CFS, Mold Disease, and Lyme to Truly Thriving

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Sixteen years ago I had a severe reaction to a medicine that left my body in dire straits. I had a hard time eating, always felt sick, couldn’t detox, couldn’t sleep. I was diagnosed with CFS, mold disease, Lyme. But it always puzzled me that I was well one day and then never well again.

I tried all sorts of treatments to get well and some helped but I was still plagued by exhaustion and frequent bouts of illness. My Functional Medicine doctor recommended the Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS). I did the practice at home for 9 months and then attended an in-person seminar. I realized that my body was stuck in fight or flight. I did the DNRS practice for about 18 months and saw lots of improvements.

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Full Remission from CRPS: “Once our Mind Heals, our Body Follows”

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Full Remission from CRPS: “Once our Mind Heals, our Body Follows”

I broke a toe on July 21, 2020 and it developed into a debilitating whole body CRPS in 2 months. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep and my pain was 10 out of 10 for 24 h a day. I realized very fast that mainstream medicine had no cure or no means to help me. Because I am a holistic nutritionist, I was able to find the Spero Clinic in Arkansas very fast and I started my treatment for CRPS there at the end of October 2020. The healing journey was very painful and for about 4 months I could barely see any improvement. I started losing hope that I would ever heal and I became very depressed. It was extremely hard to go on with my life like that.

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"I Can Eat Whatever I Want Now"

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I guess I was lucky. I learned about the Lightning Process (LP) through my partner, who suffered from chronic fatigue for six years many years ago and after doing the process got her life back. I came to LP in 2021 after a long year and half of dealing with – as we call it in the process! – “stomach weirdness,” which translated into a lot of constipation and hemorrhoidal issues. It was also the years of COVID-19, working from home, lockdowns, and my father had recently passed away. I became afraid of eating certain foods, afraid of going to the toilet, and went back and forth to see doctors who couldn’t help me. It’s amazing how quickly we become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, no matter how horrible it is.

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Our Son Is Well: a Journey From CFS/ME to Living Fully

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Our son is well.  He’s been well for over a year.  It is SO WONDERFUL to have him back!  When he was 11, he got sick after having an oral surgery to remove several teeth to get ready for braces.  I’d been worried that he would miss the Valentine’s Day party in his 5th grade classroom. His surgery was Feb. 12th.  It turned out he missed a lot more than the party.

A day or so after the surgery, his stomach started hurting.  We thought it might be the pain medicine.  Even after he was off the pain medicine, his stomach hurt, and it seemed to be getting worse.  He started getting strange little spells when he’d feel terrible, get a low fever, have severe brain fog, and abdominal pain.  Within a month we had a diagnosis for Celiac Disease.  Celiac is an autoimmune disorder.  The body attacks itself when exposed to gluten.  We thought we had our answer and made our home gluten-free.  The abdominal pain subsided, but the spells continued and got worse.  He missed a lot of school.  We talked to a lot of doctors. The day he was supposed to be at his 5th grade promotion and celebrating the last day of elementary school with friends, he was sick at home, and I was meeting with a prospective naturopath.

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PANDAS & ARFID to Renewed Vitality and Confidence, and Eating Better Than Ever

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My 13-year-old son, John, was diagnosed with PANDAS after several months of feeling really sick and, while antibiotic treatments were likely helpful, it was very obvious that some serious issues weren’t getting any better.  The scariest of these was PANDAS-related ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder).  John felt nauseated all the time, and developed an overwhelming fear of vomiting and swallowing, to the point where he was losing weight at an alarming rate.  He was constantly tired, had obsessive thoughts, and my normally easygoing kid developed a crippling anxiety that kept him away from friends and the activities he loved.

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Complete Recovery from ME/CFS (and no more Restless Leg Syndrome)

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I cannot say enough about how my life changed while working with Amanda and completing the Lightning Process. 

 The LP fundamentally changed the way that I live my life, and the complete cessation of symptoms was a bi-product of this experience. I consider myself 100% recovered from ME/CFS. 

 The LP made clear to me how my condition developed, how to maintain my newly found recovery, and provided me with the necessary skills to ensure it won't happen again.

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The Lightning Process - the Missing Tool in the Tool Box

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The Lightning Process - the Missing Tool in the Tool Box

Life before the Lightning Process with Amanda…ahhh (big sigh). A time I often reflect on, but do not stay long. What seems so distant and far behind. It was a time I have now left in the past, and I do not plan on going back.

I have always thought of myself as an overall positive person. Overall hopeful, overall joyful. But as life happened and you add a traumatic experience or two, I found myself feeling a little less than positive. I may have shown up with a smile on my face to all my family and friends, but inside I was lost, anxious, and did NOT want to be smiling. But the funny thing about the LP, and talking with Amanda, I figured out a smile isn’t really a smile if my whole body and mind isn’t smiling as well.

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Lyme Disease, Toxic Mold Poisoning and Infertility to "Joyful Resilience" and...Pregnancy

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Lyme Disease, Toxic Mold Poisoning and Infertility to "Joyful Resilience" and...Pregnancy

After 3 years of treatment for Lyme Disease and toxic mold poisoning (including IV antibiotics, prescription binders, chelation therapy, herbal antimicrobials, infrared saunas, and a whole host of supplements) I couldn’t seem to cross the finish line. I was still struggling with brain fog and an over-reactive nervous system, feeling like I was walking through life surrounded by scary tigers without the brain clarity to find an escape. I had lost my menstrual cycle two years prior and was feeling discouraged about having kids of my own. I consulted with several fertility specialists who were stumped as to how to reinstate my cycle and, instead, offered IVF as my only probable course of conception. My gut told me there had to be another way and I looked within for any sign or message that might show me the way.

