Kate’s experience of the Lightning Process

This is the full story of my experience of the Lightning Process. I have put it up here in case there are some people with fatigue based illnesses, suffering with horrible physical symptoms, who are looking for a detailed account of how the LP could possibly make any difference.

I have tried to explain how it was to go through the training despite feeling unsure, afraid and exhausted, and come out the other side getting well again. I urge you if you are investigating it, to ask as many questions as you need to, and keep your mind open to new ideas, so that you too can have the opportunity to get well and love your life. It is so worth it!

Before M.E.
I had years of stress before M.E. For over four years, my young son didn’t sleep through a single night, so I was severely sleep deprived. It soon became apparent that our child was a bit different. ADHD was later diagnosed, but at the time we were living with an anxious, distractible, hyperactive, non-sleeping little person who literally climbed the walls like a caged animal. I was also trying to cope with trauma issues from my own childhood, building a house and earning a living. By the time our little boy was 3, I was getting lots of illnesses and eventually collapsed with pneumonia.

M.E.
I didn’t recover. After nine months of advice from several different doctors and lots of tests, I was casually told it was probably M.E. My level of disability wasn’t as severe as many, but I couldn’t work anymore (I was a children’s book illustrator), couldn’t be a proper Mum, couldn’t eat, sleep or think like I used to, or have any kind of ‘normal’ life. I struggled with the constant draining fatigue, the head fog and lack of concentration, memory loss, sensitivity to noise and movement, balance problems, muscle pain all the time (fibromyalgia), migraines and long-term dull headaches, hormonal problems, mood swings and awful periods, panic attacks and hallucinations, insomnia, digestive problems, nausea and vomiting, stomach pains, bloating and diahorrea (IBS), fevers and chills, and a lot of depression.

My partner Steve did lots of childcare, all the housework and shopping and held down a part-time job. He kept our lives ticking over brilliantly but was often very stressed (amazingly we are still together). On my best days I could take my son to school, or do a bit of gentle pottering in the garden, or socialise with a friend, but these were rare highlights that always took a while to recover from afterwards.

The Lightning Process
I heard about the Lightning Process from Amir Norris (Fatigue Answers in Wales) who had recently completed the Lightning Process training with Phil Parker. I was lucky to be told about it by someone I knew and trusted, who’d had first hand experience of seeing the results, and who I knew wouldn’t give me false hope. But despite that, I was still sceptical. How could there be a cure out there when everything I’d been told so far was the opposite?

Nothing I’d heard or read about M.E gave me any hope of actually getting rid of it. I was resigned to management and coping strategies like pacing, diet, meditation and stress-awareness, which all helped but didn’t cure. I couldn’t understand at all how something I could learn to do myself could change all these physical symptoms.

I was scared. What if I did get better, would everyone think I hadn’t had M.E at all, that it was all just in the mind? What if I was too tired or dim to learn this technique? And worst of all, what if I got my hopes up and then they were dashed. I had spent years feeling hope-less, trying all sorts of alternative therapies, so how could I bear it if I tried and failed, I’d rather not risk it. And of course I was afraid of relapsing. I’d had one bad relapse, what if doing this led to another - I might end up worse. And the money. How was I supposed to find that kind of money from the low income we struggled to live on?

I talked it over with Steve and other M.E sufferers who knew people who’d got better with this technique, and read all the testimonials on Phil Parker’s website, over and over again, looking for clues. I felt re-assured when I found out it was all to do with repairing the immune system.

In M.E. and many other illnesses, the immune system isn’t working properly, which is why we get a full set of different and confusing symptoms. When we learn the Lightning Process we learn how to stop the disfunctional adrenaline production that has suppressed the immune system. This allows it to work naturally again, as it was only suppressed, not permanently damaged. (which is a well accepted part of fight or flight research). So then the body can clear symptoms very quickly. The Lightning Process is partly based on Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). We literally learn how to change the neural pathways in the brain that send messages to other parts of the body, to break the link in a chain reaction and create new ones. It all started to make some sense, so I borrowed some money, was given some more by wonderful parents and booked myself in.

The Training Sessions
In the first session I found out all the details of how my body wasn’t working and how I could change the way it worked by doing the Lightning Process at certain times. It was quite an eye-opener but no more difficult to understand than a primary school biology lesson. There were a whole series of steps to go through to understand it all before actally learning the technique. I was amazed by the end of it to see how simple the LP seemed.

It involves a series of movements and postures combined with particular words, that you learn to do and say at times that are personal to each individual. Visualisation techniques are also a part of it, and you learn how to change certain feelings or reactions to different feelings or reactions. All this combined is what changes the neural pathways and starts the healing process. I tried it and was a bit awkward at first - it felt like reversing a car using the wing mirrors or brushing your teeth with your other hand. It just took a bit of practice to get things right. Amir was a patient teacher and there was enough time to sort out doubts or confusion if they arose.

I had worried all the way through that I was getting too ill or tired to continue, checking symptoms continually. But after the four hour session, I walked out feeling strangely OK and quite light-headed. So I went shopping!

As I used the technique in the shop, in the car, anywhere I was, and at home later, I could feel it was definitely doing something - I hadn’t collapsed. That night I slept OK but woke at about 5am the next morning and just wanted to get up to do things! I did things gently all day, like gardening and playing with my son - no big rests, no relapse, just using the technique a lot and feeling quietly, strangely confident. I was in tears by the evening though, having a set back, thinking I couldn’t do it and getting very distressed. But talking it over, staying calm and just being kinder to myself was what got me through it and then I carried on.

