Healing from psoriatic arthritis using a mind-body approach.
Matty’s Story — How he combined the latest science regarding recovery from chronic illnesses with his Christian beliefs.
This is the story of Matty, who was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis. It is the story of how after living with crippling pain and swelling around his joints for 12 years he finally became pain free by quitting his medication and following a mind-body approach instead.
Sudden paralysis
At the age of 23, in the summer of 2003, Matty was on a holiday visiting a friend in Guernsey. He was relaxed and “having a great time, eating, drinking and enjoying life”. That was until in the middle of the night, when without any warning, he woke up in severe pain from head to toe. He tried to visit the bathroom to freshen up and was completely paralysed, throwing him into a state of panic. In fact, looking back, he struggles to remember the rest of his time in Guernsey describing it as “all a blur from then on”. Although unsure of the specific timescales he does know that he regained enough movement to walk but that the terrible pain persisted. His next clear memory was of being back in England and his dad whisking him off to the doctors.
The diagnosis
For as long as Matty had been alive his mum had suffered with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis. She was unable to work, always in significant pain that restricted her movement and the disease almost completely seized up her hands. Matty and his family expected the doctor to confirm that this was the beginning of a heredity condition for him.
He was given a diagnosis of Psoriatic Arthritis.
The NHS website states that the condition “causes affected joints to become swollen, stiff and painful…a long term condition that can get progressively worse. If it is severe, there’s a risk of the joints becoming permanently damaged or deformed, and surgery may be needed…”
It also goes on to explain that the cause of Psoriatic Arthritis is unknown, and that treatment is focused on slowing down the conditions progression as opposed to recovery.
Matty left the doctors with his diagnosis and for the next 12 years suffered with regular bouts of debilitating pain and inflammation despite the medications that he was given. He often had swollen joints affecting his knees, fingers or feet and many times he was struggling to walk.
Life was painful for him.
A shift in mindset
In 2015 Matty was flicking through the bible, as he often did and came across the following passage:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you” Matthew 7:7
He recalls that something shifted in him after reading that passage.
“I had just simply had enough of this illness, I made a decision that I was going to find a way to get better”.
Following this inspiration, he began to seek alternatives to taking his medication, “I read book after book about health and wellness” he said. He also decided to align himself to those people in his life that were living healthy lifestyles or that had recovered from illnesses. It was within this search that he came across the mind-body approach and the latest science regarding chronic conditions.
What is a mind-body approach?
The not-for-profit organisation Living Proof, who aim to promote the latest science regarding the mind-body approach explain on their website that:
“…chronic pain and many other persistent conditions are actually caused by nervous system dysregulation: they are learned responses to emotional or stress triggers, which have caused the brain and therefore nervous system to get stuck in ‘fight or flight’ mode, releasing stress chemicals into the body which create the physical symptoms”.
They also explain that recovery is possible:
“…chronic symptoms of this type can be reduced and often fully resolved through learning to retrain the brain and calm the nervous system. Through these methods, we can create new neural pathways in our brain, which then slows down the threat response which causes the symptoms”.
Noticing patterns
Through this period of self-education and introspection Matty began to see that his pain coincided with periods of his life where he felt stressed or emotionally conflicted.
Through techniques such as journalling he realised that he was sub-consciously holding on to feelings of guilt and shame about how he had lived his life, which was not in-line with his Christian beliefs. He noticed that he was regularly “beating himself up” for not living up to his own ideals and that carrying such guilt and shame was not serving him. He knew he had to learn to let these negative thoughts go and change his lifestyle habits in order to heal.
Then, one day, on a long drive he had a revelation that he believes was significant…
“I realised that due to my mum’s illness, for my entire childhood, I lived in a household full of pain and suffering. It was all I had known! She never became well and I could see that deep down I had a belief that I was never going to become well either”.
Aligning his faith and the science
The more Matty learnt about the mind-body approach the more he could see that there were bible passages that mirrored the concepts he was learning about. He took inspiration from a range of non-religious sources and explained “If I could find a scripture that supported the lesson, I took it as the truth”.
Two scriptures that he repeatedly dwelled upon whenever he found himself doubting that he could recover were firstly:
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24
Matty had read about how beliefs can change our biology and knew that he needed to stop trying to get well and believe that he was already well!
He says, “people are looking outside of themselves for a fix, with medication for example, but I now know that becoming well comes from changing on the inside”.
He used this scripture as an affirmation over and over again along with closing his eyes and visualising himself as being well, “until my body had no option but to respond to my belief”.
And secondly:
“A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body…” Proverbs 14:30
In his mind, this scripture was the confirmation of the scientific explanations of the body reacting to stressful thoughts and emotions that he needed.
Recovery
Matty became more and more aware of his thought patterns. “I learnt to notice when my mind and heart were disturbed, I could catch the damaging thoughts quicker and then take steps to re-align my mind-set and calm my nervous sytem”.
As this awareness grew his symptoms began to subside.
With the symptoms easing, his belief that he was on the right track grew even stronger which created a positive cycle that encouraged him to continue.
He explains that although the pain subsided quite quickly once he began to understand the mind-body concepts, it wasn’t a straight line to recovery.
“Once I understood that my beliefs, thoughts and conflicting emotions were the cause of my illness I did fall into a trap of over-analysing”. He replaced worrying about what was wrong with him physically, with worrying about which repressed emotions might have caused him to be in pain.
The constant rumination caused its own stress and he believes that once the concepts are understood it is important not to fall into this trap. He applies a mindfulness technique to overcome this tendency. “Now I try and watch my thoughts and emotions, acknowledge them without judgement and return to the present moment”.
Matty has now been off medication and pain-free for 7+ years. He no longer gets swelling around his joints and when asked if he considers himself to still have arthritis he replied with a wry smile….”No, of course not, I am well! A calm and undisturbed mind are the life and health of the body!”.
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