I didn't "fail" the drug. The drug "failed" me.

I'm currently reading Meghan O'Rourke's book, "The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness." It's an absolute must-read for everyone here, especially those who feel unseen, unheard, and misunderstood. It details her personal journey with chronic illness and the research and systems that surround her experience. There is some talk of UC as it runs in her family but regardless, there is so much in it that is applicable to at least my experience with UC.

One section that stood out is how oftentimes the doctors and medical establishment put the blame on the patient. And here in this forum and in others I'm involved in, it's very common to say "I failed Inflectra" or "I failed Remicade." I am 100% guilty of this by the way. I thought that's just the way we talk. But this came from somewhere. And it's likely from doctors who tell us as patients we have "failed" X drug or X medicine or X treatment. When really, it's actually the opposite that is true: The drug has failed us! The treatment has failed me! We didn't do anything wrong here.

I believe changing the way we speak about failing drugs can only empower us as patients to not blame ourselves or our bodies for not responding to certain medicines. It's enough that we are in horrific flares, struggling with the day-to-day, we don't need put the blame of Inflectra or Humira or Stelara not working on us. We are not the failures here.

Onward!

Their drugs suck, that's why they fail. The average remission rate for biologics is 29%.

You point out a problem with the language that doctors use when talking to patients. They could stand to learn some lessons in client-directed care.

Yep, I ALWAYS say the drug failed me, not vice versa. Words matter.