As the electrodes were attached to my forehead, I began to think that of all my attempts to quit smoking, this had to be the most ludicrous.

 

This "bioresonance" therapy, however, claims to have an 85 per cent success rate, and costs £150 - on the surface it compares well with the much-praised Allen Carr course, which claims 53 per cent success and costs £199.

 

It was launched in Britain last month and uses a device called Bicom, developed in Germany 25 years ago to combat allergies such as hayfever and conditions such as eczema. Savita Bhandari, a health therapist who runs the Monadith centre in Croydon, south London, said: "The bioresonance therapy gets rid of cravings by reverting the body's frequency back to what it would have been if you were a non-smoker."

 

In the past three years 10,000 people in Poland and Ireland have undergone the therapy, and, according to the Monadith centre, it has been 85 per cent effective after just one session. A further four per cent needed a second session, given free of charge.

 

Mandy Kriester, in charge of my treatment, asked me to smoke two-thirds of a cigarette and put the ash in a beaker. I then had to stub the remaining third out in the beaker and also spit into it. The beaker, in theory, contained all the information needed for the Bicom to work out the "energy pattern" of my nicotine addiction.

 

Then copper plates were rested on my legs and wired to the Bicom. I rested a hand on each plate, and Miss Kriester flicked a switch. I started to feel a tingling sensation.

 

"That's the energy pathways opening themselves up," Miss Kriester said. Then she changed the frequency - "stepping it up a gear" to prepare me for the detox. By this time I felt tired, which I was assured was quite normal. "You should expect to feel fatigue in the first 24 hours," Miss Kriester said. "Also you might have a slight headache and dizziness. Just make sure you keep drinking water."

 

Then the beaker was connected to the machine. Miss Bhandari said: "The computer works out the electromagnetic pattern of the nicotine. It will invert the energy pattern of your addiction and that pattern will be sent through your body via the electrodes to cancel out the nicotine energy. The resonance of your body then becomes that of a non-smoker."

 

For this session I had a headband containing electrodes in addition to plates for my hands. Miss Kriester said that although the treatment should take me physically back to being a non-smoker, mentally it would have no effect: "It is still down to you to make sure you don't pick up a cigarette."

 

Like a microwave timer, the machine marked the end of the session with a ping. I took my hands off of the plates. Where they had been were soot-black marks. "That's the by-products of your smoking coming through your skin," Miss Kriester said.

 

Apart from that, I felt the same as I had beforehand.

 

As I was just about to leave Miss Kriester stopped me. "Nina, one last thing. Could I have your box of cigarettes? For the first couple of hours you need to keep away from temptation."

 

I grudgingly gave up my packet, which had seven cigarettes left in it.

 

Hours passed. I was very restless, continually needing water. Walking home, at the point when I would normally light up a cigarette, I was happy to go without. Kicking off my sandals when I got home I looked down at my feet and they were black. My curiosity led me to sniff my shoes: they smelt of tobacco. Unbelievably, the nicotine seemed to be coming out of every pore in my body. I had a bath, but after a good hour of soaking, the water had turned grey and murky.

 

The following evening I had drinks with two friends who are heavy smokers, but still I was not tempted.

 

Then came two of the most demanding weeks of my journalistic life to date: covering Live 8, and then the London bombings. I've been stressed, tired, and often in the company of chain-smoking journalists, but not once have I felt the urge to light up.

 

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.

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