(Deleted)

Pred is weird, and different for everyone. For me, 40mg of pred gives me an initial hit of brilliant, blinding euphoria before the side effects kick in—primarily diarrhea. So, I never get any relief in the form/frequency department, but any non-hemmie bleeding typically subsides in about a week or so, and I have a bit less pain and am slightly more functional. The doc and I have determined that I just don’t respond fully to it, which is a thing.

So I guess I’m saying nobody knows how long it will take to kick in for you, or to what extent it will work. Helpful, non? 😉

Are you using it to bridge to another therapy? Cause if the 5-ASAs aren’t going to be an option I would want something lined up (a biologic, perhaps) and to be using the pred to get me within the response timeframe. I wouldn’t just float on pred.

Prednisone can work in 24 hours to two weeks to show improvements. The first variable is that you must start with the ideal dosage for your current inflammation. The second variable is the more severe the inflammation and damage from the flare, the longer it takes pred to kick in and make you feel better. Prednisone does not directly heal you, rather pred just stops the immune attack which enables your body and other meds to heal you.

I would not loose hope at 3 days in, it might take a week or more if your inflammation is moderate. I'd give 2 weeks for severe inflammation (and say 40mgs or more might be needed for that eventuality). Unfortunately, there is no easy button or instant-gratification with UC. Rather healing is a very slow process that requires a lot of patience!

Can you talk to your doctor about splitting your pred dose?

I’m on 40mg and have to do 20mg am and 20mg pm, otherwise I was peaking and troughing noticieably. Splitting it helped distribute the relative comfort a little more evenly.

I agree with iPoop, request a higher dose. Before doing that though, definitely get stool tests to ensure you're not dealing with an infection that needs to be treated.

30 mg is too low. I've never had a doctor start me lower than 40 mg. Last summer 40 didnt help and I had to take 50 for a week. I am flaring again and started on 40 today and I already feel tons better within hours of taking my first dose. You should notice at least some relief within a few days. I always take my entire dose in the morning.