Uh-oh.........pred?

I've had Uc for 18 years but I have never been on prednisone. I went to my GI as a follow up for my hospitalization this past weekend and he took me off Allopurinol because I might of had an allergic reaction to it (technically I've been of it since Thursday night). So he wants to raise my 6mp back up to 50mgs and wait two weeks. If in the two weeks I am still in pain, he mentioned throwing me on pred. I told him I really don't want it but he said that we may have no choice, that I need to get the inflammation down in my Tranverse and Ascending colon. I find myself getting a little anxious over possibly starting pred because I am very sensitive to steroids.

He had a fellow in the room with him when he was examining me and told him that I am (or was?) a strictly left sider so when I have pain on my right side that they should definitely take note.

He also said that starting on Remicade will be my next step. Not quite sure how I feel about that yet.

This year has been a crappy one Two bladder infections, diagnosed with Dry Eye, had blood in my urine, threw my neck out 3 times, threw my upper back out twice, found out that I have Rosacea and then of course the Uc flares.............I hate this getting old crap.

Did he say how long you have to be on pred? I have been on it for 3 months now, and I will be off it hopefully by the end of the month. Everyone is different, but what i am experiencing with it is extreme hunger. Did your doc say how many mg you have to be on? My nephew is on remicade and he loves it. Helped him so much.
Hope you get some relief soon.

Here's hoping your bod responds again to the 6-MP. If you have to try Prednisone therapy, be sure your doctor has an exit strategy-- for example, what dosage he would start you with, and how soon you could likely begin tapering. As Jano says, that med can make a person ravenously hungry, among other side effects. But look how well Fruitgirl did on it, and was able to taper off pretty quickly. We never know! It helped me right away when I was in a severe flare that nearly blocked my left colon. I know this has been a tough year for you with many ups-downs. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

I was on prednisone for 14 months. If I were to do it differently, I would have jacked up all other arsenal (for me it was Asacol, Rowesa and Canasa) for the purpose of strengthening my back up meds so I wouldn't be so dependent on pred and could taper off easier. My other meds would kick in and take over where the pred left off.

Good idea Q - supposedly Entocort has less side effects right?

Thanks everyone for the responses. I read about the evils of pred all the time on here and what worries me the most is that it will increase my anxiety. I already take Klonopin when I need to but I don't want to rely on it because it can be addicting. *sigh*

Well, it's "topical" rather than systemic. So are the steroid enemas... A better choice from my perspective at this point.

I'm sure the doc will have you try it...

q