Session two was learning a bit more about the LP, refining the technique and ironing out any problems. Session three was quite quick and dealt with returning back to ‘normal’ life and how to use the LP to help do that.

By the seventh day the last irritable bowel symptoms were going and I didn’t have M.E anymore. I was so happy, whizzing about and quite tricky to live with apparently! I had thrown myself into it, didn’t give up too often and got quick results. Some people I’ve spoken with since had the same approach, but everyone’s different, and others take a more gradual route to success. What has become crystal clear is that it’s a job of work - if you do the work you get better, but if you don’t, you stay ill, it’s as simple as that.

There was back up coaching on the phone and after two weeks I settled down and started to get myself a bit more balanced having realised that I was very de-conditioned, and had no fitness, strength or stamina after spending years on the sofa. I had to look after myself a bit better but I could happily start re-habilitation and exercise because I felt OK afterwards. No relapse or fatigue, just very stiff muscles after so long out of action.

Life after M.E.
I then started gradually getting my life back. Domestic tasks were now possible and became a pleasure. Being a normal Mum was a delight and my son soon spotted that I didn’t live in a dressing gown anymore. It was such a pleasure to hear him so surprised that it was me taking him to school or football, instead of Dad. Poor Steve had to quickly get used to an opinionated woman again after years of peace and quiet! The changes happened so quickly that it did take a bit of effort for all of us to adjust. I rarely think about my M.E. anymore, and I don’t need to do the Lightning Process to stop it coming back. It’s gone.

Life is not all plain sailing though as we all know. There were reasons why I got ill that needed addressing and there have been big issues I have really struggled with since leaving M.E behind. But I know how to look after myself now and I have used the Lightning Process many, many times to change my whole life for the better. I found getting more help was invaluable and knew that I couldn’t work a miracle in a three day training. It’s remembering to use the LP when challenges come along that makes all the difference. I can now honestly say that some things about having M.E are a blessing. I learned a lot and I am now so much happier than I ever imagined possible.

Negative Opinions
I now feel passionate about helping other ill people get out of the awful situation they are in. It’s a lonely place to be and if I can be a part of their journey to wellness, I will have done something useful in the world. Now I have done the Diploma training and Lightning Process training with Phil Parker, I have become aware of many more stories surrounding it. They are mostly fantastic and uplifting, but some are not so good. So I think it may be useful to be aware of the negative opinions.

Firstly, there are a few people who don’t understand how the Lightning Process works, who pour scorn on it, and us for trying something new. That can be painful especially if they are members of your family or friends, so it is good to get plenty of information about it to figure out how you feel.

Also it has taken the medical profession decades to decide M.E. exists because they don’t fully understand it yet either, so it will probably take decades more before the LP is available on the NHS. Which means we have to pay for it ourselves and it is is a hefty lump sum to find when we are often too ill to work. It’s a tricky problem but practitioners have to make a living just like anyone else, and I personally felt it was worth the fee a million times over by the time I got to day three and was
feeling better.

There are also blogs and websites where you can read lots of negative stuff about the LP, but most people who criticise it havn’t actually done it, so don’t really know what it is all about. I think it’s more useful to base an opinion on facts not prejudices. For instance, on day three of the training, at least 95% of participants are getting well. That’s an amazing success rate, but it’s just the beginning.

Participants still have to keep doing the Lightning Process after that to allow their body to clear their symptoms. If they don’t, they won’t get the improvements they want. There are a few people who do stop using it effectively and think ‘it’ doesn’t work. But the LP is a skill, just as learning to walk was when we were little, so it is up to us whether we succeed or not. If we had stopped trying to put one foot infront of the other at that crucial moment, we would have never mastered the skill of staying upright. But because we just kept trying till we got the result we wanted, we walked. Likewise, when we do apply the LP in the same persistent way, the results are fantastic. And of course we can get help if we trip up, or need to understand more.

Help and advice may be necessary, but ultimately if we don’t apply the LP persistently, it won’t work and becomes a waste of time and money. This makes it unique in that it is not like any other therapy or treatment. I think it is this aspect of it that has led to some negative opinions from people who don’t fully understand or accept that it is not the Lightning Process that works, it is US. Thankfully the LP is not very hard to do, and we only have to do it till we get the results we want, because then it becomes automatic, the same as walking did when we learnt to do it, all those years ago.

Recommendation
To anyone considering doing the Lightning Process I would say don’t waste anymore time - life is too short to be stolen away by illness. Using the Process works, it’s not a miracle, it’s just clear, logical and quick.

Every new discovery has to go through a period of assessment, which is right and proper, and Professor Findlay’s pilot study at the ME Centre is a really welcome start to that process. But it may be years before proper funding is raised to do full clinical trials, so to make a judgement about the LP’s effectiveness, all we have to go on at this stage are the results seen so far. In the last ten years over 3000 people have got well, and nothing I have tried even comes close to it for effectiveness and speed of recovery. If any of this makes sense to you, just pick up the phone, speak to people who have done it and check it out.

Thanks
I am eternally grateful to the people who helped me,taught me and supported me and I am also glad I didn’t let my own doubts and fears hold me back, because now I love my new life so much, I have to pinch myself sometimes. I have been very lucky. I hope you found it useful to read this far and I would welcome any comments you may want to offer.

Warmest wishes     

Kate

(www.simpsonandfawdry.com)