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CRPS to Doing Things "I Never, in a Million Years, Thought Possible"

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Prior to taking the Lightning Process, I felt hopeless. I had been diagnosed with CRPS, a rare neurological disorder, that I had somehow developed in early 2017, and which was made much worse after a needless surgery on my foot in the summer of 2018. The pain had spread from my left foot all the way up my leg, eventually reaching all of my limbs.  Everyday was an immense physical and emotional challenge. I was on the maximum dose of Gabapentin, Low Dose Naltrexone, had undergone an expensive experimental treatment in Italy, ketamine infusions, and many other self-prescribed medications. I couldn’t walk unless I wore a very cushioned, special brand of running sneakers, and I thought it would be that way for the rest of my life –– if I was so lucky.  In short, nothing was helping, and everything seemed bleak. 

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The LP for PTSD and Brain Fog: “Like Finding Air After Tumbling Underwater”

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When I first heard about the Lightning Process I was healing from a neurological disease, CRPS. I was also suffering from PTSD after a serious car accident  and this was inhibiting my life enormously. I was in great need of help.

In my mind I would see intrusive scenes of the car accident where I suffered a fracture and arterial bleed. This response would happen innately, and cortisol and adrenaline would flow from my subconscious. The list of triggers was getting longer and longer. Light and sound had become my enemies. Seeing the color red would summon an intense emergency stress response, just like when I had self rescued from the vehicle and stopped profuse bleeding. I had so much brain fog that normal activities were a struggle.

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Long COVID a 'love letter from the world' to change my life

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My tale of healing begins about a year ago, when I was in an Acting Program in New York. Last time this year, I was in good health and strong, and was doing quite well in a physically and mentally intensive curriculum. I had the energy to stay up late working on scenes and memorizing lines. And then the next day get up early and participate in dance and lecture classes and then proceed to five hours of acting classes. To the world, I was enjoying all of it. Ah, or so it seemed. There was something lurking in the shadows, something that would tap my shoulder when I was completely alone. A single yet horrific thought. I wasn't happy. And moreover, all of the achievements racking up under my belt just seemed to perturb me even more.

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Finding My Smile and Self Again

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Finding My Smile and Self Again

In the year following my graduation from college I went from being a college athlete to barely being able to walk around the block, sleep, or concentrate at work. Along with crippling anxiety and depression was a series of unexplained health issues that prevented me from doing basic activities with any joy. The medicines that I was taking were not helping and all of the doctor's tests did not give any results illuminating what was wrong. I was losing hope every day and was feeling stuck.

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The Process That Changed My Life

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The Process That Changed My Life

Hi, my name is Aileen, I’m 14 years old, I’m a Capricorn, I have an adorable puppy dog named Speedy, two amazing siblings, two incredible parents, I love to eat good food, I adore sunrises, I love to ride horses, sing, dance, and I had CRPS that started when I was 12 years old.

When it first manifested I had so many symptoms, I was in a wheelchair, I couldn’t see any light without a big reaction, and I had an immense amount of pain with no release. I felt so broken as I watched everything I loved to do fade away as pain took its place. For a while I just faded away and lost all hope. I tried a lot of treatments that didn’t help me, and I just felt like there would never be a way out for me.

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Doing the Lightning Process Has Changed My Life

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Doing the Lightning Process with Amanda Ashley has completely changed my life. It is absolutely PRICELESS.

Life before the Lightning Process was riddled with anxiety, depression, chronic pain, you name it. And that’s putting it lightly.

Life after the Lightning Process became manageable and even JOYful. I started to experience real, authentic joy, which came from the peace and empowerment I was able to access through doing this program with Amanda.

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Traumatic Brain Injury to Mental Clarity and Ready for Anything!

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I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury at the age of 10 that led to a myriad of health problems, Gastropareisis, PANDAS, Fibromyalgia, Severe Chronic Pain Syndrome, and lots of Anxiety and Depression to name some of diagnoses. I went from a student, and athlete at whatever sport was around in the season, to someone who had to spend all of his teenage years at home in pain. 

After lots of attempts at lots of clinics, neurologists, and psychiatrists, I found success in my physical well being at the Spero Clinic.  But I still needed to regain my mental clarity which I had been searching for this entire journey, and which many doctors told me would never return.  I used to be at the top of my class, and I loved learning!  After my injury the drastic change to my ability to think clearly was maddening.

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From Down and Out with CFS to "Up and At 'Em Again"

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Down and out??? That was me for 15+ years. In my early 20’s, I contracted the Epstein-Barr Virus and was hit hard. Fatigue, fever and a sore throat you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.  It was a brutal and difficult recovery. Months later I was able to return to school and work. While I wasn’t back to my old self, I felt like I was heading in that direction. Never could I have imagined what would come next...a series of events that were big. And by big, I mean huge.  Over the next three years, I endured the stress of grad school, divorce, moving across the country, starting a new job (one that I ended up hating), learned the house I was renting (and had lived in for over a year at that point) had black mold.

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