Recently diagnosed. Standard treatment

Hi.  I was just diagnosed with U.C. about a month ago.  I had no symptoms other than bleeding.  Dismissed it at first because I had been eating tons of peanuts and fiber.  After the bleeding continued for over a week, I made an appt with a GI Doc.  I had several bouts of diarrhea (nothing alarming) and about 3 days of stomach cramps, which went away.  The bleeding continued.  My Doc scheduled a colonoscopy and found that I had U.C.  It does run in my family, so I wasn't too surprised.  The Doc stressed that my colon was in bad shape, and showed me the pictures that definitely showed active bleeding.  I went back to see him 2days later and found that my biopsies were all fine and was put on 3 Lialda per day, along with 1 pkt of VSL3 DS daily.  Within 2 days I was blood free and feeling great.  I am continuing to take the 3 lialda and pkt of vsl3 ds per day.  After 3 weeks, I went back for a check up and told my Dr that I felt great, only 1 (sometimes 2) normal BM per day, no cramps, no blood, no mucus.  Here's what I'm questioning....  he told me tht I need to continue with what I'm doing until September (3-1/2 months), at that time he might cut my dosage of Lialda down if I continue to do well.  He plans on keeping me on the Lialda for a full year, even if I am symptom free.  In the spring he will do a colonoscopy and if it looks good I can go off the meds at that time.  Does this sound correct?  It seems pointless to take the meds for a full year if I have no symptoms, but if that's what I need to do, that's what I'll do.  Can anyone offer any insight?  I realize that I will probably have problems again in the future, but have read that people can go into remission for years without problems.   Are they staying on the meds while they are in remission or going off of them?  Do you have to continue taking the meds to stay in remission?  My dad has suffered for 30+ years and expects to take Asacol twice a day for the rest of his life because he's constantly battling his UC, but he tells me that at my stage I should expect to be able to stop the Lialda unless it comes back.  Can anyone tell me what they had to do when first diagnosed?  thanks! 

Hi Eil,

It is not unusual to stay on maintenance meds forever once you've joined the UC club. That is what my doc told me 36 years ago.

You're very lucky that Lialda and the VSL bit so fast. The colonoscopy will at the end chart your future care. Most probably, if things continue to improve, the doc will lower the dose. The probiotics is good whether you have symptoms or not.

If I eat peanuts or lots of fiber, I'll have a flare up for certain. In general, nuts or excessive fiber are not good for UCers. We're a diverse group, what works for some, don't work for the next person. Diet is an important part of fighting UC, though.

I've been in remission for over 15 years without any meds, and I could eat just about anything (I'm a vegetarian). There has been several shorter - 1 to 3 year - remissions with little maintenance meds or nothing during my UC life (I should have continued to take the maintenance meds).

The better you educate yourself on your individual condition - not your father's, and take care of yourself with proper diet and things like VSL#3DS, the better you most probably envelope yourself from worse UC condition. This site is a treasure trove of information. Read a lot.

If you father takes only a few Asacols daily after 30 years, he is doing fine - make that excellent.

The biggest mistake you can make is to think that you are not a member of the UC club and these matters don't affect you. Take care of your colon and maybe it will never get worse.

Good luck to you.