A flash of inspiration: A woman's self-help journey back to full health from the horrors of ME

Published on Tuesday 10 August 2010 19:52

WHEN Janice Benning was in her twenties she embarked on two incredible journeys. The first was an exciting expedition to the unforgiving but dramatically beautiful wastelands of Alaska. It was a physically demanding challenge that involved wilderness walking and kayaking around the glaciers of the Kenni Peninsula near Anchorage, plus bear, eagle and whale-watching.

It was in many ways the trip of a lifetime - and so was her next sojourn, into a world of crippling illness that robbed her of 14 years and left her in the depths of despair.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) - also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) - saw Benning relinquish an active and fulfilling life and career and retreat to an often bedbound state, unable to hold a conversation for more than a few minutes.

At her worst she had to lie in a darkened room, couldn't bear sound or light and had chronic pain. She would sleep for up to 20 hours a day yet wake up unrefreshed due to an illness some people dismissed as being all in her mind, or untreatable, or labelled "yuppie flu". She lost her job, her relationship, her independence and occasionally thought she would never recover.

But today, she is back on her feet, working harder than ever and enjoying every minute of her restored health.

This seeming miracle for someone who once took two hours to crawl back up a flight of stairs was not attained with pills or medicines. It was due to a radical technique that retrains the autonomic nervous system (which controls bodily functions like heart rate, digestion and respiration) to regulate adrenaline output and restore the body to maximum health.

The Lightning Process (so called because results can be rapid) combines the principles of neuro-linguistic programming, osteopathy, clinical hypnotherapy and life coaching to give patients back their lives. It is an acknowledgement that the body can recover using mind/body techniques. Adherents include broadcaster Esther Rantzen's daughter, Emily, who was sick for years, and rugby player Austin Healey's wife, Louise.

Now Benning, 43, who has just returned from a strenuous coastal walking holiday in Cornwall when she speaks to me, wants others to realise there is light at the end of the tunnel.

"Life is great now," she says. "It's absolutely brilliant. There is hope and there are ways forward.I have a different appreciation of things now and I can give something back."

Like many of the estimated 150,000 people in Britain who have ME - which has been linked to various viral and bacterial infections - Benning had led a very full, contented life. She grew up in Essex and as a teenager enjoyed action holidays, one time canoeing down Africa's Zambizi river. She moved to Scotland to study history and English at Stirling University and took advantage of a scholarship in the US at Washington State University, before a spell as a history teacher in Shetland. Later she came to Edinburgh, got a flat in Leith and took up a job as a museums education officer.

She says: "I was very, very, healthy. I seized opportunities when they came along. I would go hill-walking, camping, swimming, canoeing in both Scotland and abroad. I loved my life. I went on other expeditions, including one to Iceland, and on ski-ing holidays. My job at the museum was great, there was never a dull moment." At 26, she had good friends and a happy relationship.

But in 1993, she caught a virus that refused to go away. At first Benning assumed it was nothing too serious and went to bed. But things got worse. She went to her doctor, who took some tests and prescribed two weeks off work. The test results all came back negative, but she felt terrible.

Benning says now: "My illness came on very, very quickly but still, I thought I would be fine. In your twenties you think you are invincible. But I really didn't recover and from that point onwards I got progressively worse. Within three months I was pretty much bedbound and unable to do anything. People were talking about post-viral fatigue, (but] it was scary to go from being really fit to being suddenly incapacitated."

By this stage, Benning could no longer look after herself - her flatmate had to cook and shop for her because she was so weak. "One time I got stuck in the bath and couldn't get myself out because I had no energy." Ultimately her relationship broke down and her much-valued independence was lost.

She says: "I could not always feed myself; I couldn't cope with light or loud noise and spent months and months lying in a darkened room. I had this terrible exhausted tiredness, not like a normal tiredness. I was too weak to talk to people sometimes for more than two or three minutes."

It felt as though she had been beaten up or done some vigorous exercise and her brain was fogged, her cognition impaired.

"I would try to read a magazine and end up reading a paragraph three times and still not understanding what it said. One time my cousin said, 'Janice do you want a tea or a coffee?' and I could not work out how to answer. You just cannot concentrate and you get your words and speech muddled."

As far as treatments were concerned, conventional medicine could offer little and she tried everything on the alternative spectrum from acupuncture to homeopathy and counselling.She spent thousands of pounds trying to get well - to no avail.

The degree to which ME affects individuals can vary but Benning's case was severe and when she ended up in hospital after 14 years of illness she realised how bad things had got. "I think if I had known at the beginning that it was going to take 14 years, I might have given up," she says. "I did have the odd black moment where I thought, 'What the hell is happening?'"

While in hospital she was slowly taught how to become more functional, sitting up for five minutes at a time in bed - "it was a relief to be there because I had been struggling for so long".

She was given various medications to regulate her sleep and ease depression. She began paced exercise and behavioural therapy. Her system calmed down but she could still only stay up for about two hours at a time, though now she could walk up to half a mile.

It was not until she discovered the Lightning Process that she arrived at the complete recovery she enjoys today. She found a course in London and booked herself in. There she learnt to modify the stress response and her illness slowly evaporated. No longer pumping out adrenaline constantly, she was given the chance to heal and repair.

Norwegian physician Dr Vegard Bruun Wyller says: "Recent research on CFS pathophysiology has revealed alterations of cardiovascular regulation and thermoregulation, characterised by enhanced sympathetic nervous activity and increased secretion of epinephrine (adrenaline]. These findings indicate a state of permanent distress response - sustained arousal - in CFS patients."

He says this seems to correspond quite neatly to the theoretical considerations underlying the Lightning Process.

The technique was originally designed for any condition where people wanted to create and sustain change. It has been used successfully for patients with fibromyalgia, glandular fever, bipolar disorder, candida, migraines, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

It was developed by Phil Parker, originally an osteopath, who claims it has worked for thousands of people who have had a very real disease.

Over three consecutive days, clients are taught a programme to enable them to curb the release of stress hormones perpetuated by illness that seems endless. This in turn influences physiological systems, including detoxification, musculoskeletal, endocrine and immune, and allows the body to rebalance itself.

For Benning, the Lightning Process proved the epiphany she needed. After her first day on the programme she walked from Primrose Hill to Camden, went shopping and then took a lengthy Tube ride, something she had not done for almost a decade-and-a-half. She even had the energy to go out for dinner.

It was 4 July, and as she came towards the Embankment she saw fireworks in celebration of America's Independence Day. Now that she was enjoying her own independence this seemed a fitting metaphor.She knew she had her life back: "It felt like the fireworks were just for me - it was all rather lovely She was 40 and her future looked amazing.

Benning says she needed to keep practicing the Lightning Process techniques to reach her goal: "My energy levels went up phenomenally over that weekend. There was no stopping me then. I had got my life back."

It took a while for Benning to build up her strength and stamina, but with confidence renewed she knew it was only a matter of time before she was completely well.

With her illness behind her she decided to qualify as a Lightning Process practitioner herself. Now she runs regular workshops in Edinburgh and across the country and has seen countless patients recover.

"I'm just so grateful that my story has had a happy ending," she says.