wow a fair few questions there
You should be seeing your GI as needs be. If all well and good its normally every 3 months at least (due to being on imuran), but as you have just started it (assuming that as you are only on 25mg) it could be a lot shorter. When i was flaring badly it was every wk to 2wks.
A flare is anything majorly different from normal which lasts over a few days (maybe a week). You will get bloating and maybe discomfort from time to time, but if its a problem and lasting for a while, or pain, continous bleeding etc thats what i define as a flare
If you feel better with the meds then they are working, if you feel bad or getting worse then they arent. Dont expect to feel like normal again, but you should still be able to live life (maybe without certain foods and drink) when not in a flare
If you look at your original post you will see certain works underlined. Click these and it will give more information on them from our very own wiki (theres a forum wiki button at the top(ish) of ther page which will give you loads of info about other things as well).
4000mg of pentasa is normally the loading dose to help calm things down, if it works they may lower it (can be increased if not azacol and mezavant are other types of it). If you read the instructions with the imuran, along with a calculator, you can work out how you should be on for your weight. They will start you off on a small dose to see how your body takes it
Hope that answers some of your questions
