Does my new GI give a s**t?

I had to get a new GI that accepted my new ins. I wrote a thread earlier about it. He changed my prednisone from 30mg two times a day to just 20mg once a day. He switched me from sulfasalazine to asacol. I started feeling really bloated and having just dark liquid BMs and i just felt overall crappy after starting the new meds/dosages. After two days I started having bad withdrawal symptoms from the prednisone. Everything I was feeling fell right in with withdrawal. Muscle aches, headache, nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure ( i nearly blacked out in my kitchen). By this time it was already the weekend, doctors office was closed. So i started taking another 30 mg of pred. bringing me closer to where I was but still 10mg less a day and the withdrawal symptoms started dropping off.

I called my GI today and got an assistant, I told her what was going on and she said she'd tell the doc and get back to me. She eventually did and she told me the doc "checked off on it". I asked what that meant. She said that everything should be fine with me increasing my pred to 20mg in the morning and 30mg at night. I was a little thrown off, then I asked about the asacol. I had told her that was making me feel crappy. They told me to stick it out till the end of the week and see if things improve.

So, apparently I can just adjust my pred. on my own. *** is that? There didn't seem to be any kind of concern. I wasn't sure about this guy from the start when he told me he was going from 60mg or pred to just 20mg just like that. Every thread I've ever read, every article about pred. always talks of tapering very gradually to avoid adverse side effects. I'm not scheduled to see him for another month, isn't that a long time to stay on 50mg of pred? I was on 60mg for 2 and half weeks. Shouldn't I be tapering over the next month? And isn't tapering only initiated after your symptoms are mostly under control which mine weren't? Could it be that the crappiness I'm feeling now is a result of the dramatic drop in pred? Would you try to find a new GI? Because I want to.

HELP!

That's weird. Do you think he didn't hear that it was 30 mg TWICE each day? Because 30 to 20 makes some sense...

Anyway, I suggest that if you start to improve, call about going down to 40, then 30, etc. and manage it yourself, don't wait.
Go to the next appointment, then trust your instincts and decide if you should try another GI! Or if your calls get weirder, go ahead and change!

BTW, I pretty much decide for myself how much prednisone to take and how fast to taper...but that is with more than 20 years of experience! (I suggest you take the 30 in the morning and the 20 in the afternoon. Assuming you have good reason not to take it all in the morning, which would reduce it's effects on your sleep).

I don't think it is common to drop your prednisone dose before your symptoms are well controlled. Going from 60mg to 20mg while you're still experiencing symptoms has got to be unheard of. Although, 60mg is a high dose and most people start at 40mg. Were your symptoms improving on 60mg? I wouldn't think Asacol would have more side effects than sulasalazine, actually i've heard the opposite but I guess it is different for everyone. I don't think giving the Asacol a little time is a bad idea. Are you on any rectal meds? What part of your colon is effected by the Colitis?

Have had UC and PSC since 9th grade, im now 33. The only thing that ever worked was pres. but that is bad for your liver. 3 years ago i quite all meds and started taken Metamucil Fiber pills twice a day for a month, only needed to take them for two months then i could not go so stop taken them, and i have been almost normal for 3 years.