How to be an Informed Partner in your IBD Care

To be an informed partner in your own care,  it helps to be able to know the following about your IBD:

• Do you know if you have Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, or indeterminate colitis?
• Do you know what part of your intestines are involved?
• Do you know what year you first starting having symptoms (how long you have had IBD)?
• Do you know if you have had any strictures, fistulas, or abscesses in the past?
• Do you know what medicines you have taken in the past? Why did you stop taking each one? Did the medicine improve your symptoms?
• Do you know if you have had surgery for your Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, or indeterminate colitis? When did surgery occur? What parts of the intestines were removed?