I had a nasty spider bite several years ago (it resembled Lyme).

I had to take really high prednisone to take the inflammation down which was considerable (I could barely walk--my ankle). I was really flying along there. It took all the pain away from my arthritis..erased it. I was pretty perky. After the taper, my crabby achy self returned. It did reveal to me how much pain I had everyday, tho, and just must have blocked it all.

When prednisone (it was called cortisone then) came along in the late 40's, it was thought to be a miracle drug. Doctors way overused it and overdosed it.
Many people became manic, and some frankly psychotic! There was a movie made about it even starring James Mason:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049010/plotsummary

So watch out. Today the abuse of anti-inflammatory steroids is less likely, but people on very high doses may react this way, still.
In the short term prednisone is valuable especially for asthma/lungs. If you continue with shortness of breath you could try Singulair...I use this with great success. No steroid actions, it works on inflammation differently.