six-city project looking into the effectiveness of acupuncture on cocaine abuse, says funding for this research came about because there's no pharmacological treatment for cocaine addiction—a vaccine has proven effective in rats—while heroin addicts are often treated with methadone. The problem, says Margolin, is that accurate clinical trials are difficult to design and assess. For example, the placebo in an acupuncture trial requires inserting needles into inactive points, but scientists are not certain which points are truly active.