New member and newly diagnosed

Hey everyone! I've been reading posts on this forum for a couple months now and decided I should introduce myself and maybe get some advice because I don't really know what else I should do but watch and wait.
I was diagnosed in August 2014 with UC, but originally had symptoms in March when I got diagnosed with c. diff. I got put on flagyl for that and most of my symptoms went away. I still had 5+ BMs a day, but they were no longer bloody and down from the 30/day. I thought I was cured until June when all of a sudden I was back to having 20+ bloody BMs a day. I got retested for c.diff multiple times, all which came back negative, but the clinic doctors put me on more flagyl which I was on for 2 months, since it sort of helped. I was in the process of moving states and then going back to college, so I didn't get the chance to go to a GI until late August after the semester started.
I got my colonoscopy done a week later, had the diagnosis of UC and was put on Lialda 4.8g/day, which did absolutely nothing and was beyond expensive ($800 after insurance). A week later he put me on prednisone 35mg/day and told me to start tapering 5mg every week. I had a followup a couple weeks later when I was on 25mg. The pred helped a little, I went from 30+ BMs a day to 20+, which is definitely an improvement, but hasn't really helped me feel any better. My GI wanted me to start Humira but my insurance wouldn't let me until I tried Imuran first (both of which have terrifying potential side effects, but I'm willing to try just about anything to have a decent night's sleep).
I had to medically withdraw from school because I couldn't get more than one hour of sleep without waking up to run to the bathroom. I also had to walk to school, which even though it was only a couple blocks away, I would almost faint getting there and have almost had accidents on the way and have had accidents going home.
I started Imuran 4 days ago and I know it is supposed to take a couple months before it really starts working, and I have to start tapering my pred again, I stayed at 25mg longer than my GI wanted, but when I went down to 20mg I started getting bad abdominal pain every night, so I went back up to 25mg. He says he won't prescribe me any more pred though, so I'm tapering again. I'm supposed to be going back to school in January, but since I won't know if the Imuran is even going to work until about then, if not later, and I have to register soon or I won't get any classes I need (I'm a Junior and classes are in high demand).
I don't really know what I'm trying to get out of this post, maybe some form of optimism because I seem to have lost all of mine. I know I've been having awful mood swings because of the pred, which is just making everything seem worse. I start crying in public over nothing and I have terrible anxiety about leaving my house, even though I've only had 2 accidents outside of my house and so many I stopped keeping track when I was home (I've had 2 in the past 24 hours, although that's significantly more than normal).

Anyway, some advice or just general positvity would be great.

I have had very little alcohol when I went on vacation a couple weeks ago, it didn't make anything worse, but I've been staying away from it anyway. I haven't had any nsaids; I'll only take tylenol when I absolutely have to when the pain gets unbearable or when I feel a fever coming on.
When my symptoms got worse over the summer, about the middle of July, I was throwing up practically everything I ate until I started eating only super plain food (applesauce, toast, rice), which I kept down about 80% of the time, rather than anything else which was about 20%. I kept that up until I started the prednisone, which finally let me keep down normal food. Even when I was only eating the plain food though, I was having 30+ BMs a day so I really don't think my diet is affecting much.
Since being able to keep everything down, I've played with my diet a little bit, but I haven't noticed anything significant. Carbonated drinks make my stomach gurgle and too much raw lettuce makes my BMs a strange consistency, but otherwise I haven't gotten any worse eating regular food.

No matter whether I want a new GI or not; the one I was going to was near my school (and the only one near my school who schedules appointments with less than 2 months notice), and since withdrawing from school, my dad had me move back home, which is 8 hours away, so if/when the Imuran doesn't work, I'll need to be seeing a different GI anyway.
How exactly do rectals work? I haven't done any research on them since they sort of freak me out.

I agree about the rectals called hydrocortisone enemas. And I think you should stay at 40 mg of pred for at least a couple weeks before tapering. Make sure your GI has experience with uc and chrons. A lot don't. You will get through this and things will get better. Like I tell the people in my life it's not day to day it's week to week. Find a gi that deals with UC and chrons. Good luck!!(oh and take vitamin d and calcium supplements while on the prednisone)

Hi Kiffy, I am also a new member and was just diagnosed with UC a month ago during a 7 day hospital visit. I am really sorry to hear about your anxiety and fear. I'm sure I speak for everyone on this forum when I say we've all been there. Although I have not had any serious issues (leaking, accidents in public) since I was released from the hospital, I, too, get anxious when leaving my home. I constantly worry that I might have a sudden "pain" attack or have such urgency to go that I won't be able to hold it in. I must say though that since I was hospitalized I have been on 40mg of prednisone, tapering it down 10mg each week, while taking 2 tabs of Mesalamine 3 times a day and it has greatly improved. I usually only have 3-5 BMs a day now and none of them are bloody. A friend of mine suggested I keep a food journal, that might help you pinpoint some trigger foods and problems. Keep going strong!