Dx Colitis but no specialist for weeks! Newbie questions

Hello All! I am new to this forum and this may be long! Not sure if I should post here or not, but here are the details.

I have been having rectal bleeding for three days. Bad enough I thought I started my period early. When I realized it wasn't that, hopped on old Dr. Google and thought it was hemorrhoid. Either way, bleeding continued and I went to an urgent care. Urgent care doc did an exam said no hemmeroids but a lot of blood, requested blood, and sent me for a CT Scan with barium. Got that done on the same day, went back to urgent care, and doc said colitis. Said I would need to see a gastroenterologist (earliest appt is Jan 3), get a colonoscopy, and started me with a shot of steroid (didn't tell me the name but the tech said it was a steroid) and a round of prednisone and Pantoprozole. I got my blood results today and it all looks good. They did a CBC and a CMP-all WNL. I still haven't seen CT report and as you might be able to tell the urgent care doc wasn't very informative. I found my way here after hopping back on Dr. Google. Basically, I'm curious if this is a typical path to a diagnosis of an IBD? From what I have read, the only symptom I have is the bleeding (still going on today!) Any suggestions about how to stop the bleeding? Also has anyone experienced pain from a steroid shot? They gave me the shot on my left glute area, but now I feel pain radiating up my back!

Some other details are Im a 27 year old female. I have epilepsy, migraines, and a syncope disorder. I'm on a cocktail of meds/supplements for my epilepsy. I have had elevated ESR rates before when they were checking for muscular dystrophy (runs in my family). I would say my diet is very poor. A lot of beef and potatoes (all that hubby will eat). My weight fluctuates as I have lost and gained weight quickly--thanks Epilepsy medicine! Finally, I'm normally very regular, going at least once a day normally around the same time!

ANY INFORMATION IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

Welcome to the forum, but sorry you have to suffer with bowel issues like we do.

You could have an infectious-colitis which will clearup with a one time course of medications (And steroids like he aforementioned hydrocortisone-shot might work against you with an infection). It's possible you could have a chronic health condition an IBD like Ulcerative Colitis but it is fairly rare.

You should have a stool test to rule out possible infectious causes to your symptoms (infectious-colitis, c diff, among other things). You should see a gasteroenterolgist, get a colonoscopy with biopsies to see exactly what is going on.

Dr Google is a dangerous thing and is often wrong. Diagnosis requires a series of tests that agree with an outcome, elimination of other conditions with overlapping symptoms (and there are many), and therefore isn't something you or I can diagnose over the internet.

As a precaution, avoid NSAID pain relievers (bayer, aleve, aspirin, etc) as they do worsen IBD symptoms. Tylenol is safe for us. Avoid a high-fiber diet as it can aggravate our symptoms.