Social netnography also revealed that individuals thought about the negative side effects they experienced after taking biologics when making decisions on whether to continue or stop these medicines. In this example, the individual developed intolerable side effects and subsequently decided to discontinue the drug:
I have a moderate to severe case and was pretty quickly put on [Biologic X]. It worked pretty well for me, but after the first couple of years I started noticing more of the side effects of the drug. I would have dizzy spells, cold spells, and constant infections all over my body. Because of these side effects, and because I know these drugs only work for so long on most patients, I decided to take another route.
By contrast, the individual below found the side effects to be more tolerable than the symptoms from IBD, and ended up continuing to take the biologic:
I am currently on [Biologic X], in fact I'm going to get a treatment today. I always feel sick for a few days after... flu-like symptoms and very fatigued. I usually feel this way for about 3 days after. But it's worth it for the relief of my Crohn’s symptoms.