Your Voices of Lived Experience
Hear real experiences from real people about their journey using lifestyle medicine to manage, reverse and, in some cases, cure a chronic illness or condition. These powerful stories of recovery in action show that for many a diagnosis is not the end, it is the beginning — the beginning of being empowered to take control of your own health.
Thank you to all those who have shared with us. If you would like to share your story please complete this form and send us an accompanying photo to office@bslm.org.uk
To meet our Voices of Lived Experience Team and learn more click the button below:
I have recovered from 15 years of chronic back pain. My original diagnosis was degenerative disc disease and herniated discs. I am now free from chronic pain and am without restriction. I can do all the activities (and more) that I could before my diagnosis.
Lived with acute uveitis for many years, symptoms of sarcoidosis, svt, and Graves disease in my 40’s. Now in remission from all.
I had severe Long Covid for 2 years – going from an active, energetic person, suddenly I was housebound, unable to work and look after my young child.
I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis in 2018. At the time it was quite debilitating.
I have reversed Hashimoto thanks to the plant-based diet introduced by my nutritionist. After a year of following plant-based diet and physical activity, my thyroid gland improved so I am no longer required to take Levothyroxine. My levels of inflamation and cholesterol have also improved without taking any medication. I have also lost weight (about 25kg) which lead me into running (5 full marathons completed already).
In late 2022 I was having extreme lower back pain, rashes, night sweats and then at Christmas started looking and feeling really ill.
I had tests of all kinds, the NHS thought I had hepatitis and then I found my way onto a CT scanner and that afternoon I was told by a junior doctor I had Lymphoma and it had spread into my bones causing a broken T4 Vertebrae and also kidney back pressure, whatever that meant.
During a very scary wait for full diagnosis, I lost the ability to walk, in short the cancer which had previously broken my lower back was having a go at it again and squeezing my spinal cord.
I was soon on an MRI machine at the Edinburgh Western and the following day on steroids and then radiotherapy to hit that one bit of cancer on my spine. That was a difficult time, the cancer ward is a scary place, the first conversation I heard was someone being told there was no hope for them. The person next to me who I never really established if male or female was clearly in a lot of pain…
During my scary weeks holiday in the Western I got the full diagnosis of advanced stage Classic Hodgkin’s Lymphoma… not great but they thought they had a good shot at curing me… and I chose to believe them and never looked back.
I had masked the illness because I was so fit but on the plus side I might also be able to beat it because I was so fit. For reference I did a triathlon with it plus a broken back in late 2022!
I was put on the most intense chemo available – because despite being 48 I was so fit my body could take it – which meant I had 16 sessions on ward 7 of the Western General in Edinburgh over a few months. Every three weeks in groups of 4. The red stuff derived from laughing gas was a personal favourite!!
It was hardcore at times but I just went all in on being super positive and tried to drag everyone with me. I told myself that sometimes in life you just have to tough it out and tell yourself tomorrow will be a better day. I got into a routine of living in 3-hour bubbles and not worrying about what would come after that.
My wife was amazing and the love from friends and family really did get me through, the support was incredible and makes me emotional to this day.
In some ways beating cancer was the easy part, recovering from Spinal Cord Injury was the tricky bit.
Prior to my injury I was a regular surfer, paddleboarder, mountain biker and runner. As a surfer losing control of one’s legs feels like the worst-case scenario, I had moved my family to Scotland in 2013 just for the surf. Surfing isn’t just a hobby; it is part of my identity.
Since then I have pushed as hard as I can to get back to sport. I challenged myself to learn wing foiling simply because it looked harder than surfing and I needed a different challenge. I recognised my legs will probably never be 100% again and the magic of surfing may never fully return.
I went from walking 10 yards on a Zimmer frame to two sticks, to one stick then after 6 months no sticks. After 8 months I was riding MTB and surfed some Small Waves Surfed on my Paddleboard.
