THE PROBLEM WITH NOT TAKING YOUR IBD MEDICINES
Dr. Buzenski is a clinically focused...
Following the plan your doctor creates for you, including taking medication, can be one of the most challenging parts of having IBD (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis). Treatment adherence, or more simply, following doctor's orders, has been reported to be an issue for 50% of adult patients with IBD.
But not following specific recommendations from your providers can have serious consequences:
- Increased symptoms such as pain and diarrhea
- Flare-ups, relapse, worsening of the disease
- More doctor's appointments or hospital visits
- Being prescribed more medications or more complicated treatment
- Missing work or social events, impacting overall functioning
People have multiple reasons for poor adherence including:
| ∙ Feeling overwhelmed or stressed | ∙ Forgetting |
| ∙ Experiencing side-effects | ∙ Difficulty swallowing pills |
| ∙ Worrying about developing side-effects | ∙ Lack of organization |
| ∙ Believing that there are too many pills or treatment is too complicated | ∙ Believing that taking medications gets in the way of activities |
| ∙ Feeling tired of taking medications∙ Frustrated by having IBD | ∙ Running out of medication |
This article, as well as all others, was reviewed and edited by a member of our Medical Advisory Board.
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