Relentless flare. Please help!

Hi everyone,

I'm feeling a bit at a loss of what to do right now. I've been flaring for over a month now, had colonoscopy after 3 weeks of 40mg Pred with no improvement and things were pretty horrific in there. I was admitted to hospital for 10 days of IV hydrocortisone which completely cleared my symptoms (back to 1-2 bm's a day with no blood), and was discharged with a prescription of 40mg of Pred again.
Things were good the first two days at home, my bm's were infrequent and formed, but today i have been 5 times and there's definitely blood there again. AARGH!!
I'm due to begin Azathioprine on Dec 29th (decided to start then to avoid nausea over Christmas), but am now thinking that I should start it early. I know it takes a while to get working, so what does that mean in the meantime? This flare seems relentless, I will be slowly tapering off Pred when I start the Aza, but how am I meant to deal with flaring while it 'hopefully' starts working?
This is my second major flare ever and I just don't know how to deal with it. My UC has gone from mild to extremely severe according to my GI and the prospect of surgery is even more terrifying than the looming thought of Aza or 6mp which I'm absolutely dreading. I just feel completely physically and mentally warn out... Any words of comfort/advice would be more than appreciated.

there were a couple of bad weeks I could hardly leave the house. ... and accidents. most at home. had to keep a change of clothes at work and take Tylenol III w/ codine for cramps. ... it sucked.

you could ask for 60mg of pred. somehow you have to rough through a few weeks of frequent movements/diarrhea, blood, accidents

6mp may be too timid if your IBD had increased so much so fast.

if you can manage steroid enemas it may help with urgency

I am sorry Leanne. I personally would want to start the aza sooner. The longer you wait, the worse the flare up could get. You are right though, it doesn't work quickly so you will have to manage the symptoms somehow while you get going. Have you tried bentyl? It helps some people with cramping and frequency. It doesn't do anything for me unfortunately... Biologics work much faster. It could be worth considering them if you feel like you can't wait. Like others mentioned, maybe adding rectals would help.

You could ask him what it would hurt to try enemas? I can't imgaine getting out of my flare without both to be honest! Good luck

That was my thought too, I'm willing to try anything that might help and I didn't see how adding a steroid enema could hurt. I'll definitely bring it up with him again!