Prednisone Tapering Question

I haven't had to post on here in quite some time, thankfully I was doing quite well with maintenance meds until the last few months. I had weight loss surgery (sleeve gastrectomy, not gastric bypass so my guts weren't rerouted) but the surgery threw me into a flare all the same. This is par for the course with me, I also flared after having my daughter by c-section - I think it's just a result of anesthesia and general physical trauma from surgery.

Anyhoo, I of course waited too long to call my doc, thinking I could just up my use of the Rowasa enemas to stop the flare . . . finally threw in the towel 3 weeks ago and called my GI. He started me on Entocort for 2 weeks (3 pills a day) and I had NO relief. I called him back this week, he called in prednisone, and I started it yesterday morning.

Here's my question - he wants me on 60 mg for a week, then a taper down to 40 for a week, then 20 for a week, then 10, and then 5. All my research shows that anything faster than a 10 mg taper can be rough . . . I'm hoping that the prednisone works as well as it did last time for me, and if I have quick relief I'm considering a 10 mg taper after 5-6 days, and then continue downwards from there only at 10 mg rather than 20 perhaps every 4-5 days rather than waiting a full week. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this from any of you pred veterans. :) I'd much rather end it sooner rather than later if I can . . .

Also, one of the provisions of my post-surgery diet is loads of protein, minimal carbs - I can only eat a limited amount so they definitely want a focus on protein. Do any of you think that could be impacting my UC and the flare? Pre-surgery I was one of the lucky folks who didn't notice any significant changes to my colitis regardless of my eating/drinking habits, but I also didn't power-load protein then, I was eating a more balanced diet of protein, carbs, and veggies/fruits (and if I'm being honest, I was eating probably far too many carbs!).

Thanks - what I thought too. I think I'll manage the taper very slowly, as much as I hate to be in pred for a long time I also don't want the nasty side effects of tapering too fast.

Anyone have any thoughts/advice on the question about the high-protein diet?

Tapering is different for everyone. There's really no rules set in stone according to my GI. You basically have to listen to yourself and use trial and error.

I seem to have been OK with a 5mg/week taper until I got to 5mg then the blood came back and I had to go back up to 20mg to get rid of the symptoms. I think it may have also something to do with having my period the earlier week, so this time I'm holding fast at 15mg though my period week and an extra week before tapering down to 10mg. I may start going to 5mg by switching daily 10/5/10 for a week to see how it goes.

I did try and go from 20mg to 10mg but got dizzy and headachy then blood in toilet came back. Luckily going back up to 15mg fixed it.
I'm also on a bowel rest diet so at least food is one less variable in the picture. I heard diet changes can also affect pred taper.