Question for all you veterans out there

Hi everyone.
I was diagnosed with UC about 3 years ago and have been coping with it fairly well. I've upped my dose of humor more than any of the meds, and it's probably the best medicine.
Anyways, my question is actually part out of curiosity and part out of concern given my circumstances. I'm in a pickle cuz of a lack of funds and currently can't afford my meds or even a doctors appt. I'm currently symptomatic (in a flare).
What's the longest some of you have had a flare before it stopped, either from meds or other reasons?
Thanks!

I was in one continuous escalating flare for 10 years although I didn't know it because I didn't understand that Rx pills were supposed to stop it. Not until I came here and heard from others did I realize that other people were getting relief and remission of one kind or another.

Mine just got progressively worse even though I took every med prescribed to me. I also tried many, many supplements over the years and tried many diets over the years. Nothing worked except the Rowasa enema and that just cut bleeding down temporarily but it always came back.

Mine had a happy ending (so far). I achieved remission through a combination of diet modification and meds. Did the meds help? Who knows, they weren't doing anything at all before diet got me better but since they have no bad side effects I keep taking them for now.

Diet mod. is something you can try without money or health insurance because it involves removing certain foods from your diet and seeing if that creates a happier colon. Start with removing gluten (do everything one at a time) for several weeks. See if you have anything positive. Then perhaps remove dairy. My food list was a moving target, very hard to pin down because certain foods (gluten for me) did not cause obvious reactions. Dairy also did not seem to be a problem but when it was removed along with other foods like carbs my gut started to heal and had fewer and better BM's.

At it's simplest eating meat/fish (protein) and eating non-starchy veggies are all you need. Easier said than done.

Good luck, the stress of no insurance is hard with any medical problem but take it from me I had 10 years of docotrs and every med available except Remicade and Humira (I drew the line there not the insurance co.) and I didn't get better.

Thank you all dearly for your responses. I apologize for not responding sooner. The email notifications (of your responses) ended up in my spam. I'm so used to my facebook notifications coming thru w/o a glitch I thought no one responded.

Yes, what everyone is saying is REALLY helpful. Knowing that symptoms/flares can persist for years is what I needed to hear. In my own, long list of various strategies for remission, I was hoping that perhaps the one I haven't really tried is uber-patience: just waiting it out and hoping my body--with proper diet and rest--would heal itself. Not always so. Ten years is a long time imagardener2!

And thanks for the diet drug recommendations. Thanks for the cautionary tale from notsosicklygirl. I'm currently practicing most if not all of imagardener2's diet recommendations, with some success. And I'll look into the drug recommendation by InSoFla about LDN. I'm not familiar with it.

The irony of my financial situation is that my insurance costs (I have insurance) have prohibited me from the out of pocket expenses (deductibles) for drugs, appointments. The psychological assurance with the insurance is in case of serious medical treatment, perhaps a j-pouch someday. Otherwise, my income has improved and I'm back on some my flare staples: Cortifoam, Canasa, and the cheaper-but ironically more effective at times--Prednisone and Azathioprine.

The forum has helped too. I've become more resigned to living with colitis and that in and of itself is a de-stresser.

Thanks!

Thanks for that imagardener2. I'll look into the L-g powder. Not familiar with it. I'll have to also try my VSL-3 regimine again.

I'm not sure my prednisone use/dosage has been that high, but I will research that as well to follow up on your word of caution.

Thanks.