no meds

Generally no. Ulcerative colitis is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system attacks the lining of the large intestine, which causes inflammation, bleeding, diarrhea. Your medications, apriso, are anti inflammatory and hopefully treat al of your uc symptoms. Should you stop those anti-inflammatory medications then the attack continues until those symptoms return.

You are freshly diagnosed, in disbelief, so find it hard to believe you'll need medications for life. But you do. Your doctor did not cure you, as uc is incurable. Uc wil return with a vengeance if you don't take your medications.

I can only speak from my experience. I have always flared without meds and once my cramping/abd pain subsides, then I know I'm getting a handle on the flare. I don't think medication free is a good decision. Each future flare may become more difficult to tame.

is your doc a GI? was the DX done via scoping?

have you noticed a sensitivity to gluten or lactos? some with UC have no problem.

will you eventually do high fiber for the diverticulitis?

how long off steroids?

do you thin the pain is from diverticulitis or UC?

alot depends. you might be able to eat a lot of anti-inflammatroy foods and supplements and maintain remission. if you get a 2nd flare however, I would begin Aspiro/5-asa and stay on it.

I would love to be med free but in my case, no meds means flare symptoms. If you can remain without symptoms and not take meds, great, but most people with uc can't and it sounds like you are experiencing uncomfortable symptoms so if you want to be symptom free, medication may be the answer. Apriso is a pretty mild medication.

No meds for me is a big NO NO. I tried that already and got much sicker. Also, for me usually abdominal pain is indicative that I have inflammation present that needs to be treated.

It's a complicated gray area we're talking about here, no medication could worsen the situation or it could have very little impact on the way things will eventually unravel. Personally, drugs are a necessity for me, I can barely function without them, and things had gotten much worse when I went off of them for a while. However, I believe in letting people pick their path, if being on a maintenance dose is something that doesn't interest you, then discuss your decision with your doctor and quit taking your medications if you thoroughly understand the potential repercussions of your decision. I would advise against it, looking at how the average colitis patient benefits from being on a maintenance dose, but I won't adamantly plead with someone not to if they are completely set on going medicine free.