No Meds = No UC Symptoms ???

Same thing happened for me before. I was on prednisone then started weaning off of it as I increased my 6MP dosage.

Then I thought that I should stop taking it and i was even better until I started drinking hard liquors on the weekends at Boston parties.

But I did flare with something else in my digestive tract including the colon. I had yeast and I went on anti-yeast regimen with some antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory herbs and I got it under control. The doctor couldn't believe that I had Candida in my digestive track until the stool studies were done.

Med free for almost two months but I may start taking Asacol due to my G.I. recommendation.

Madabs, I would recommend just really careful with your diet while you are med free. And get much exercise as much as possible. Especially, Cardio. Also, if you are feeling nauseous, then it means your pH of colon is off usually due to inflammation. So I would recommend food that make your body alkaline and avoid refined sugar as much as possible.

I also had my all whole colon bleeding when I was first diagnosed. Bleeding diarrhea 20 times a day and I know how it feels.
I wouldn't estimate the fluctuating symptoms of UC but still if I were you I would cancel the Remicade infusion.

Maybe taking like Aloe Vera Juice as your supplement might do good. It made my appetite go up even more and I'm NEVER NAUSEOUS. I can eat right after waking up and it's been just great for me.

Hope your remission stays forever :)

Some folks experience increased symptoms with Asacol and do better on a different ASA - I'm one of them. Perhaps you've been reacting to the 12 Asacol a day.

From what I understand, 6MP stays in your system for a while (like a few months?) when you stop taking it. I'm not sure if this is true. I stopped taking it in December and my symptoms stayed the same, but after about 2 months of being off it, I started feeling really lousy. I'm now experimenting with LDN to see if it will work for me.

I totally understand your problem. I have made the mistake of think of going off meds and thinking I didn't need them. I would be very careful and talk to your GI before you cancel any treatment. I voluntarily went of Remicade a few years back when I was in remission. I'm paying for it now, trying to get out of a bad flare.

I've noticed over the (many) years that sometimes changing things up brings change, sometimes for the good. But it's always short-lived. It always rears itself again, too soon. That's why I go ahead and stick with my Asacol. You can see from my scopes where it has reach, because that part stays more healed.

The way i look at it is that no body wants to go against what doctors say. And that's great b/c Dr's dedicate most of there lives to these type of things so they obviously know more about this than the average person. If a dr says you require maintenence drugs for any condition he's only going to say this b/c he knows that the facts are that they greatly reduce the risks associated with the disease in the majority of people or in everybody. That being said, UC is a very serious and dangerous disease so you want to be very very cautios with your treatments.

Personally i have chosen to go without prescriptions for several reasons. The main reason being is that i did improve when I got off maintenanvce levels of both azathioprine and asacol. i was on those 2 drugs since initial diagnosis and a lot of the time as well. I would go into flares and remissions so i figure i know a lot more about my body by now with that experience. So while off Prescriptions I improved significantly and started feeling better than i had since I got UC. In fact that was the only period i gained a weight back. So feeling healthier and looking healthier has made me think that i'm better off now than when taking prescription drugs or at least that combination that i was on.

It was also interesting that my first flare off prescriptions was a little different than the prior ones while on presciptions. It was diffenent b/c i had way more joint pain than was typical for me and i felt horrible and definately not mobile enough to play basketball like i love to do. But on the other hand i was in remission and "better" remission longer than i had ever been since my initial UC diagnosis and the flare didn't last as long as they used to.

So in my opinion i have to say that you take in all the information you possible can and analyze all your symptoms as best you can and make a decision based on everything and what everyone tells you. Doesn't make much sense maybe but UC doesn't make much sense.lol Good luck!