I, on the other hand, had never smoked, but after a serious flare of UC, which I've had for 12 years, and finding that none of the medications seemed to work to control it, I gave smoking a try...very unhappily, but I felt I'd be hospitalized soon if I didn't do something drastic.  It seemed like my last hope and with all the research I did on the topic, I was very hopeful it would help.  Well, it did work. It helped dramatically within 2 weeks, but it took about 5 weeks to achieve full remission.  I smoke about 6 cigs a day.  I don't like it (the cigarettes make me dizzy although the dizziness goes away within a few minutes of putting it out) but it is so worth it, even with the remote risks involved.  I believe the risks are remote with light smoking compared to the high risk of complications involved in uncontrolled UC.  It's a strange sort of blessing but I really count it as that because I finally have my life back.