Am I one of the lucky ones? Or is it common?

So I got diagnosed in 2012 near the end of the year, and it was horrible as I went at least 4 weeks without treatment (or knowing what was wrong with me), and then I got treatment with prednisone and mezavant right after. The steroids really helped, and I was flare-free for an entire year!

Then it came back again and I was prescribed a small dosage of prednisone, and it was gone.
It wasn't until around May of this year that it came back once again. This time wasn't very nice because I tried going without the prednisone. After 4 weeks without prednisone, and with the mezavant and salofalk enemas not working at all. Well, honestly it was extremely hard to tell because I could barely notice a difference. I could get out of bed more often but I was still going to the bathroom around 8-9 times a day. I had to take prednisone again and after about a week I was back to normal. That was my last flare up since.

Now I'm not sure how long I'm going to stay in remission this time but my doctor has decided to put me on Remicade. I won't be taking the Remicade for quite a few months though.

So throughout my flares, I seem to be in remission for quite some time on average. The longest being a year, and the second longest being around a little more than half a year.
And I only seem to flare for about 3-4 weeks on average if I'm taking prednisone.

Is this common with people with colitis, to go in remission for that long?
I know for a fact there are people out there who flare up for months and months, and then they go into remission for about a few weeks and then back into another flare that lasts more months and months.

I think the reason my last remission didn't last a full year this time was because I had a smaller dosage of prednisone. And now that I've had a larger dosage, could I go into remission yet again for another full year?

I don't want to offend people who have long flares and short remission, just curious.

Now obviously I'm not lucky if the only thing getting me out of flares are the steroids, so hopefully fingers crossed the Remicade will help. Or hopefully entyvio will be available in Canada at some point. I hope entyvio produces good results!

On average how long are your flares/remissions?
Are my averages fairly common or am I lucky?

Just curious if you stay on the rectal meds all the time? If you don't, you should. Might help keep you in remission longer.

I don't think I would be jumping to Remicade. There are so many other meds to try first.

I was also wondering what you do to stay in remission. It is extremely important to have an effective maintenance plan while not flaring. It is a mistake to think that you can keep on going in and out of flares by simply doing the same thing. Most flares get harder and harder to treat as you are finding out by your decreased remission times. At some point that will get even worse, which is why I guess you are on the Remicade road. If you have an effective maintenance plan while in remission you might be able to avoid the Remicade road. The goal is to never flare again so it is better to take the more benign meds forever at a high enough dose so that you don't go in and out of flares all the time, requiring you to go up the med ladder time and time again.

Most all of the 5ASA's are benign, like mezavant. Please read the resources thread at the top of the page. It lists many options, both medical and alternative.

I flared from June 2001 until March 2006. I went through all the available medications and was on Entocort for the last three years. I was still going more than 15 times every day with blood, mucus, etc. I was waiting for Remicade to be available to me. In March 2006 I had my first infusion of Remicade and have been in remission ever since.

I'm not even thinking of stopping the Remi as long as it works and I tolerate it. I was far too sick for far too long to even attempt it.

Def suggest checking out the Resources thread. Or even renting some books from your local library.
Very easy to learn about all the drugs available.

Normally 5asa's are tried. There are "flare" amounts and "remission" amounts.
Same with Rectals - suppositories and enemas - mesalamine or steroid
Then steroids - prednisone, which you are familiar with.
From there it usually goes up to immunosupressive drugs like 6mp or Imuran.
And then Biologics - Remicade, Humira, Simponi and the newbie: Entyvio.

It is important to keep on your medications during remission.
your doctor should not be tapering you off Rectal Meds completely when you are in remission. If you read some of the "signatures" listed below people's responses, you will see, that a lot of people take Enemas weekly, despite being in remission, or long term remission.
Taking maintenance doses helps keep you in remission. You never know when your next flare might hit... and how much worse it could end up.

I def feel like we're missing part of the story if your doctor is looking at Remicade... even though you are in remission right now...

Were you taking prednisone for an extended period of time?

I think you should probably incorporate some rectal meds into your routine. Either mesalamine enemas or sallofalk suppositories. Where is the inflammation active according to your scopes?

Remissions can last anywhere from weeks to many, many years. It's very individual.