So proud of you Mary. I too was addicted to nicotine for 30 years. Son went in Navy and asked "Mom, til I get out of the Navy in 4 years, please, would you try to be cigarette free by then?" Well, I figured why wait 4 years. If I am going to try to quit, why inhale 4 more years of smoke into my lungs.? I'll try it NOW! A friend had successfully quit by Hypnotism so I called the Dr. that she went to. I am convinced that the most important thing about quitting is "YOU HAVE TO BE DETERMINED!" Many times in the past I tried cold turkey etc. and I even used thin pretzel sticks to pretend they were cigarettes. I even tried lighting the pretzel sticks with a match. However, in my heart and mind, I never really truly wanted to quit . But then, when my son reminded me that he needed to have a living mother, when he got out of the Navy and was so worried I was killing myself with nicotine...he gave me a challenge of 4 years to work on quitting. It was only then, that I decided he was right and I made a positive decision to GET DETERMINED AND DO IT! I went for 3 visits to the Hypnotist, but I actually smoked my "last" cigarette 15 minutes BEFORE THAT "FIRST" hypnosis session and threw the pack away. Never ever wanted another cigarette after that and that was 26 years ago. During hypnosis, it all has to do with breathing. (retraining your lungs). He told me when the urge to smoke came on, to close my eyes and visualize myself sitting at the edge of the surf on a beach, and as the water would come toward you and over your body, breathe fresh air into your lungs very deeply. As the tide would go back out, blow out your breath from your mouth. Keep repeating that whenever the urge came on. Actually that was VERY refreshing. It had to do with learning to breath fresh air rather than smoke. It truly worked, however the catch is that you truly HAVE TO WANT TO QUIT and stay DETERMINED. (I don't believe Hypnosis will work on someone who really does not want to quit smoking). I hope this suggestion will help some of you who have loved ones who are a prisoner to nicotine. And to MARY Congratulations on your win over nicotine. Hugs, Sandrea