John Burns stared up at his ceiling, pain searing through every part of his body. It was 3am and the dad-of-one had to be up for his teaching job in just in a few hours.
But John knew he wasn’t going into work today. Calling in sick had become a habit for the dad-of-one – there were rarely days he wasn’t writhing in agony, every movement like shards of glass being stabbed into his joints.
It’s a scene all too familiar with those who suffer with arthritis. John, from Didsbury, was 44 when he received his official diagnosis – triggering the start of a six-year nightmare.
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“My worst days were when I would have to get up for work,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “I’d have to be up for 6.40am, but I wouldn’t have woken up because I’d have been awake most of the night anyway.
“I knew at 3am I wasn’t going to make work. The following hours would just be horrendous because they would be so depressing.
“I couldn't surface out of bed until my body warmed up, it would sometimes take up to three hours. It was excruciating; it was as if my body was all broken.”
Arthritis is a common condition that causes pain and inflammation in a joint. Millions of people in the UK suffer from the condition and it can affect people of all ages, including children. Currently, there is no cure, however there are treatments to help ease symptoms.
Common arthritis symptoms include swelling, pain, stiffness and diminished range of motion in joints. They can vary from mild to severe and may come and go.
While some symptoms stay about the same for years, they can also progress and get worse over time. Severe arthritis can result in chronic pain, difficulty performing daily activities and make walking and climbing stairs painful and gruelling.
John only had minor symptoms when he was diagnosed with arthritis in 2011. But what started out as wrist ache soon spread to other joints – with the maths teacher eventually suffering pain in almost every part of his body.
“I was at my worst in 2013,” he added. “It got to the point where I couldn’t really work. Those were really dark days where I can imagine some people would not be able to cope maybe even with life.
“It wasn’t so much the illness, it was the depression that it brought, too. There was so much misery. It affected all the family. I only managed to snap myself out of it because I’ve always been one of those people who are self-minded.”
Sadly, John’s arthritis became so bad he was forced to give up his job as a maths teacher. Though he was given several different types of medications, nothing seemed to help ease his pain.
But when he was offered an expensive treatment – only given to those with severe symptoms – things finally started to look up. The medication meant John was able to reclaim part of his life and returned to work three times a week.
With the slight pain relief, John decided to look into other types of alternative treatments including acupuncture. The treatment, which derives from traditional Chinese medicine, involves fine, flexible needles being inserted at specific points on the body.
“It really helped me and it gave me a different focus,” he continued. “The acupuncturist told me I didn’t need to take all my drugs and I was hesitant and frightened because I was on so many.
“I took a leap of faith and stopped all the drugs. Some people might say that’s silly and suicidal to some extreme. From seeing the holistic medicine approach, I went on a journey of cleansing my body.
“I literally started again and only put things in my body that I knew would hopefully have some benefit, like anti-inflammatory fruit and veg.”
Although arthritis cannot be cured by diet, certain foods have been shown to strengthen bones, maintain the immune system and fight inflammation, according to the Arthritis Foundation.
John claims he noticed a change within just months. “I couldn’t believe it,” he added. “I had blood tests to measure my inflammation every five weeks. Mine was 140 at one stage, then it came down to 90, then 70 and 65.
“I knew I was improving and I got to a stage where I was able to start doing some kind of exercise. A year later, medics were baffled. I was on no medication and I just continued with this marvellous diet and my exercise increased.
“I went from strength to strength. Medics still can’t believe what’s happened to me. They can’t work me out because there’s no cure for arthritis. But I think if it gives one person a bit of hope, I’ve done justice to somebody.”
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