The My IBD Care App includes a medication tracker feature. Here, we explain the value of this tool for those living with IBD and how medication tracking can help to minimise flare-ups, reduce stress, and allow you to better self-manage your IBD.
Medication is often the first step following a diagnosis of IBD and frequently forms an ongoing part of treatment plans. For those living with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, managing your symptoms is an extra task on your daily to-do list, but one that is made more manageable with support from your specialist and the tools that are available to you, such as the My IBD Care app.
Taking your medication with regularity is a key part of IBD treatment. Consistency ensures that any relapses or flare-ups are as rare as possible, so you can keep enjoying your life to the fullest. Ampersand’s My IBD Care app includes a medication tracker feature to help you self-manage your medications.
How Medication Tracking Works In The My IBD Care App
The My IBD Care app has been designed with simplicity in mind and includes a number of features to help you self-manage your IBD. One of the most useful features is medication tracking.
The medication tracker allows you to input all the details of what medication to take and how often. This can be set up for multiple medications, allowing you to see at a glance what your medications for that day are, which are ongoing and which you have stopped taking.
When adding a new medication to track, you can record the following:
- Date your start taking the medication
- Name of the medication
- Dosage of the medication
- Frequency that you should be taking the medication, including how long for and number of times per day.
- Reminders for taking your medication
When inputting your medications, you will also be able to set medication reminders. The number of reminders is set in line with the number of times per day you need to take your medication, and you can manually set the times of day for the reminders. All of your medications, doses and frequencies can be adjusted as you need to, in line with how you are responding to your IBD treatment plan.
A medication tracker can helps relieve stress
Any treatment plan for IBD will include a combination of recommendations, from dietary restrictions and sleep needs to medication. Often, a combination of anti-inflammatory drugs, immunosuppressants, biologics and a whole range of other medications may form part of your individualised IBD treatment.
As with anything new or in flux, getting into the routine of remembering what to take and when can be hard, particularly for those who are newly diagnosed. Having an app that allows you to easily input your medications, doses and times helps to take the pressure off knowing what to take and when.
The aim of the medication tracker in the My IBD Care app is to make taking your medications, in the right doses and at the right times, as simple and straightforward as possible. Once you’ve input your medications, and adjusted them as you develop your treatment plan with your specialist, you can set your reminders then forget about your medication until you get the alert to take a dose. Medication tracking this way takes the stress out of having to remember all the details about your medication needs.
Reminders make it easy to keep up with medication
Using a medication tracker with reminders is useful for those with IBD because often people will start forgetting to take their medication when they are feeling better. However, medications can only continue to do their good work if taken regularly.
Maintenance therapy (continuing to take your medication when you feel well) reduces the chance of flare-ups and the development of more severe symptoms. This is why it’s so important to find a way to ensure you are taking the correct doses of the right medications, with regularity, so you don’t have to experience discomfort unnecessarily.
Other My IBD Care app features to support you
Medication tracking is one part of self-managing your IBD symptoms. By tracking your mediation, along with other factors that impact IBD, such as sleep and diet, you can better see the correlation between what causes flare-ups and what helps to maintain periods of remission.
There are a number of parts to the My IBD Care app, including features to track: mood, diet, bowel movements and appointments.