Long Predisone taper?

A slow taper is always better in my opinion both to ensure you continue to respond to steroids and to make sure you don't go into adrenal crisis. I taper from 40 mg by 5 mg each week which is standard. As I hit 10 mg I then taper by .25 mg each week.

Absolutely do not stop taking your mesalazine while you're on the prednisone!!

I am jealous of your slow taper. I've been on prednisone twice. The first round I started at 40mg for a month and the second time at 20mg for a month. Both times I then tapered by 5mg/week. I don't think that was slow enough as I felt absolutely terrible for the week after being completely off pred. I had horrid horrid constant headaches for a week both times. No painkillers even made a dent in the pain and I had to take the week off work both times. You are lucky to have a slower taper!

An 8 month flare isn't good, what have you tried differently during that timeperiod (changed medications, changed doses)? Are you taking any suppositories or enemas (salfalk can be an enema, suppository or pill; you didn't specify).

Yes, take your mesalasine while on prednisone.

There are many, many different taper frequencies for prednisone tapering that depend on how long you've been on prednisone (the longer you've been on it, the slower the drop). After a continuous year on prednisone, my last few drops were 1.5mgs every two weeks.

Thanks for all your replies, I'm glad I posted as I wasn't sure about continuing the mesalasine whilst on the Predisone, my GI didn't specify either way and so I just assumed to start one drug, you would finish the other.

I'm not currently bleeding although I have done at times over the last 8 months. Im currently pooping 20+ times a day with mucous.

Over the last 8 months I have mostly just continued taking my Salofalk granules 1g x 3 daily. My doctors were initially reluctant to put me on anything else as my flare started when I was in my third trimester (where I also developed gestational Diabeties and anemia), it has continued through the birth of my daughter and over the last five months.

When my daughter was a few months old there were a few dark weeks where I couldn't get from the chair to the bathroom fast enough and I regularly pooped myself 😕 I upped my Salofalk to 4gs a day and also took some Salofalk enemas i had lying around in a draw. ( I was initially prescribed enemas when first showing UC symptoms but when my first colonoscopy showed pancolitus, my GI stopped these in favour of oral meds). This is when my Gi started talking about Predisone.

I was really opposed to the Predisone as I'd seen a friend taking it and the side effects she suffered from were awful. My GI didn't offer me an alternative, he actually led me to believe there weren't any! He said there was a drug escalation timeframe and you needed to try out each step before moving onto the next. From memory his timeline was mesalasine- Predisone - immune (? Can't remember the name)- immune suppresents - surgery.

I'm also surprised you think 25g of Pred may not cut it, that's all he prescribed so I would hope it would be enough to make a difference 😟

I wonder why I was only put on 25mgs then? Perhaps because I'm still breastfeeding?

Thank you for all the information, it'll be good to go and see my GI armed with lots of knowledge as it means I can question him on his choices & understand why he has decided to go down the treatment path he has.

It does sound like I should have been prescribed enemas along with my pills for some time now and he hasn't done this, he also told me the max dose for mesalasine was 4gs. I'm not sure if it would have made any difference over the last few months but it may have, I suppose I'll never really know but it would have been good to give the Salofalk the best possible chance of sorting me out before putting me on the Predisone.

It's only day 2 but since taking the Predisone I haven't had a single bm, fingers crossed this is the beginning of the end to this flare

Thanks again for all your advice 😊