Tai chi symptoms and conditions

I'm 15 years old and i've been taking prednisone for a few months, and from what i've read i'm on a really high dose. i was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and another autoimmune disorder concerning my muscles at the same time. my doctor told me prednisone was my only choice; it was either that or i would lose the ability to walk. he told me there'd be side effects, but i had no idea it'd turn out like this or i would have fought harder for another course of action. i started out on 30mg twice a day, and since then was weaned down to 20mg twice a day and now i'm down to 30mg once a day. i've been looking up a bunch of information trying to figure out if there's a way to lessen the side effects or any hope at all that they will get better. apparently there isn't much. after reading a bunch of these stories i gotta say i'm not feeling great about this. i totally understand everything everyone is going through. i'm sure you can imagine what it's like being smack in the middle of high school with a huge puffy face, acne so bad on my face, chest, back, neck, and shoulders that wearing a bra could put me in tears, and mood swings so bad i've lost friends over it. everyone knows how brutal high school can be, where appearance and attitude are everything. and i try to tell my doctor about it and he literally looks at me like i'm a whiny teenager and says "you're just going to have to deal with it." and people like my mom and my closest friends don't get it either. nobody understands how beyond frustrating it is. i'll get into the worst moods and not have a reason for it, but i'll stay angry for hours or burst into tears over someone looking at me the wrong way. it'll get to the point where i have to isolate myself from other people because the abrubt mood changes get so bad. as bad as i hate to admit it, the pain from the arthritis is gone now and supposedly my muscles are doing better too. developing arthritis caused me to have to quit cheerleading, something i've loved doing for 6 years, because the pain got to the point where i couldn't get my arms above my head or bend my knees. however, i'd almost rather deal with the horrible joint pain than deal with the side effects of prednisone. if your doctor gives you and alternative method, take it. i've always been confident in the way i look and really outgoing and happy and now i sometimes catch myself thinking about suicide. that's shocking to me because i've got so much going for me, but this medicine makes me miserable. and when i complain about it, anyone i'm talking to just looks at me like i'm being a cry baby. my mom does too, she'll say things like "you just have to do this. i know it's not what you want but to be honest i'm sick of hearing you bitch about it."
i feel a little better knowing other people feel the same way - like nobody gets whats going on with them. the prednisone does give me days of really great euphoria and days when i feel like i could run a marathon, but waking up in the morning to the acne and huge face puts me to tears every day. i have to pee all the time, usually getting up at 2 or 3 am. i don't sleep well anymore and i do sweat all the time. which also sucks being a teenage girl. i'm always hungry, and when i eat i never feel full so i don't know when to stop. my neck and face have put on so much weight that when people see me in the halls or out and about they ask me what happened. mind you these are people i don't talk to, just ones i know from classes or whatever. and it's pretty bad when teenage boys i've never really talked to ask what happened to your face. kind of a blow to the ego, or whatever is left of it at this point.
i'd like to know if, as my dosage gets lowered, the side effects will diminish and when i'm off the prednisone completely if they will disappear altogether. any help there?
or if there is any way to help the acne or puffy face

my doctor just put me on something called methotrexate or something like that to help wean me off the prednisone, and does anyone know what those side effects will do? or if they'll affect the prednisone side effects?
i'm constantly obsessing over gaining weight and what my skin looks like and what i eat and how heavy my face feels and the occasional pressure in my eyes to the point where i just want to be put out of my misery.
and after reading other people's stories i really don't understand why this drug is still given out as freely as it is. but maybe all doctors are like mine, they just don't get it.
best of luck to anyone who's on prednisone, my heart goes out to you; i'm right there with you
sorry this became like a book it wasn't meant to be this long

I really don't know what to do, I hurt so bad every single day I could cry. I was given Levaquin in March 2008 when I had pneumonia. I took it for 10 days and I hurt so bad still was very sick so I was put on it for another 10 days, so I took the Levaquin for a total of 20 days. I thought all this sickness was from the pneumonia. I had trouble getting out of bed, I could not even bend my knees, my feet, knees, elbows, and fingers were swelled up and I was getting all kinds of cracking in all my joints, headaches, stomach pains, all kinds of muscle pains. When I went back to work, I was telling a girl at work how I hurt and she asked me what kind of antibiotic I was taking, I told her and she said they had it on the world news . I said why is it still on the market. I seen 3 doctors about this and they think I'm nuts! They sent me for all kinds of xrays for all different parts of my body, what is that going to show! Its been a year and I still ache, I keep swelling up, joint and muscle pains, cracking, stomach troubles, problems sleeping, its terrible. I take pain medication for my back, I have 2 herniated discs, and I have to take more pain meds for all these other pains, this is not going to work. I even went to see a rheumatologists and he said I don't have arthritis. So Levaquin done a number on me. If anyone can help, or know what to do let me know!

I take no regular medication, but in this last year I have begun furtively taking pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, 30 mg per tablet, plus ibuprofen 200 mg per tablet, two tablets with breakfast, nearly every day. Within an hour my head is clear, I am calm, able to focus on my work or tai chi practice and feel benevolent toward the world. This continues for about five hours. No urinary problems, no hallucinations that I know of, just calm well-being. Doesn't seem right, somehow, but it's hard to give up simply on principle.