We always welcome news that the health of any ME sufferer has recovered or improved and we wish Chloe Cross sustained recovery and continued improvement for the future (The Argus, May 21) But we go further than the local Sussex ME Group, whose spokesman David Butler (Letters, May 23) warns that the "lightning process" does not work for everyone with ME and that some may relapse after it.

If the lightning process works at all, for any of the vast array of illnesses it claims to help, we do not believe it will be of any value to people with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), which is often carelessly bundled in with all other chronic fatigue illnesses, under the catch-all "chronic fatigue syndrome".

As with several other radical treatments (including reverse therapy, Mickel therapy and emotional freedom techniques) there is, as some admit on their own websites promoting it, no reliable scientific evidence to support its underlying theories and it relies on belief in it to work.

Thus, if patients say they feel better after treatment, it is possible to claim success for the treatment, but if patients say they do not feel better, it can be claimed that they did not have sufficient faith or were, somehow, not quite ready.

There is a worrying trend of selfpromotion by people who claim to have been cured by one of these radical treatments, then going on to train as therapists to treat others themselves, in a kind of pyramid healing process.

Recommendation by patient testimonial is likely to be heavily distorted in the treatment's favour.

Those patients who say they did well or who are going on to train as therapists will obviously sing its praises. But those patients who did not improve may not be well enough to speak out against it or may fear doing so, especially if they are harassed with threats of writs for libel if they do.

A session costs as much for one hour as some ME sufferers, on benefits, have to live on for a week. If any ME sufferer is considering putting that sort of money into unproven treatment, may we suggest they divert it to a serious biomedical research fund of an ME organisation such as ME Research UK (www.meresearch.org.uk), dedicated to finding the physical cause of ME which, in turn, should suggest appropriate treatment towards a lasting cure.

  • Dr John H Greensmith, ME Free For All.org, North Street, Downend, Bristol