New to the forums!

Hi Guys,
I was diagnosed almost a year ago (September 2010). The abdominal pains started during my high school final exams, so we thought it was just stress for the first few months.... it took about 5 months to diagnose the disease, at which time I was given steroids and afterwords Pentasa. Only the Doctor underestimated my disease ans the Pentasa wasn't strong enough.... so I had my 2nd flare. I was immediately put on steroids again and put on Imuran on top of my Pentasa. unfortunately Imuran takes 3 months to kick in... during which I had another flare. But once the Imuran started going everything finally cleared up!
Been in remission since June 2011

The first part of your story sounds familiar, and also not that good. But hooray for remission!

Congrats on your remission! I'm currently trying to get into remission after my first really bad flare. I'm in the process of weaning off the prednisone and i'm down to 2mg/day now. I'm really scared that I'm starting to get symptoms again...when did you have your second flare? Immediately after ending the pred? I was just diagnosed, so I'm really new to all of this...

It actually took a little time between the first and second flare.... but I was such a mess that I had no idea which symptoms where from the second flare and which symptoms where just 'leftovers" from the first one.
The best advice I can give you is to take a big breath and relax.... personally, I've found that stress is a big factor in my flares - they always showed up immediately before or after big tests. So worrying too much about whether or not you've got another flare isn't going to help...
If you think you're getting another flare, talk to your doctor before finishing the pred. treatment. I understood Flare-ups right after preds happen when you get off them too soon, so maybe if you' still on them there's a way to fix that.

Good Luck! I hope you get to stop taking those steroids as soon as possible, I hated them....

Hi and welcome. Interesting name choice...

I am so happy to hear you are in remission thanks to Imuran. I hope the good times keep rolling!