To z-pac or not to z-pac

All-

2-3 weeks after my initial diagnosis and c-scope, having been on 3600mg Asacol and 20mg Pred, I was doing real good- 2 mostly-solid BMs/day with no blood except when I had a drink or something greasy/spicy. Long story short, came down with a bad cough (actually, whole family did)- for the kids, pediatrician called it a virus as there were no symptoms except a persistent dry cough that didn't respond to antibiotics. I've had the cough now for close to 3 weeks, and the day it started was the day my symptoms started getting worse, quickly. Now I've got 3x (at least) bloody D in the am, 3x more (at least) bloody D in the evenings. And starting 2 days ago, started getting stuffy/sneezy/runny nose and I know it's my annual sinus infection that's about to hit.

My first GI follow-up is this Thursday. Was hoping everything would pass and start getting better so I can start tapering off the Pred (luckily, so far no side-effects). No such luck now. I know the sinus infection will last a few weeks unless I get on a z-pac. So, the question is, do I take the z-pac, get on VSL#3 at the same time, and hope things don't get worse, or wait it out, hoping things don't get worse either way? It might not do anything for the cough, which did make me worse, but it will help the sinus infection, though I'm not sure just how much worse that will make me quite yet.

Note- I tried VSL#3 for a week, 1 sachet/day, and got incredibly gassy from it, so I dropped it and was going to taper back up but never did.

Thanks all!

Great- thank you. I know if I go that route I should separate as much as possible the taking of the antibiotic from the probiotic- does it matter when I take the Pred in relation to the others?

I have that dry hacking cough too; I've had it since before Halloween. As a matter of fact, I was up all night with it...so I'm working on no sleep! After about 4 weeks of not feeling well, I finally gave up and asked for the Z-pack. It took away the sinus stuff and I felt a lot better, but I can't seem get rid of this cough. I even have prescription cough syrup. I'm not flaring, but I like the Z-pack because it's over in a short dose and doesn't seem to affect me as much as the longer term antibiotics.