What exactly does it mean to be remission?

for me, i don't ever use the word cuz it doesn't mean anything - i just live, some days are good, others not as much, but since i'm not trying to win any races, it just seems pointless to put a label on everything -

i either have symptoms or i don't -

Thanks soystud and notsosickygirl.

I am on one med, the salofalk suppository and have recently started on l-glutamine powder once a day on an empty stomach (5g). So far, the salofalk works great for me. I still experience symptoms if I cheat abit (dairy is really bad for me), but not too bad if i eat what i know is good for me. Ive been lucky in that I dont experience much of the cramping, or the urge to go (unless Im having a really bad day, then i could be running to the bathroom atleast 15 times in a day and will see all 3, abit of diarrhea, blood and mucus).

Im still working on finding what will put me into full remission, but as of right now, I dont say that I am in remission, I just say that the salofalk helps to maintain the flare and as long as I dont eat any of the trigger foods, I can go through an entire day feeling completely healthy. I am looking forward to the day where I can confidently say that I am in remission, or better yet, I am healed! :)

I attempted to change my diet hoping to go into remission without the salofalk, and it did not work at all. Bleeding has always been my main symptom and it was so bad that evert morning the toilet would be beet red, but now that Ive restarted the salofalk, I see abit of blood in the mornings, but thankfully not nearly as much as before.

Maria, you may want to consider giving mesalamine enemas a try. Suppositories are 500mg or 1000mg and they treat the rectum. Enemas are usually larger doses, up to 4000mg/4g and they are able to treat a larger area. They aren't as bad as they sound either... not quite as easy and convenient as a suppository but if you use it before bed and go to sleep, you will forget about it and it might help you get into remission.

In my experience, I never really reach true remission and am never off meds.
It's sort of a catch-22, if you stop taking meds, your chance of having a flare increases. Hopefully we will all have periods when we feel better, less symptoms etc, but personally I am pretty much always in a flare , or recovering from one, with small windows of wellness thrown in.

For me it means no signs of active disease. It doesn't mean cured. I experience symptoms occasionally but it's related to IBS, I believe. Diet including going gluten free ( a noninflammatory diet) has worked wonders.

I've said in other posts that I don't believe that IBS is even a real disease. I believe they made it up. The doctors can tell you what UC is. They can tell you what Crohns is. They can't even tell you what IBS is. All they can say is that if you are having UC or CD symptoms but they can't find anything wrong with you then they make up this disease called IBS and tell you that you have that. It is my belief that IBS is actually either UC or Crohns but that it just isn't bad enough to be diagnosed.

Yes sfc, that is exactly what I mean. They can tell you what IBD is but they cannot tell you what IBS is. Ask doctors or try looking IBS up on the internet, or anywhere else. They can't even tell you what it is. As you said, when you're having IBD symptoms and you have intestinal inflammation which is causing your symptoms then they diagnose you with either UC or Crohns but when they can't find anything wrong then they say you have IBS but they can't tell you what IBS is or what it is about IBS that is causing your symptoms. It is my belief that absolutely everyone who has been diagnosed with IBS (whether they have ever been diagnosed with IBD or not) actually does have extremely mild cases of either UC or Crohns that is just not bad enough to be able to be diagnosed as IBD. It may never get bad enough to be diagnosed as IBD and therefore it would always be labeled as IBS.

There have been tons of people who have had IBD and went into "clinical remission" and still have symptoms and the doctors fall back on the escape goat diagnosis of IBS. That's what happened to me. I was diagnosed with UC with no mention of IBS whatsoever and then when I was in "clinical remission" from UC but still having the exact same symptoms, all of a sudden the doctor claims I now have IBS, like I just magically came down with it after being "cured" of my UC. The truth is, in my opinion, that my UC never went into remission completely, it just got better enough to the point where I am in "clinical remission" because it can't be detected anymore. So, they add the diagnosis of IBS and basically tell you, "tough luck. We can treat IBD symptoms but there isn't much we can do for IBS". I find it almost hysterical that most doctors refuse to believe in a connection between diet and IBD but then when you're diagnosed with IBS all of sudden changing your diet would be a big help. Just goes to show you that the medical profession doesn't know jack squat about any of it.

IBS symptoms of non-inflamed UC is exactly what Patsy Catsos's version of low FODMAPs addresses for us. I can't get any Aussie source material to see if that's what Monash University is addressing as well, but I would assume so.

If a sensitivity to one of the FODMAPs contributed to the disease, and heavy symptoms are controlled by medication, it could make sense that lesser symptoms could be controlled by avoiding those triggers.