Hi Ellen,
I definitely got the anxiety from the prednisone. When I was at 60mg I was having completely irrational thoughts, even with the klonapin. Even after being off pred for 2 or 3 months, I still had terrible anxiety and its only just now starting to subside after 4 months off. Im sure there is some psychological factors working in there, too, but I KNOW that it is physiological from the steroids, too. Im pretty sure my adrenals are still a bit messed up, because it becomes especially stronger in waves, like clockwork, at certain points in the month. My body is hypersensitive, too, like if it starts to come on, my body reacts immediately. Its also hard to get rid of, for example, a stressful event might take days for me to recover--never had that before.
At this point, I rely on Valium when it strikes and that gets me through, seemingly without any other side effects. My understanding is that it is milder and shorter acting than the klonapin. It takes the edge off without giving me a strong feeling that I am on something.
Jayne