I am at 20 months now and I have just had my first Surf with a normal surfboard (still very wobbly). I had my first pain free surf on my SUP last week. I have also just started to go trail running again. And yeah I am just starting to fly on that wing-foil.
I still have a long way to go but am getting there slowly.
A million painful steps.
Long covid symptoms with autonomic dysregulation and autoimmune vasculitis. Recovered through lifestyle interventions
Post Partum Depression and Obesity
By my second week, my mood was transformed. The dance class gave me an opportunity to move, interact with people, lose weight and laugh again. I felt alive. I went on to research more about lifestyle and have signed up for the BSLM course
At 59 I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
I have Cystic Fibrosis
Around 9 years ago, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia after a particularly bad flare up where I had kept collapsing, could not stand for long or walk, had muscle weakness and widespread pain. I had suffered with these symptoms on and off since I was a child. After being diagnosed, I had a number of debilitating flare ups and was investigated for MS and even a stroke. I was offered pharmaceutical remedies to manage pain and symptoms but declined. I used to be an athlete on the British Squad and had maintained an active lifestyle all my life so I was not used to being disabled. I decided I was not going to be disabled so I did a lot of research, experimented with diet, counselling, somatic therapy and yoga – moving baby steps to move forward in my recovery. I developed my own method of exercising while avoiding exercise intolerance and now run workshops and classes teaching this method to others. I also started my own wellbeing business and now teach around 15 classes a week of yoga, meditation and healing flow as well as coaching and holistic therapies where I specialise in working with people with Chronic Health Conditions, Chronic Pain and Cancer. I am currently in the middle of writing my own book about recovery.
I joined the NHS 40 years ago working my way from staff nurse to Advanced Nurse Practitioner. I had suffered severe childhood abuse from a mother who had Munchausen by proxy and knew “I was different” Mum had died when I was 15 and I went into care. It was inevitable I would pursue a career in a hospital where I felt safe
Throughout my career I suffered both physical and mental health problems. I was a frequent attender at my GPs’ and over the decades began to suffer health anxiety and chronic pain always waiting for scans or surgery “ to fix me”.
I sought help from talking therapies, counsellors and psychotherapists but nothing helped and I was constantly trying to regulate my nervous system with food, alcohol and prescription drugs. At my heaviest I was 20 stone and had bulimia and mobility problems. I was dependent on huge amounts of benzodiazepine and opioids all washed down with alcohol.
In 2019 I was prosecuted for failure to provide a specimen of breath. I hit my neighbour’s car and knew it was ‘live or die’. I had to self-report my conviction to the NMC and could no longer function in a job.
I decided to ‘rewire my brain’ and delved into neuroplasticity. Over a period of a year, I became addiction free with no help from the medical world. I replaced alcohol with Pilates, drugs with breathwork, my mental health was calmed with meditation and nature walks along with the Buddhist philosophy. I no longer needed to see my GP who I had relied on for decades.
At the age of 58 I’m fit, taking no medication and have been addiction free for five years with boundless energy and a passion for life. I have jumped out of planes, walked over hot coals and had ice baths to challenge my fears!
I now know I have complex PTSD, so trauma therapy / EMDR and somatic movement have been essential for my growth. I encourage all my colleagues to read ‘The Body Keeps the Score’ and the works of Dr Gabor Mate.
I have since trained to be a fully comprehensive clinical Pilates teacher with Polestar in London and hope to open wellness centres one day to heal those with trauma. These centres would have a Pilates studio, cookery school, craft centre, vegetable garden, animals and a clinical area.
I still work in primary care but my attitude to prescribing has changed dramatically. My focus is to heal those who come to me with my heart from a place of compassion. I hope to inspire anyone who is trapped in the cycle of addiction and pain with trauma informed Pilates and Somatic movement.
My motto: Movement is Medicine!
