Multiple Sclerosis: Home Treatment & Neurologist Insights

Rome, 12 December. (Adnkronos Health) – Generally “those who start home therapy rarely go back. Of course, some people feel safer in hospital, but the majority favor what offers more freedom. Autonomy is not a detail: it means regaining control over oneself and over the disease”. In fact, if “the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis creates a ‘biographical rupture’, home therapy helps to rebuild daily life without upheavals”. Thus Eleonora Cocco, full professor of Neurology at the University of Cagliari and head of the Multiple Sclerosis Center of the ASL of the Sardinian capital, in an article published on the website livinglikeyou.com/it, explains that for these patients, often young, not having to go to hospital “allows them to organize their day”, manage their time, and avoids “constantly remembering that they are sick”. The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis often arrives at a young age, “between 20 and 40 years old, a phase in which one is building the future in study, work and life choices”. Having therapies that are “solid, effective and can be administered at home – underlines the expert – represents an important advantage for these people: it allows them to better manage times and regain that normality that the diagnosis often undermines”. Today “we are experiencing a crucial change of pace” in the management of the disease. “We have medium and high efficacy therapies with a better tolerability profile than in the past. It is an evolution that inaugurates a new phase.” With treatments that can be administered at home, “the person with MS really comes back to the centre”. Scientific evidence also “clearly shows that home therapies can modify the natural history of the disease – remarks Cocco – preventing relapses and long-term disabilities and improving the quality of life”. For this reason, “therapy must be seen as an investment in the future”. However, not all people are candidates for home administration. “It depends on the clinical situation and logistical aspects – specifies the neurologist – There are also some prescriptive constraints awaiting re-evaluation by Aifa”, the Italian Medicines Agency, but “we already have various home options available today”. To undertake therapy at home, we read on the site, “you need motivation and awareness of the meaning of the treatment. The therapies for MS have a preventive value and the effects are not always immediate: it is important to know that what you do today helps you feel better tomorrow”. Grip and regularity are also important. “Those who prefer closer control may be better off with administration in hospital, where the fixed appointment helps to avoid missing doses.” However, it remains “a shared choice: every decision is made together with the person, taking into account the clinic, lifestyle, manual ability and dexterity”. A further element, observes Cocco, is the psychological aspect. “Becoming autonomous means managing the disease yourself. It is a step towards empowerment, towards greater self-determination. It means – he concludes – living more serenely and rebuilding the normality that the diagnosis may have damaged”. The full article is on