Ah, "REMISSION".
Well after 2 years since diagnosis with no remission (no time of formed stools, no times of more than a day or two without blood, no time without some mucus - or even mucus/blood only bowel movements) I am starting to despair of "remission". But I still have a few drugs and some alternative therapies to try.
But if I got to a point where I was stable at just a few semi-formed bowel movements a day with only occasional blood/mucus, I might start to think of that as a kind of remission - as long as it was stable and prolonged. BUT it is not a question of my goals or of aiming for less than 100%. This is not fair and makes it sound like not getting well formed stool with no blood, mucus, or urgency is a matter of not having strong enough goals. I think for some folks a high-level of management is all the available therapies seem to provide. I was home-bound when first diagnosed with 30+ BM daily and lots of cramps/pain. Eventually I got out, with a few scrambles for restrooms in groceries or restaurants or offices. Now most days I have an hour or so of unpleasant time in the mornings, and then can function till early evening with just a BM or three and maybe 1/2 Tylenol3 tablet. I get to work, I shop, I even attend a play or community meeting every now an then. If I improve some more and become confidant about traveling on planes and/or staying at other's houses, I might think of this as a kind of remission and refer to episodes where I had many BM, unmanaged pain, and accidents as a "flare". Especially if after a few weeks, I could get back to high-function.
Maybe we need another word. Something that is not as complete as remission, but does denote high-function and "as good as its going to get" - at least until something new comes along.
Heck, while we are at it we need more words for flare. For some this means an uptick of symptoms and possible Pred taper, for others it means severe diarrhea, lots of blood and mucus, and home-bound or hospitalized, yet for others it means still having one well formed stool a day but starting to see a little blood and/or mucus. I know we can say mild flare and bad flare ...etc, but it boggles my mind the range of symptoms/afflictions that the word flare is forced to cover. And, what do you call it when you are having active symptoms (presumably flaring), but you get a few days/weeks of much much more active symptom. Super-flare? Flare-flare?
If nothing else, the imprecision of "flare" and "remission" undermine the utility of advice here because it is never clear exactly what change someone else is reporting. Several times I have hungrily read a post that announced some food/drug/therapy had ended a flare in just a day or two, only to learn as I read that the flare in question was just some small appearance of blood on otherwise well formed stool, or just a couple of days of recent-onset diarrhea.