🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) course.
Crohn's vs UC
Both autoimmune. Crohn's anywhere GI; UC colon only. Treatments overlap.
Learn ItWhy Biologics Matter
Anti-TNF, anti-integrin, anti-IL-12/23 etc. revolutionized IBD.
Learn ItSpot Emergencies
Perforation · severe bleeding · obstruction · sepsis — 911.
Learn ItTriggers
Stress, NSAIDs, antibiotics, certain foods, smoking (Crohn's), missed meds.
Learn ItDisease Extent
Where + how severe — drives treatment intensity and surveillance.
Learn ItDaily Adherence
Biologics need scheduled doses. Missing builds resistance and flares.
Live ItLab Monitoring
Inflammation markers, drug levels, immune cell counts.
Live ItDiet Strategies
Highly individual. Some triggers universal (high-fiber during flare).
Live ItVaccines + Travel
No live vaccines on biologics. Travel meds careful.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring symptom diary, bowel pattern, weight, biologic schedule.
Live ItYour Care Team
Gastroenterologist (IBD specialist), surgeon, dietitian, sometimes rheum.
Live ItTracking Apps
Bowel diary apps, biologic reminders, food trigger logging.
Live ItInsurance + Biologic Cost
Most expensive class of meds. Manufacturer assistance vital.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
IBD is invisible and isolating. Survivors-helping-survivors valuable.
Share ItAdvocate
Bathroom access laws, biologic coverage, research funding.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Newer biologics, microbiome therapeutics, oral small molecules.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
IBD has remission and flare states. The ladder catches flares and complications.
Handle at home
- In remission
- Following biologic or other meds on schedule
- No new symptoms
- Routine labs normal
Log it. Don’t skip biologic doses.
Call the office / message the portal
- Increased frequency of stools
- Mild abdominal pain
- Running low on meds
- New medication from another doctor
Same day. Catching flares early prevents big flares.
Urgent / Acute care
- Persistent bloody stools
- Severe abdominal cramping
- Significant weight loss
- Persistent fever
- Side effects from biologic (infection signs, joint pain)
Urgent care or GI urgent slot.
ER NOW / call 911
- Severe abdominal pain with fever and rigidity (could be perforation)
- Heavy bloody diarrhea with lightheadedness
- Vomiting blood
- Severe vomiting + no stool (obstruction)
- Sepsis signs (high fever, fast heart rate, weakness)
Call 911. IBD complications can be life-threatening.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Diarrhea 6-8 times daily for 5 days, a 6, started after I missed two Humira injections during the holidays, eating makes it worse, fasting helps, and I’ve had low-grade fever.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD):
- “Am I on the right biologic or other immunomodulator — are we maximizing it?”
- “What’s my disease extent (UC) or location (Crohn’s) — does that change my plan?”
- “Cancer surveillance — colonoscopy schedule for long-standing IBD?”
- “Vaccines: which can I have, which can’t, on immunosuppression?”
- “Pregnancy planning, surgery prep, travel — how do they fit?”