Do you mostly just stay home?

During a flare I find myself pretty much a homebody. I don't even force myself to spend much time out and about unless I know I'll have easy access to a rest room.

In remission, I live a 100% normal life. I don't give bathroom access a second thought. With true remission I have one solid be a day with no surprises. This should be your goal. Whether you reach it through the proper meds or diet mortification or a combination of both, this should be your goal.

I stay home during a flare up. My last one was nearly 18 months and people would literally have to force me to leave the house.

Often I wouldn't eat anything for days at a time to enable myself to go to work, or events, I was obligated to attend.

Yes I am pretty much housebound during severe flares and my partner shops for our supplies when needed. I have been flaring for 4 years now.
I am looking forward to getting into remission so that I can get out more and also start enjoying my hobbies here at home again.

Even when flaring I would continue daily activities outside the house. I will never let this disease dictate my life. I will beat the crap out of it until it submits.

This was possibly being in denial at the time but no I never stayed home. I did have a lot of workarounds like getting up at the crap of dawn if I had a 9 am appointment. Also used Immodium tablets (liquid actually caused BM's) plus Pepto pills (ditto the liquid and chewable types=bad for me) and those little blue RX pills for gut spasms, those 3 together shut the gut down for hours and the next day no repercussions.

I also knew where every single toilet was on my way and one trick I had was to drive to Walmart (even if my appointment was opposite direction) because a walk through Walmart guaranteed a final BM, the one that would not happen at home. Was it psychological? Maybe, maybe not, other people have commented that Walmart does this to them too. Haha.

When I am super, super stressed (hurricane Irma stressed) I have worn a diaper but maybe wearing it calmed me down because have never ever needed it.

I haven't needed the Walmart walk for a couple years now and mornings are as good as they've been "almost" pre-UC.

I can't tell anyone how to handle their flare but I seriously will not let UC run/ruin my life.

During my current flare, I limit my outside activities and really weigh the risk/reward for leaving as sad as that sounds.

When I was in remission from my diagnosis to November 2016, I lived a perfectly normal to the point where I would say, "this disease isnt so bad"

boy did i learn quickly that this disease is a monster when you're hurting. if i can get into long term remission with a few week flare every few years, i'd be very content and feel i could return to my normal life.

In my final flare, which got really serious for about 18 months, I struggled to keep up with life. I managed to keep on doing my job (I teach at a university), but I had to plan everything carefully. I arranged my teaching so it was all on the same day. I would fast for the day before, to minimise BMs during teaching. I would get up really early and spend a long time on the toilet trying to clear myself out. But even then my teaching days were a nightmare. I was exhausted and hungry, and was far more focused on listening out for the next BM than on doing my job itself. I wore Depends and visited the bathroom (to pass blood) between my lectures. I also did the same whenever I had to be at committee meetings.

Looking back I'm not quite sure how I managed to cope. I guess a mixture of economic necessity, and the grace of God.

My commute to and from work was a daily nightmare - lots of jumping off buses to find the nearest toilet in a shop or cafe, or running home from the bus stop to use the bathroom, and ending up late for work. Family life outside the house was almost impossible. I couldn't join my wife and kids on trips anywhere, unless it was to someone's house where I knew I would have instant bathroom access. We had small kids at the time, which meant we were largely housebound as a family.

I decided to have surgery when I was 32, as this wasn't how I wanted to be - if I had any say in the matter - during this phase of my life (and especially for my wife and children), and have no regrets about that decision. I've now got a j-pouch and love my freedom to live again. I would describe my life with UC as existing, but not flourishing. Life now is pretty much back to normal.