PredniSONE and water down

I have been taking prednisone for severe chronic urticaria (hives) for 14 years. The good outwieghs the bad here because I would be dead by now if I was not on it. I would have killed myself. Before I was on it, my face would swell up so that I could not see, barely breathe and definitely not talk. On top of this I had hives on every inch of me, my hands so badly swollen that I could not close them, my feet so swollen even standing hurt and walking was like treading on knives. If that was not bad enough I had extreme nausea and could not keep even water down. Sleeping was completely out of the question and trying to do anything at all but sit and scratch was also out of the question. The only side effects I have had are extreme weight gain (60 the first year and in the additional years it has become a grand total of 150 lbs) I have doubled my weight since I started the medication. By the way I excercised like a hamster on crack and it did not help. I have pitting edema, an ulcer and I now bruise very easily. Over the years I have taken every antihistimine ever conceived as well as tried many other remedies. I have been on anti rejection medications, asthma medicine and even arthritis medication. At one point I was on Zantac and Proventil to see if that might do it. Unfortunately prednisone is the only thing that has worked for me. I have even tried some herbal remedies. I would wrap myself in aluminum foil if it would make my hives disappear, unfortunately it ended up being fat and pitting edema in which I have been wrapped. I can handle it. Getting fat is not the end of the world, not living my life is the end of everything! So take the vitamins and the detoxifiers and suck it up!