Physiotherapy to combat multiple sclerosis: the battle of Carla Sulis
When the treatment plan expired, she has had to fight to get the care she needsCarla Sulis , 44, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis seven years ago.
From 2020 he followed an annual physiotherapy program in charge of the Integrated Home Care (Adi) of the Asl Ogliastra. On February 28, the Adi treatment plan had expired and the legislation required Carla to return assisted by Aias.
But she had been adamant : "Rather I give up all therapy. I know my disease and what kind of physiotherapy I need to fight it." Carla has given up returning to Aias, asking to stay in Adi. After many "No" and seven months in which her clinical conditions have clearly worsened in the end she won, thanks also to her lawyer, Marcello Caredda, who mediated between the parties and the UVT commission of Lanusei chose the way of listening, recognizing Carla's needs .
"Do you know how many muscles it takes to walk? And to go up and down stairs? I bet not. You don't know, because after we learn to walk between the brain and the muscular system as children, an automatism is triggered, like turning the key to start of an engine. I didn't even know it before I fell ill with multiple sclerosis - he says -. Until the sclerosis besieged and offended the vigor of my body. Then I understood what synergy of muscles is needed to move the human body . balance, the coordination of all the abdominal muscles, then those of the buttocks, thighs, the most voluminous ones of our body, the quadriceps, the legs, the stability of the feet and their fingers come into play ”.
"Sclerosis - he continues - attacks this wonderful system to snatch it away. You can defend yourself even more than through drug therapies, with physiotherapy. You need to wake up every day ready to kick and punch the disease, with determination, fortitude , determination, courage, fatigue, pain, hope, constancy. I don't know how many other resources I have to find within me to preserve, as in an endless tug of war, the ability to move my body. Every day I find myself at the same crossroads : to give up or not, yet even when I'm tired, unmotivated or crying with pain, I decide to turn every obstacle into anger to challenge sclerosis and all those small or big problems that the sick encounter. Regulations that, if applied schematically, consider the illness without looking at the patient: who he is; where he lives; how far or inaccessible, in fact, are the health services of reference. Without the type of physiotherapy, which in my c aso proved to be more effective, they have been very hard months. Until last February I was able to stand in the center of a room without supports and not fall ”.
"After seven months - he continues - I lost this ability . I felt the muscle stiffness advance undisturbed; the pain; swollen ankles and feet. To climb the stairs of the house I had to drag my buttocks for three floors, sixty steps, my legs got stuck. made heavier and heavier, as rigid as pieces of wood. In the center of that room, today I would fall and I would not be able to get up. In the center of that room, today I have to learn to walk again, like a child would. Thanks to my lawyer who mediated between the parties, to assert my reasons I went back to Adi. In three weeks of exercise I ripped my sclerosis 60 maybe 70 percent of muscle strength and elasticity that I had lost. The result is the one documented in the video " .
"I would like to tell those who fight my own daily war - he concludes - not to give up demanding that it never fails, an essential aspect in medicine: if a patient cannot be healed, support listening and 'treatment' in a concrete sense and very human, as did Dr. Sandro Rubiu with me ".
Paola Mura Ruggiu