I have RRMS. I had my first relapse around 2003 during a period of extreme stress and after a UTI. A few a year after that and I was eventually diagnosed (due to refusing LP for definitive Dx) in 2009 although it had been clear for some time that’s what I was dealing with due to increasing lesions in my brain and spinal cord and was being managed by a neurologist. Besides the obvious physical fallouts, the fatigue, cog fog, gut and bladder issues really affected my QoL and I had to curtail my working hours and nap every afternoon to cope.
When my son was diagnosed at 16y old in 2012, I took it upon myself to research what could be done to help us outside of the drug route . I found a functional traumed NT and through changing my diet, removing toxins, healing the gut, optimising nutrition, learning how to manage stress with meditaions and breathwork, trauma therapy to help me overcome significant ACE and as I recovered, introducing movement and strength back into my life were all parts of my journey. I haven’t had a relapse in 13 years and live a full, active and happy life. I work full time as physiotherapist in my own clinic, train several days a week and have an active social life.
Brain scans show reduced lesions and no active lesions. Blood tests show much reduced inflammatory markers as well.
Recurrent pharyngitis leading to upper respiratory infection and childhood asthma.
“My body sent memos. I deleted them unread.”
The quiet power of denial, until it isn’t.
For much of my medical career, I worked “on the edge” in Intensive Care. I used to believe my role was to pull people back from the brink. But over time, I began to feel I was managing not recovery, but decline. As the patient demographic changed from acutely unwell to chronically unfit and deconditioned, I started to feel like I was witnessing the consequences of a much earlier failure. The real intervention should have come years before.
All the while, I was ignoring the messages from my own body. Over more than a decade, I experienced dysphagia, fasciculations, cramps, sarcopenia, and unexplained weight loss. I rationalised each symptom individually – aging, stress, chance. Denial was easy; it let me carry on. After all, I was a lean, fit, plant based exercise enthusiast. But in January 2024, with the appearance of an unmistakable tremor, these symptoms converged into a frightening diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, I had to stop. I had to listen. Denial had protected me, but it could no longer serve me.
That moment became my pivot point. I changed everything. My diet, my training, my mindset. Resistance work, mobility and coordination became priorities. I began to feel the changes within weeks: the tremor disappeared, non-motor symptoms eased, strength returned. Over 12 months I gained muscle mass, came off medication, and felt more present in my own body than I had in years. For the first time in a long time, I felt well.
That was when lifestyle medicine stopped being abstract. It became the language of my own recovery. And with it, a new calling emerged.
I had started a personal trainer course years ago, but life events interrupted. Now, with Level 2 and 3 certifications complete and BSLM accreditation underway, I am finally making the shift from Intensive Care Medicine to lifestyle practice. It feels like a return – not just to health, but to meaning.
My perception of the evolution of patients presenting to Intensive Care showed me how preventable much critical illness and subsequent suffering really is. The COVID-19 pandemic laid it bare: deconditioned, comorbid, middle-aged patients did not do well. Too often, we were managing decades of lifestyle neglect with acute multi-organ support. Now, I want to meet that group earlier – with inspiration, not intubation. With positive change, not crisis management.
I hope that this is just the beginning. I’m starting small: 1:1 work, word of mouth, local outreach. My long-term aim is broader access – offering affordable, community-based lifestyle support. As I manage my retirement, I plan to replace my previous practice in anaesthetics and critical care with Lifestyle Medicine.
I came to Lifestyle Medicine through two doors: one marked burnout, the other denial. On the other side, I think that I have found something radical. Another way to heal others. And a new way to heal myself.
Lifestyle medicine can give us back what we’ve lost – agency, vitality, and the chance to meet illness with something more than crisis care
I have lived with a diagnosis Of Multiple Sclerosis since 2002. That news started i decline in my mental and physical health. The messages connected to this particular condition seemed to be all negative, i signed up for them all! Only 5 years after diagnosis and with the condition rapidly taking control, I made an incomplete attempt to end my life. MS for me is now secondary progressive I am told. However since that dark day I have been working On my thinking and studying how I can use a choices driven approach to my health and wellbeing. My lifestyle choices have enabled me to take control, achieving wheel chair to walking.