"Before I had taken this treatment, my quality of life had deteriorated," says Tom McDarby (71) from Limerick.
A keen golfer, Tom had spent his life travelling the world with the British Army and later drove taxis for a living.
"I would never stay at home. You could not keep me down," he says.
However, Tom developed arthritic pain in his right knee over the past year.
"During the last five or six months I had been having a particularly hell of a time. I was eating the painkillers for the pain. I could not cope with it. I was playing golf very poorly."
He adds: "The pain, when it came on, steadily got worse as the days went by. There was no escaping this pain. I was like a guy who was cornered. I had been taking painkillers for a year, and I was trying everything, but the tablets only worked short term."
Tom was made aware of Synovial Fluid Replacement Treatment through a chance meeting with his TV repair man.
"He saw me limping and asked me was it my leg that was hurt, and I told him it was arthritis in my knee. He had heard about synovial fluid replacement therapy from his sister. I took my first treatment a week ago and for the past week I have not known pain."
"I was willing to take the treatment at this stage," he says.
A G.P. in Charleville explained to Tom that what would be involved is an injection into the painful knee each week for three weeks and that no more treatment should be necessary for at least six months. The doctor explained that the treatment lubricates the joints and acts like a shock absorber, restoring the knee to its normal state, thereby giving great relief from the pain and stiffness of arthritis. "The substance is natural and mimics the natural fluid in the joint. It's correct name is sodium hyaluronan." It was launched just over a year ago in Ireland and is available on the medical card and the drugs refund scheme.
"I took a pain killer for the first two days after the first injection and then I did not take any more," says Tom.
The injection was made into the hollow side of Tom's knee. After the first injection Tom remembers driving home in the car and his knee was very sore. "I thought, what have I done? I've made myself worse," he says. "But within an hour the pain had eased off, and then the pain was gone. Last week I felt tightness in the back of my knee, but it was nothing like the pain I had before. I just feel good."
Tom does not have to revisit the doctor until at least six months.
"It's been two years since I felt as good as I do now," he says. "To me, this drug has been a life-line. I am here, pain-free and enjoying life."
It has given Tom his old life back again, and he now finds he is able to actively enjoy quality time with his children, seven grandchildren and his wife Anne.
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