For those diagnosed with "mild UC"....what does your maintenance program look like?

UCChick - That's great news, I'm so happy for you! Thanks for sharing. Was the Asacol not working well enough, so you added the Azathioprine? Sounds like you never did any rectal meds? How far did your UC reach? I'm wishing you a lifetime of remission!

MarjieKay - LOL, GoPro, iphone, Digital... lots of cameras on our adventures. I'm trying to figure out how to exchange email addresses without typing it here directly. Anyone know?

Thanks Ipoop!

MarjieKay - grab my email and let me know when you have it, so I can hide it again.

PhotoGirl - I actually just listed the meds I have taken since my last major flare, which I was hospitalized for in 2002.

From my diagnosis in the fall of 2001 to then I had taken other meds. I've been on Asacol since the very beginning. It started out as 3 pills 3xday and was later upped to 4 pills 3xday. I was given prednisone, which pushed me into remission after my first hospitalization in Sept 2001. I tapered off of it. I was also given Flagyl during my first hospitalization. It had the worst metallic taste and it ended up being responsible for some nerve damage in my feet. It felt like my feet were asleep 24/7. It drove me up the wall. I complained about it enough my parents eventually asked my doctor about it and I ended up seeing a pediatric neurologist. I was given Neurontin, which fixed the nerve problem. Then I was hospitalized in June of 2002 with another flare and dehydration from lack of appetite. I believe I was given prednisone again. Then one of my doctors brought up Azathioprine. Back then, I don't think it was widely used for IBD. It was mostly given to transplant receipiant patients. I think we decided to go ahead and try it because prednisone isn't a drug you take forever and the weight gain side effect was not fun either. I'd been hospitalized again, so Asacol wasn't doing the job alone and I was only 11, so surgery was an extreme last resort. The funny thing is I was given a low dose for my weight, but it seems to work for me. I also did two or three infusions of Remicade during that year of my UC ups and downs. In August of 2002, I had some abdominal pain and ended up doing an infusion in the hospital. It had an immediate pain relief effect and I went home afterwards. I haven't had a flare or any symptoms I classify as painful since then. There was one time when I was in college that my labs came back with a high ESR (I think that's the initials) and my GI at the time upped my Azathioprine to 100mg from 75mg. During my next menstrual cycle though, I had some really bad cramps. The worst I've ever felt. My mom called the doctor and he said to stop Azathioprine for two days and then go back to the 75mg. I don't know whether the med had anything to do with it, but I've not experienced anything like it since. When I graduated college and had to get an Adult GI, Asacol was being discounted, so I was switched to Asacol HD 2 pills 3xday. And a few years ago, I was a bit anemic, so my GI had me take an iron supplement.

But no, I never took rectal meds. Maybe because I was a kid. I don't know.

My colitis went from rectum to maybe midway up the left side of the colon. At least that's what my colonoscopy pics from that year indicate.