Think I’m flaring - how did your flare start?

I’ve been in remission about 5 months after a round of biologics and maintenance through Mesalazine and Azathioprine.

The past couple of weeks I’ve noticed my frequency increasing and a few explosive movements. Same again today and that stabbing pain in my lower left bowel 😭. I’ve had that awful cold going round the UK that made me feel awful for about 4 weeks (the immunosuppressants made it a nightmare to shake). Body was under stress from that, and combined with a house flood 5 days before Christmas, and now my car breaking down. It’s not ruining my life (flood hasn’t caused much damage and I fixed the leaky radiator, car isn’t a drama as I take the train/tube to work, plus my fiancée just got her first car after passing test). But I think the combo of physical and mental stress has done a number on me.

I’m also fairly confident stress was a strong contributing factor to my original UC. First thing I’m doing is stopping coffee and reducing my fibre.

I’m going to see how the weekend goes, and then Monday (unless I have a very good weekend and feel okay Monday) I’m going to give my IBD line a call (we leave a message for the nurses who usually call back within a couple of days).

So… if you flared after a remission period, how did it go? Was it worse than your original, was it harder to get out of, did you just go back to a past medication that worked or did you try something new?

Really I’m just looking to read about various experiences to settle my mind about what’s to come. That’s not to say I don’t want to hear about negative experiences - I’m happy to. It’s more the not knowing what to expect. I’ve been there and done it with 10+ urgent diarrhoeas a day so I know I can get through it 😅