2 1/2 years remission, no drugs + no diet

Remission is a big word that can be defined it many ways. I would speculate that you really weren't technically in remission during that whole time as your disease must have been getting worse all along, but maybe symptoms didn't manifest as quickly to be noticeable on the outside until the end. I would bet that if you had a colonoscopy one year into it, or even a CRP level checked, it would have revealed your inflammation returning. I find it interesting that you started your post off with 2 1/2 years but ended it with 2 + years. I'm not sure of your exact med timetable but Prednisone only works while you are on it and the results from that quit as soon as you get to the lower doses or off, unless your maintenance med keeps you in remission. It sounds like you weren't even on Asacol at that point. Prednisone can stop the immune attack, allowing your colon to heal but with no effective maintenance med, once you taper down and off the pred your immune system will IMMEDIATELY begin to attack your colon again. The point until you see symptoms returning again (flaring) would be determined by how well your colon had been healed in the first place and the speed at which your immune system is attacking. In your case, it seemed to have been about 2 1/2 years. The Curcumin and fish oil may have had a part in slowing the process down. You may have stayed in remission for a long time if you had stayed on prednisone for a long time but you were right to get off. Long term prednisone use is not the right way to treat the disease as it will destroy your body far worse than UC by itself will. Your doctor was an idiot for wanting that as your game plan and was taking the easy way out without and regard to prednisone's long term consequences on your body.

Well I'm happy for you if you can make it without any medication.

In my case, as soon as I'm off any medication, I start pooping mucus, blood and diarrhea. I cannot be without meds. Just my 2 cents.

I always stayed on maintenance drugs and I flared up eventually with each one. I wonder if it would have gone exactly the same if I had stopped my maintenance drugs. Probably.

I definitely understand where you are coming from. I'm of the opinion though that there are almost too many variables to accurately predict what hurts and what helps. Not impossible, but darn difficult.

Someone posted an article once that claimed stressful events could trigger flares-six months after the stressful event occurred. I know that sounds ludicrous and I can't remember any of the specifics from the article/study but I'm just trying to say there are so many variables: medicine, food, time, exterior environment, interior environment (other bodily processes directly or indirectly impacting the IBD process), lifestyle, exercise, whatever. It's kind of overwhelming when you're trying to track progression/regression and the things that affect it.

UC is a very unpredictable disease. Although it's great, 2 1/2 years isn't really a long time to be symptom free. I don't believe it's a good idea to go med free. This disease can (and will) rear it's ugly head at any time. 2 months, 2 years, two decades.......

This is why I did not start Humira, would be customer for life and never really know if I could have made it without it.

I used to think little of maint meds because I would be headed to ER whilst taking them. I think it is good to take them BUT I can wreck any chance of them helping me by consuming the wrong foods or wrong supplements. For example the literature says L-DOPA would aggravate UC and after wondering what was up 24 hours later I found that and returned it. It was overpowering my maintenance med. I found L-DOPA in 2 pre workout drink powders and am now very wary of them. I somewhat agree with the OP.

I think the general consensus is that going treatment free (I'm not going to say med free) is usually a major mistake. The thing to remember is that colon damage either takes forever to heal, or some of it never heals. So, the worse you let your condition get by not treating it in some fashion, the harder it is going to be to treat and it may even reach the point where it is almost untreatable.

Using the IBS argument, if colon inflammation from UC causes colon nerve inflammation and damage, the nerves may never heal and you could have IBS forever, even if the inflammation in your colon is down to "clinical remission" due to treating UC with meds or whatever. This is one argument for jumping on treatments and staying on them before your condition gets too far out of control. Even though treatments often fade in results over time even if you maintain a strict regimen, I believe not treating is a far worse option. Many people who are actually against meds can often let their UC get so far out of control that even the stronger meds have little effect. Once your colon is damaged you are already behind the eight ball.

I would still stay on your meds once you achieve remission as you dont know if it will or wont make you flare faster
i would assume that had you taken the maintenance meds you would not have flared "as soon" or as badly as you are now

Well, I can be the experiment. I have been allergic to all meds so far or had bad side effects. I'm in remission now so my doctor says to wait and see what happens. He agrees this is highly unusual and for most people not advised, but being that I am unique case we'll see. I'm very scared, but don't really have an option. doc says we'll treat when I flare. There are a few more options like smoking, I am an ex smoker, or drug trials for when the flare hits. I would love 2.5 years or longer of course, but my doc says 80% of people flare within a year. We'll see...