I had my first colonoscopy and the doctor said everything looked great, he gave me clean bill of health and told me to come back in 8 years. A few months after that I started to have gas, bloating and blood in my stool. I went back to the GI specialist who gave me antibiotics which did nothing to improve my symptoms of bloody diahrrea and gas. After finishing the AB's I went back to him and he said the only cure then was removal of the colon. I went home and cried. I did not want to eat anymore, because immediately afterwards or during a meal I was running to the bathroom. I lost weight and probably was getting anemic. I found a new doctor referred by a friend. He did a colonoscopy and diagnosed me with UC. First he put me on a tapering dose of Prednisone, which calmed down my frequency to the bathroom and also improved the diahrrea in a few weeks. I also was started on the Asocol HD tablets 800 mg 3 in the morning and 3 at night. This helped, but occasionally I got flareups and had to go back on Prednisone every time I had a flare up. I also gained 30 pounds and developed the "moon face" about the 3rd time I was on it, which is awful! Never want to be on that again! I was given Imuran to try, which caused severe vomiting and diahrrea about ten minutes after ingestion. Finally in research of my own, I started taking Probiotics supplements, I also eat the greek yogurt too. This helped me become regular with only 2-3 bowel movements in the morning. I started feeling better, started to exercise and lose the added pounds from the Prednisone. It seems during the holidays, not sure why, I flare up a little, probably from the stress. I started to search again for a natural cure, as I don't like taking pills, especially steroids. I went to the health food store and found Aloe Vera Gel a natural antiinflammatory and Chlorophil another natural inflammatory, drinking both of them 4 times a day. My flare up subsided with these two products. I also started taking Bromeline capsules with each meal. Bromeline is another natural antiinflammatory made from pinapples. This may not be for everyone, but for me it has helped get me into remission. I am feeling better than ever. Only 1 or 2 BM's in the morning and are very solid stools. The only thing is now my prescription insurance is not covering the Asacol as of January 2014, so my doctor gave me samples of Lialda. Did not start them yet. I am not happy to change to this medicine as I am doing so good on the Asacol. I will let you know what happens when I start. I am hoping I can tolerate this with no side effects. I was even going to try to wean off the Asacol because I was feeling so good now, but I have to talk to my doctor about this first. 