Supporting and educating patients and families on the intestinal failure,
intestinal rehabilitation and intestinal and multivisceral transplantation journey.
Importance of Compliance
Intestinal transplant is a major procedure. It can be very challenging at times and hard to manage. It means your child has to take a number of medications. Your child will have to change their lifestyle as well. It can be overwhelming at times, especially for a teenager. It is very important to keep working closely with the transplant team to keep your digestive system healthy. The team is there to help you during the hard times.
Non-adherence means failure to follow-up or to adhere to a treatment plan suggested by your transplant team. It happens most often in children and teens between 11 and 20 years of age and even in young adults up to 24 years of age. It can cause loss of the intestinal or multivisceral transplant. The teen years are times when feelings about independence, body image, and acceptance by peers are very strong. Some of the transplant drugs cause changes in how a person looks (i.e. steroids and moon-face) and can create a problem with body image. Taking medicine throughout the day may become socially awkward as well. It can all be very frustrating for a teen.
Non-adherence can happen in different ways:
Not taking medicine on time or as instructed.
Not keeping up with medical appointments.
Not getting needed blood tests.
Not taking medical advice about diet, activity, or other issues.
For more information about non-compliance, please visit this page.
