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Hello everyone! It's great to find a forum focused on our disease. A little bit about myself...I am 33 years old and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when I was 10. I am just now taking the time to learn about it. At first I was like, whatever, I will be on medication for the rest of my life. Due to 4 flare ups in the past year, I am now being more mature about it. 2 out of the 4 were due to the quitting of smoking. The other 2, including the 1 I'm experiencing now, were due to an antibiotic that I was on for 2 long. It is pretty stressful, as we all may know. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Thank you for listening and I hope to keep in contact. God Bless.

Hi NextGen1 and welcome to the forum!

I'm not saying to pick it back up but studies show that smoking is beneficial to UC patients http://ibdcrohns.about.com/cs/ibdfaqs/a/smokingguts.htm. Mainly the nicotine itself but the same results weren't shown for the nicotine gum so research is ongoing. Personally I'm wondering if electronic cigarettes may be alright but I'm not sure if it would be AS helpful as smoking regular cigarettes. Not suggesting that smoking is healthy or anything, just some information to share.

What medications are you taking now? Feel free to check out the UC subforum: http://www.crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=69

My doc told me nicotine calms the stomach muscles. Unfortunately for me, I got asthma from it and smoked 2 packs/day. Also, I tried the vapor cigs last year. Had a harder time breathing and turns out I was allergic to the propellant. Screwed either way. I do agree though, smoking does calm the stomach.

Forgot...I'm on Asacol 12/day. 4800mg. The most you can take. Got off Prednisone 1 1/2 months ago.

Did the Prednisone help? I mean are you still actively in a flare?

As much as I hate to admit, since side effects are so bad for me, it did work. Trying to avoid going back on it.

Nobody likes it. Just wondering if maybe you might do better with a different med besides Asacol or adding a med to Asacol so you can avoid going on Prednisone so often. It just sounds like Asacol alone isn't enough.

I did wonder that myself. I decided to keep the line of communication open with me doc. I usually disappear while in remission. After looking over the forum, I noticed there are many people on multiple medications. I'm going to mention that to my doc when I call Monday.