new to forums looking for tips for ulcerative colitis

Hello and welcome! I am so sorry you're struggling with this (Or he is - both of you). I personally have not had success with diet but a lot of people have. I am not sure why some people are able to control things better with diet than others. It is worth trying. To be honest, 6mp/Imuran probably aren't the worst things in the world, the chances of cancer are very low and if you're not going to take anything with that risk, you're at the end of your options. I believe everything beyond 5ASAs have some risk of cancer unfortunately. Is he using rectal meds? They can be very helpful. I tried SCD and my symptoms didn't improve one bit. It's funny how when you read about the diet, it sounds like it's going to change your life.

Why did he switch from Asacol to Apriso?

hi there. welcome to the forum. I also have inflammation higher up. I've been on imuran for 8 years and can say other than some initial headaches when I first started taking it it has been fine and has certainly helped keep me out of flares. He will have quarterly liver function tests to make sure it isn't bothering him. Humira is a more serious drug than imuran, both from a delivery perspective and from a potential side effect perspective. If he can get to remission with asacol and imuran, that's not a bad place to be.

Although technically in remission I've never returned to fully normal (diarhea and mild abdominal pain), so have been trying dietary approaches at the same time. I started with SCD and had some initial succcess until it seemed to stop working. Am now trying Auto-immune Protocol (removes nuts, egggs and dairy--bascially just eating meat fruit and vegetables) with the goal of seeing what on the prohibited list I can add back in. Am having great initial success with AIP (like a full return to normalcy). But it is very early days. I will see if it wears off too or if this is the right approach for longer term symptom management. Diet changes are strangely random and personal. They clearly work only for some. I would say they're worth trying, since if they do help it's another tool to use to manage the illness.

thank you all for your responses. It has helped me to know the odds of 6mp or Imuran are 4 in 10,000 and the untreated UC inflammation is much more dangereous due to colorectal cancer. I am trying to help my son make the right decisions concerning his treatment but have told him ultimately it is his choice and will stand by his decsions. Of course we both wanted to try the holistic approach first. Dr switched him from Asocol to Apriso as it appeared the Asocol was no longer working for him. He was diagnosed with UC 2 years ago and did well with the Asocol for a year. He had a small flare after that and was on a low dose of Prednisone which put him back into remission until November last year when he had a terrible flare thru February. Predisone dose kept being upped all the way to 40 mg. Again in remission for about 6 weeks, now in a mild flare, bleeding and D most days. It limits his activities and he gets depressed. He feels he is like the only younger person with UC.
So it sounds like most people in this forum have had pretty good luck staying in remission with Imuran or 6mp. Maybe this will be his next step. He needs to get into remission so he can lead a normal life.

In addition to all the great advice, please keep a food diary. I believe that once in a flare, certain foods can make it worse.