No Pain No Gain?

Taking medication and following doctor's orders is a lot easier when you can really feel or notice beneficial effects.
This also works in the opposite way.

Just like with diets - in health, if you don't see or experience some kind of benefit, it can be painstakingly difficult to keep up with a proper regimen.

For instance, if you are on a prophylactic medication simply to prevent an episode of something that can occur because of age, it can be hard to remember to take it. You don't actually *know* if it's actually doing anything, and you don't know how high or low your risk is for an event. You can only hope that it is doing what it's supposed to.
In that same idea, if you suffer from an illness that has not caused any bothersome symptoms, taking a medication for it can seem pointless. If the illness isn't actually causing any pain or physical deterioration, and if the medication is not reducing any obvious symptoms, remembering to take that medication can be difficult.

I am sort of lucky (okay not really).

Some of my diseases have very obvious and noticeable symptoms.
If I miss my medication by just one hour, I can feel the effects of that. If I miss my synthroid, I start to get sweaty, shaky, and experience way more hot flashes. If I miss my miniscule dose of estrogen, those hot flashes come on quickly. If I miss my pain medication, my pain will shoot up to an 8/10 suuuuuper quickly. If I miss my antibiotics - there will be blood in my stool within a matter of hours, and I will be in IBD hell within two-three missed doses. If I miss my Berinert, my body starts to expand. It feels like in the scene where Harry Potter makes his Uncle's Sister essentially turn into a massive balloon that floats up into the sky.
Some of the other diseases I suffer from are more subtle. My Vitalux, for instance, is a prophylactic medication that *may* help to slow down the progression of my Macular Degeneration. That's a big deal - but there is no real way to tell if it works or not. I sometimes forget to take it. I am not proud of that, but it does happen. My eyesight, however, is a pretty damn big deal, so I am mostly consistent.
My methotrexate is another one - I can miss a couple of weeks of MTX before I start noticing the effects (like more bloody bathroom breaks). If I forget one week, it's not the end of the world. And since MTX carries with it some pretty bothersome side effects and can cause even more when used consistently long-term, it is not always a bad thing to miss once in a while. And with that said, it means that I sometimes forget my Folic Acid - which helps prevent the ulcers and lesions that appear in my mouth from the MTX.
Vitamin D is another one I can sometimes forget - and it seems to help ward off my worst migraines. (Although I have had a severe migraine every single day this month....).

For those who take medication for blood pressure and can't even feel when something is wrong - that can be a difficult regime to keep up all the time. The same goes for any other illness that cannot be felt or noticed, as well as any preventative medication.

The point is - in most cases it has been absolutely proven to make a difference. You may be reluctant - many people are - but the whole idea of it being 'better to be safe than sorry' makes a strong case.
Like lifejackets.
Okay they can be uncomfortable and don't always seem necessary, but if anything were to happen, it is 100% your lifeline. Better to have it and not need to use it than find yourself in a situation where you are in desperate need of it, but do not have it.

You may not always feel the benefits - but your body will thank you for it.