Ulcerative Colitis: Why Do People Ignore Treatment?

I love to write. I love to research. This article left me somewhat depressed. It is easy to see why people don't continue with treatment or even seek treatment; fear, denial and the unwillingness to accept the prescribed treatment for ulcerative colitis. That is seen simply by trying to research for the article

Part of the control of ulcerative colitis, by proof, is less stress. Yet, people consider the reference to that as insulting.

I feel that the research sites I have listed answer the question we are studying in this article. It would seem to me that because of the dramatic and personal nature of treatment, not to mention some of the forms of surgeries such as the removal of bowel sections, explains why people avoid treatment.

Today we live in an internet society, not to mention television. With cable channels there are hundreds of infomercials daily; frankly some "medications" are little better than "Old West Magic Elixirs". Yet when it comes to deciding what road to take, television medications or their doctor's advice, ulcerative colitis patients often choose the former.

Early symptoms of ulcerative colitis may not be intense. Many people can live with chronic cramping and frequent diarrhea. When the symptoms become more severe then they sometimes seek treatment. After the initial symptoms are brought under control, if there is a flare or if the symptoms return worse than ever, then fear sets in.

One sad fact is that many people bring relapses on themselves. They think they are "cured" and they stop their medications. Then the symptoms return and the disease progresses.

This mentality is not limited to ulcerative colitis. One reason that there are so many suicides among manic depressive patients are that they feel better so they go off their medication, then, they get depressed and kill themselves.

One thing it seems we as human beings have a problem dealing with is the chronic illness. We can't seem to accept that we have an illness and it isn't going to go away; we are used to our culture which says "take a pill and it will be gone".

Why do people ignore treatment for ulcerative colitis? People can be ignorant, people can be fearful, people can be stubborn, people can be lazy and finally, people may not truly believe that ulcerative colitis presents a threat to them; they may feel somewhat invincible, especially younger patients.

There is another reason people ignore treatment. If a person has already had a major surgery, they may wonder what there is now that can be done; it scares them.

Getting treatment for any condition is annoying and, in some cases difficult to face, however, as patients, in the long run, we are always better off letting the doctor know where we stand.

References:

community.homeandhealthtv.co.uk
fixherpes.com
biblelife.org