Within the first few steps to the bathroom after getting out of bed in the morning, Steve Coultas would be confronted by pain.
For around the past 20 years, the 58-year-old has been constantly reminded of a childhood accident that shattered his ankle when he ran in between two cars at the age of six.
After 19 years in the military carrying out gruelling drills combined with then working long physical hours in a government service job for the following 25 years, his ankle gradually deteriorated from what was once a niggle to intense daily discomfort that became impossible to ignore.
When Steve hit 40, he had found himself reliant on painkillers to function, and even tasks like climbing the stairs often meant reaching for Ibruprofen.
The pills - of which he would usually take two in the morning and two in the afternoon - allowed him to keep doing the sport he loved, enabling his lunchtime gym sessions and golf at weekends.
Looking for a solution instead of masking the problem, the veteran underwent keyhole surgery in 2011 and while it provided some short-term relief, he was never pain-free.
Doctors instructed him to slow down his active lifestyle and quit his hobbies, which devastated Steve.
He grew tired of feeling low and out-of-shape and as a result, he resorted to a cocktail of Ibuprofen, Naproxen, and Co-codamol to get back at it.
It wasn't until a chance consultation at a cell regeneration clinic ay the start of the year that led to him finding MBST - Magnetic Resonance Therapy - that he claims is the painkiller-free solution he had been searching for and has done away with them altogether.
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"It was a constant throb, it was just there - you get up in the morning and chew on tablets," Steve recalls to the Mirror.
"If I was playing golf, I'd take two tablets before, then as time went on, I'd have to take another two halfway round the course to get through.
"Then I'd still have a stiff ankle and have to rest when I get home.
"I had good days and bad days and in winter my ankle was like a rusty old hinge.
"I just didn't want it to curtail my lifestyle."
This daily routine became the norm for Steve, who is from Rutland, East Midlands.
It wasn't until he started to read more into acid reflux from Ibuprofen that he looked further into other options - including annual intrusive cortisone injections.
In 2011, he chose to go under the knife for keyhole surgery on his ankle to clean out the bone - but to little success.
Three years later, Steve, who was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, was back to square one and taking painkillers every day.
He would "smash" through repeat prescriptions, he says, taking tablets up to four times a day.
The keen sportsmen tried swimming and cycling as alternatives to limit the impact on his ankle, but didn't enjoy the sports as much as those he had been doing since he was 16.
When doctors told him to quit running and circuit training sessions, his mental health deteriorated.
"I started to put on weight and I lost interest in myself," Steve remembers.
"It was a self-fulfilling prophecy - you want to help yourself but you can't - so just carry on.
"I got out of shape and then I realised I'm not doing this anymore. "
While Steve admits he wasn't addicted to painkillers, he says they were a "necessity".
He needed them to concentrate on other tasks as the pain was all-consuming.
Being in this state put his temperament on edge, with little patience, he confesses.
Struggling to sleep, he felt tired all the time, which also had a knock-on effect on his productivity.
"I'm in a job where you have to have outcomes, I was working with people but feeling miserable yourself and trying to be positive - it's hard work," Steve says,
"Sometimes, you wear your emotions on your face and people can see through you.
"They'd come with something minor and I'd think 'just get on with it', try walking in my shoes. But I couldn't do that.
"As a manager, you've got to be supportive and it was hard work to do that. It's difficult to maintain a pro-social attitude when you are suffering yourself."
When he visited the Cell Regeneration clinic in Rutland in January about another issue with his elbow, physiotherapist Ann Clare recommended MBST - a non-invasive treatment that specialises in treating long-term pain relief and improving mobility by stimulating cell regrowth in muscles, tendons, ligaments and tissues.
While sceptical at first, Steve thought it was worth a shot but as it's not available on the NHS, forked out around £1,500 on the sessions.
He argues it has been life-changing and although the process has been up and down, six months on, he says he is now around 98 per cent pain-free.
“To not have to think about pain management on a day-to-day basis has honestly made the world of difference to my quality of life," he says.
"Knowing that I don’t need to be reliant on any medication anymore with an ankle that feels like new is a great feeling.
“The pain has gone from being a seven or eight out of 10 to a one or a zero.
"I’m now considering heading back to long-distance running and I’m really looking forward to getting back into weight training, which I never thought would be possible.”
Steve, who says he now "bounces about" at work, no longer takes medication and only rarely will have paracetamol during a long golf session.
"It's a big investment," he adds.
"If you've got the money, you have to think, 'is your health is worth it?' You can get interest on your money or still be in pain.
"I'm still getting over it because I think 'it's not hurting' more than 'it's hurting.' There is a shift in mindset and so you feel really positive about yourself.
"Not thinking about my ankle hurting is just amazing - I still can't get over it."
Have you overcome a health problem? Please get in touch with your story at saffron.otter@reachplc.com.
Osteoarthritis is a condition that causes joints to become painful and stiff. It's the most common type of arthritis in the UK. For more information, please visit the NHS website here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/osteoarthritis/ and for more information on MBST, please visit https://www.mbst-therapy.co.uk/.
