What causes flares?

I asked my doctor once and he said, "If I could answer that I'd win the Nobel prize for medicine!"
For me, flares are brought on by colds or viruses sometimes but not always.
I usually flare late summer and around Christmas, but not always.
Running myself too hard and/or not getting enough sleep for a long period seems to contribute but not always.
In extremely stressful situations and sometimes for a year after (medical emergency in the family in which I'm prime caregiver, etc) do not affect me at all.

For me, allergies, antibiotics and getting sick are my triggers.

Deep continual stress/distress. Can be from colds or being sick or seasonal...but it's always when there's the emotional distress involved. I hate being sick with colds because I don't recover extremely fast and I have to cancel my clients and other appointments.

Seems to nicely coincide when I'm on maintenance meds..lol..

quincy

My flares seem to be seasonal. Mostly around summertime. Medicines provided do not even help with my flares, but adjusting my diet does help.

Qvist, when you have a cold or the flu your immune system revs up to try and combat the virus. It is thought that Uc is a product of an over active "confused" immune system so when the immune system revs up, it can once again mistake the colon (or whatever it attacks in there) as a foreign invader. That in turn can cause a flare.