Living with IBD

Key points

  • Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a lifelong condition that can be treated to maximize time without symptoms.
  • Most people with IBD lead active lives with long periods of remission (symptom-free).
  • Work with your doctor to find the right treatment: take medicines as prescribed, find the right diet, and adopt healthy habits.
  • Seek mental health support if needed.
Healthy food surrounding chalk illustration of bowels.

Everyday life

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) refers to a group of life-long diseases affecting the intestines.

Living with IBD

Individual experiences with IBD vary by disease type, people, and across time. However, IBD can have a large impact on quality of life, and coping can be hard.

  • Physical symptoms can come and go, ranging from mild to severe.
  • The disease and treatment can disrupt normal activities.
  • Depression and anxiety are common in IBD patients.

Most patients lead active lives with long periods of remission, despite occasional flare-ups.

Creating a care plan with your health care team

Senior African American man with bald head, white beard and glasses reading medicine bottle.
Prescription medications are commonly used to treat and manage IBD.

IBD has no cure, but the right treatment can:

  • Manage inflammation (swelling).
  • Ease symptoms.
  • Address nutrition deficiencies.

Talk to your doctor regularly

Work closely with your health care team to optimize your treatment plan.

  • Tell them about how you feel, your symptoms, and your experiences with flare-ups.
  • Be honest about your life, diet, and activities.
  • Keeping up with medication is the best way to control IBD symptoms and flare-ups.

Healthy habits

Diet and other health behaviors can help control IBD symptoms and flare-ups.

A photo of a smoothie bowl accompanied with sliced avocado and banana.
Following your treatment plan maximizes your time without symptoms.

Find the right diet

There is no single, perfect diet to reduce symptoms and replace lost nutrients. So, it is important to pay attention to your individual responses to food.

Keep a food diary

To identify foods causing digestive problems, keep a food diary.

  • Each day, list what you eat and your reactions.
  • When a food seems to cause problems, run a simple test:
    • Stop eating it for a couple weeks, then start again.
    • If symptoms went away and returned, that food is likely a trigger.

Understand inflammatory foods

Generally, eating habits known to be most inflammatory are:

  • Greasy, fibrous, spicy, and milk-heavy foods.
  • Caffeinated, carbonated and alcoholic beverages.

The least inflammatory are:

  • Soft, bland foods.
  • Eating smaller meals every two to four hours.

Other important health behaviors

Additional behaviors include:

Manage your mental health

Living with a chronic, often painful, disease is not easy. Maintaining mental health is just as important as managing physical symptoms.

Plan your day. Be intentional, create structure, and build-in ample time for rest. Plan activities you enjoy, and try to maintain a positive anticipation for them.

Discover your circle. Find support groups and get involved with the IBD community. There are many IBD resources for patients and caregivers.

Learn wellness. Discover CDC resources about emotional well-being, mental health, and coping with stress.

Finding help during a mental health crisis

Icon of Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. White letters on blue background.
The 988 Lifeline Chat and Text connects you with caring crisis counselors for emotional support.

Call 988 if you or a loved one is suicidal or experiencing a mental health crisis.

Help is confidential, free, and available 24/7/365.

The 988 Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States.

  • Call or text 988
  • Chat at 988lifeline.org
  • TTY users can use their preferred relay service or dial 711 then 988
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Content Source:
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
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