Going on prednisone for the first time

I started on 40 mg of Prednisone and stayed there for about 1 month. I started feeling way better- no more mucus/blood turds, less bloating, just felt normal again) in just a few days. Negative side effects have included increased irritability and sleeplessness, but then again I've always been a bit of a jerk and had issues with sleep. Am tapering down at 35 mg now (dropping 5 mg every 2 weeks for now) and am feeling about 95% normal....just have a bit of gurggling in myg gut. It might just be my mind...we'll see. I hope you get/stay well. However, if you're working 12+ hours daily and they won't cut you slack to see a doctor or take some darn sick leave...that'll kill you more that UC. Good luck.

Hey. Thanks for the words of encouragement.

I'm almost at the two week mark with the prednisone. My stools have been better throughout although there is still a tiny bit of blood and mucus now and then. Also, my stools aren't fully formed. I ate a huge amount of spaghetti yesterday and to my dismay, my stool ended up being reddish/orangish the next morning which I then realized was probably caused by what I ate.

So I'm not out of the woods yet. No perfect poops. I'm seeing my doctor on the 6th and am going to ask to either go up or down but I'm definitely not ready to taper.

In terms of side effects... just a tiny bit of facial swelling (not noticeable) and an energy boost. I get the occasional throbbing/tingling pain in my head and joints but it never lasts for more than a few seconds so it doesn't really bother me.