Why IBD?
Why Me?
Life is hard for Joanna. She has to be aware at all times of the location of a bathroom and is in constant fear of an accident. This has put a big dent in her social life, and she often turns down invitations. Joanna’s joints hurt, and she is much more fatigued than she thinks a 27-year-old should be.
Does this sound like you? I hope not. But perhaps you react this way when your inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is active or undertreated. IBD is a lifelong condition, but it does not have to be “an illness.” What’s sad about Joanna is that she has become angry, complacent, and disillusioned about her situation. She dwells on the idea that she can’t be cured. Once you give up, nothing is going to help you. Joanna has repeatedly refused referrals to a medical center that specializes in treating IBD, despite the urging of her doctors. She puts faith in the doctors she has always gone to and expects them to know everything. She stops her medicines without telling anyone, for one reason or another.
She relies on the local hospital emergency room when she finds herself in need of urgent care rather than keeping her appointments. She reads Internet sites that scare her more than educate her and takes advice from well-meaning but uneducated friends, neighbors, and coworkers. She won’t take the vitamins her doctors suggest even though she knows she is iron deficient. She often asks, “Why me?”
It’s obvious to everyone but Joanna that she won’t help herself. We doctors understand that some people can’t be helped, but some people won’t be helped. Although there is no cure for IBD yet, we have ways to treat it that are improving every day. But any physician can only do so much. The plain truth is that, when you have IBD, how you fare is your choice. Please believe that there is a path to making peace and finding health when you live with IBD. You can find your own way by taking control of your body and your disease and learning all you can about responsible things you can do to help yourself. This book has reliable information on how to live your best life. Having met and cared for thousands of people facing IBD, I am convinced that you have the ability to succeed at living with and managing your IBD.
