holistic healing and probiotics

I am new to this forum. Here is my story.
After about a year of running the the bathroom every morning 6-10 times a day; something i figured was just normal for me, i had an onset of new symptoms for the past month or so. Bad abdominal cramping, swelling, and blood on the stool. The worst was the constant feeling that i had to go...now, over and over again, with nothing to show for it.
After about a week of that, i started reading forums such as this, and finding my diagnosis...UC w/ sigmoiditis.
I have to admit, the amount of medications you share scare me. Mainly because some of the lists are long, and there is little information about getting off these pills. Synthetic meds scare me.
I want to fight hard to achieve relief naturally. Do any of you have success stories to share?
so far here's what i did;
I cut out ALL carbonated, alcoholic and caffeine from my diet. I started on a pro-biotic called "Pro-bio 50." I have to say, it has changed my stomach 95 %. My stools are my stools are solid, and there's No more cramping or inflammation either. And iv lost a few pounds since I started. I'm wondering if any of you out there are on a holistic path to health and what you have found to be helpful. I have found this probiotic to be extremely helpful for me. thanks..
Jewl
Pro-Bio 50 probiotic 1 capsule per day
miso ginger broth 1/5 cups per day
multivitamin
tumeric-banana-aloe vera mixture, 1 per day

ushippedyourpants?
Can you please tell me more about them? i am here to gather as much information on UC as i can. I also thought i would share what seems to be working for me. Sorry if it sounded like a pitch.

Does anyone know what the percentage of people with colitis end up receiving a cancer diagnosis?

I understand your inclination to want to be drug free and natural (my DW works in environmental conservation and we have two Toyota Priuses in our driveway, we try to eat healthy, eat local and organic, garden without pesticides, etc.). However, the reality of your situation has now changed with your uc diagnosis. Your medication-free philosophy and disease severity may be wholly incompatible. Yes, a very few can go medication free (often after many years of trial-and-error, as there is no easy solution that works for all), however, the vast majority of uc patients cannot do so. Medications are a part of our lives and essential to maintaining our quality of lives. Uc is caused by your immune system attacking your large intestine, and it can be rather aggressive in a lot of us. As such, rather strong medications are a necessity.

The only sure-fire way to successfully go medication-free is surgery, to have your large intestine removed.

I would encourage you to take your prescription medications. As well managed uc reduces the odds of uc spreading to a more severe form (uc can spread aggressively within the first 5 years of diagnosis). You're likely prescribed mild anti-inflammatory medications, if you keep them up then you may never need the very strong medications some of us take (my hardcore uc medications have small odds of causing lymphoma...).

did you have a colonoscopy done by a GI doctor?? i couldn't tell by your paragraph. it sounds like you diagnosed yourself based off of symptoms...