What's next?

What meds are you currently taking and at what doses? Generally speaking, the stronger the meds, the harsher the side effects.

I think I meant to ask what meds were you on and at what doses during the time that you were in remission.

For now I would continue as is and see if you can tough your way through this. If you happen to reach remission once again with this strategy you should take note that doing what you did before during remission did not work to keep you there. This time around you should stay on the 8 Apriso and continue doing the enema at least once per week anyway, if not twice. You should do this FOREVER. UC never goes away unless you take enough meds to keep it away. The minute you let up the UC will be back and what worked before either won't work again or won't work as well again. That's where you are at now. It is better to take these more benign meds forever rather than cutting back, flaring again, and then having to take the harsher meds. As I said before, the stronger meds generally always have more severe side effects. One thing you might want to try if you do get back to remission is to ask your doctor to let you keep on taking Uceris once or twice a week to stay in remission. It is generally only prescribed for two months and then stopped, mostly because that's what was done in the studies. I personally think it is stupid to just quit taking the Uceris totally after those two months because you might flare again and taking Uceris once or twice a week for long periods is actually much safer than taking prednisone for long periods and doctors prescribe prednisone for long periods all the time. That's something else that is stupid. It's also possible though that your insurance company will not let you refill the Uceris once the two months is up.

You've got a long time until colon removal.
lots of meds to try before then too.

Not everyone has harsh reactions either. Prednisone is the worst to me.
but there are immunosuppressive and biological medications to try before surgery. As well as supplements, life style, and diets.

Good luck!

Ps. I am with Gary on basically everything he said; keep up the maintenance doses or UC will creep back in!

If you are on the border and feel good but not great and are unsure if you should go... PLEASE GO

After I was diagnosed I never got into remission. And suddenly got worse.
If I had known that I was going to be bed ridden soon... I would have spent those couple months of feeling "crappy" doing stuff I missed out on for the following 8 months.

Just a suggestion :)

I know what it's like being stuck at home though. It's rough. Get's lonely. And gets ya down.
Pack some Depends and extra Immodium and go out there and try to live some life!! :)

Maybe you can try a different 5ASA? Some people do better on one vs. another. You could also try a rectal steroid. Cortifoam seems to help some. Really, in order to get things managed, it is good if you know what part of you colon is inflamed. If it's in the rectum than you should try to hit it hard with rectals.