MEDICATION BENEFITS AND RISKS IN IBD

Sally Lorimer, Stan Cohen

Every medicine carries risks but that must be balanced by the good it does and also by the risk of not using the medicine. An easy example to understand is using an antibiotic for an ear infection. The antibiotic carries several risks. They often cause diarrhea and change the intestinal and body's bacterial population which can result in a yeast or other infection. The even greater risk is that the person will have an unknown allergy to the medicine and develop a severe reaction. But the greatest risk is not treating the ear infection because it could severely damage the person's hearing or create an even worse infection. So there are few people who would argue that they don't want to take the antibiotic.

That balancing of risks and benefits isn't much different in IBD (or in most illnesses). It's even the same when using nutritional therapy or surgery as part of the treatment plan. Is the medicine going to do more harm than good, or hopefully the other way around, will the medicine, surgery or diet provide more benefit than risk? It's also important to understand that the goal of treatment isn't just to relieve the pain and symptoms of IBD, but to control the disease. And that's the greatest risk–that the disease will progress and cause more problems. That's a risk many people don't think about-if the most effective treatment isn't used, will the disease cause more problems? 

There are differences, however. First, there are many treatment choices for IBD (there aren't many for an ear infection, other than choosing which antibiotic to use, even if surgery is needed to drain the ear). Second, the internet is full of stories and information about the risks of the various treatments and the supposed glories of alternative medicines and practices. Some of these are from reliable sources but many come without much scientific support and some are recommended with just hope or to sell a product. 

Nutrition4IBD exists to give the best available information to help you understand IBD and to also help you provide better nutrition for your, or someone's, IBD. Please use the information here and on other reliable websites to help you. And feel free to use our question and answer section to help you as well.

Bottom Line:

• Nutritional therapies (diets) and medicines hopefully will help your IBD. But they have associated risks.
• Surgery too has certain benefits and risks, particularly that more surgery will be needed.
• The greatest risk may be that the IBD is not effectively treated and progresses to the point where it can't be well treated any more. 
• The goal of treatment isn't just to control the symptoms but to stop the disease from doing damage.
• Reliable sources should be used to help you sort through the best available options and these should be discussed with your doctor, since there may be elements that need further explanation.