I have been working with Matia for about 6 years now. I started off in acute, level 10 pain everyday and eventually got to a level 1 pain every day. I would say that it took me about 4 years to get there. But that's because I didn't follow the diet perfectly all the time. If I would have, I'd have been better much faster, I am sure of it. When I DID follow it, I saw great improvements, faster than when I was cheating. and I felt periods of relief from pain within HOURS of starting Matia's protocal so please don't think I was in pain for most of the 4 years. I wasn't.
To you're question: It ALWAYS seemed like it was 2 steps forward, one step back to me! Sometimes it was like it was 1 step forward and 4 steps back. I just couldn't grasp the concept of feeling great for a few hours/days/weeks and then actually going backwards to pain again. Even when I was following the diet perfectly. But it def. happens that way. and like I said, I cheated alot so that could be why I never knew how I was gonna feel each day for so long!
I am now back in pain because I basically ate and drank whatever I wanted for about a year, maybe more. And surprise surprise, that included all kinds of sweets and alcohol. I would never in a million years think that I would go back to eating/drinking all the "bad" stuff again after how Matia and the diet healed me the first time. But somehow, I did  I am hoping that it's not too long of a road back to balance. but whatever it is, I'm on it. And this time I will try to be more patient with the 2 steps foward stuff because I know that it worked last time!