Arthur John Rosen • Therapeutic Reflexologist & Craniosacral Therapist – I’m not a medical doctor — please read my full disclosure before acting on anything here.
I provide natural therapies that support the body’s natural healing abilities, and share what I’ve experienced and witnessed along the way
Greetings,
You were not meant to manage your condition. You were meant to live your life. There is a difference — and it is worth living toward.
“We Don’t Know What Causes It. There Is No Cure.” Then What?
You are the kind of person who has sat across from a healthcare professional and heard a sentence like this one — maybe not about Crohn’s, maybe about something else entirely, but a sentence that landed the same way. I want to tell you what happened after I heard mine, because I don’t think the sentence itself was the important part.
In 2004, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I’d been ignoring gut symptoms for years — too busy, the way most of us are too busy, until the body finally insists on being heard. When I did seek help, a leading gastroenterologist gave me the honest answer medicine gives when it has reached the edge of what it can offer, in exactly ten words: “We don’t know what causes it. There is no cure”.
The Healthcare Professional Wasn’t Wrong
I want to be clear about this, because it matters. He wasn’t wrong, and he wasn’t unkind. He was telling me the truth as medicine understood it at the time. He was competent and doing is job honestly.
But here’s what a sentence like that does to a person, regardless of how honestly it’s delivered. You stop expecting to feel well. You make a hundred small adjustments to a smaller life. And you become, without ever consciously choosing it, someone who copes rather than someone who lives.
I’ve come to think of that place as the land of hopelessness. Not because anyone was cruel to send me there — because a verdict like that, however honestly meant, quietly closes a door most people don’t think to check again.
The Question I Was Slow to Ask
I was prescribed medication. I took it. But somewhere in that period, I started asking a different question — not what is this condition, but – “what is actually causing it?’. It wasn’t a dramatic pivot. It was a stubborn, quiet refusal to accept that the door was really closed.
That question is the “then what” of this post’s title. It’s the whole answer, really. Not a treatment, not a supplement, not a single insight that fixed everything overnight. Just a question I kept asking long after I’d been given permission to stop.
What I Found on the Other Side of It
Years later, after changing what I ate, addressing stress I’d been carrying for a long time, and receiving treatment that helped my body release what it had been holding, my gastroenterologist reviewed me again. He found no sign of the disease. Not in remission. Reversed.
I want to be precise about what that means, because I never want to promise someone something I can’t stand behind. There is still no cure for Crohn’s disease. What I found wasn’t a cure. It was a direction — the discovery that when you reverse the cause instead of only managing the symptom, the symptom sometimes has no reason left to persist.
If You’ve Been Given a Verdict Like Mine
I don’t know what your version of those ten words was, or who said them to you. But if you’ve been carrying a diagnosis for a while — honest, well-meant, and treated ever since as more permanent than it may actually be — I’d gently ask you the same question that changed things for me: “What is actually causing this?”
I can’t promise you my answer. Every body is different, and I’m careful never to suggest otherwise. What I can offer is the same kind of attention I eventually gave my own body — time, and a willingness to look for the cause rather than just manage the symptom.
If that’s something you’d like to explore, I’d be glad to see you.
Small Shifts, Big Results
For the next three days, pick one symptom or discomfort you’ve been quietly managing without ever asking why. Each day, spend two minutes simply sitting with the question — “What might actually be causing this?” Don’t search for the answer online. Just sit with the question.
About Arthur
Arthur John Rosen is a Registered Therapeutic Reflexologist and Craniosacral Therapist practising at Lifetime Health in Bedford Park, Johannesburg. A former Chartered Accountant, he retrained twice in his sixties after his own health journey changed the course of his career and his life.
Navigating your health journey can feel overwhelming. You do not have to do it alone. I am here to partner with you and help you with your nagging health concerns. Together, we can tailor a clear path that fits your lifestyle and whatever it is that you value. When you visit, my goal is for you to feel like a welcome guest in my home. Whenever you’re ready, you can book a session with me at Lifetime Health — details below
To book a session, email arthur@lifetimehealth.co.za or visit lifetimehealth.co.za.
I’m honoured that you read this. Whatever you’re working towards, I’m rooting for you, but more importantly, make sure you’re rooting for yourself
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I share my journey and what I have watched become possible. I am not a medical doctor and nothing I write or say is medical advice.
The experiences shared here are offered to illustrate what is possible — not as a guaranteed blueprint or medical prescription for your specific condition. Nothing here is a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult your healthcare team before making any major changes to your treatment.