Eighteen Months with IBdoc

In this months blog I thought I’d share an article I wrote to evaluate my experience over the last eighteen months using IBDoc.

I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “you create your own luck” well I did exactly that by writing an article for Alpha Laboratories Perspective magazine in Autumn 2015. The article resulted in the amazing opportunity for me to test IBdoc as a client; I have been using Ibdoc for over a year, it’s now time to share my finding.

The number one finding for myself since beginning the IBDoc trial. I have found that my anxiety levels have dramatically decreased; I haven’t felt the need to call the IBD line or prompt my GI secretary to try to move my next appointment up. Of course the reason being is in no small part due to the IBDoc - It has reduced the “waiting time” down to hours instead of days or weeks, which means I’m not constantly second guessing or monitoring how I feel, which I find mentally exhausting. The reassurances the results provides for me is priceless. For the first time I can actually have a small understanding and control of what’s going on in my bowel with out visits to the MRI scanner or the dreaded colonoscopy.  I’m also very mindful that my fantastic GI team don’t have the recourses to be on hand 24/7 so that pain I had felt last night or that extra trip to the loo doesn’t result in me calling my IBD nurse for reassurances she can’t give me. On reflection I haven’t called my IBD nurse once since I began the IBDoc trail.

I believe what IBDoc has allowed me to do over the course of the last year is fundamentally educate my self in understanding my disease state. I now have just over a years worth of hard data to discuss with my GI.

Figure 1

One of the cool features with IBDoc is the ability to track ones Calprotectin levels over the course of time. Within the IBDoc app is a great feature, which shows a time line of your Calprotectin levels.

Looking at my data for the year, we can clearly see that I’ve managed, with medication and diet to remain roughly between “ Normal” and “moderate” the average result over the course of the year was, 138u/ug, I consider this to be satisfactory (apart from the huge spike which was due to an Easter meal) as my GI is comfortable with results below 200u/ug.

 (Screen shot from the Ibdoc app)

Crohns disease is a physical condition, we know that of course, however one cannot underestimate the mental pressures this disease presents. So I may have an upset stomach or my bowl movements my have increased or I may feel nauseous but I know after a year of using IBDoc I’m not going to end up in A&E with a stricture or spend weeks on a ward waiting for invasive procedures to tell me I have little or no inflammation.

Having Crohns disease for twenty-seven years has taught me many things, fundamentally that patients need to self manage, and IBDoc is one powerful tool in my self-managing tool kit. I wasn’t expecting IBDoc to provide me with the answers to everything; using IBDoc I haven’t suddenly found a miraculous cure, I’m still searching for the “perfect” diet and optimized plan however, I believe IBDoc has contribute significantly to both the physical and mental aspects for the management of my disease.