Prednisone - hungry, shaky and weak, is this a side effect, will it go away?

It is a side effect and should go away as you decrease the dose and eventually stop taking it. This is NOT a body builder steroid as mistakenly stated by another responder. It can actually cause muscle atrophy (shrinking)! However, overeating can cause weight gain along with the water weight. The fluid retention should resolve itself when you are finished taking it but excess calories will need to be addressed by diet/exercise.

I know this question was asked a while ago--but I want to answer it for future people anyway--

It does go away, but not immediately when you start to decrease the dose. Because it builds in your body, the peak of the hungry, shaky weakness (at least for me) often comes after I start to decrease the dose. If your hair thickness or color changed, the thickness will come back after you dropped taking it (not sure about the color, I've been dying my hair since my first prednisone experience--which was 9 months long).

About 25yrs ago I was prescribed this for walking pneumonia much in the same way decreasing the dosage. I was only on it for less than one month yet gained almost 25lbs after going off of it.
These steroids are weight gainers and you may be very hungry now but after you are done is when the weight gain comes on or in people that have to remain on it, the continual use of it will cause even more weight gain.
I would just try to eat as well as possible now avoiding the cravings while using fresh veggies and/or fruit if you do need something to snack on.
Hopefully that will help you to not gain the weight I did as before I started taking it, I could eat anything I wanted never gaining at all but afterward that weight became my normal weight for over 10yrs later.
I hope this helps as I sure didn't know way back when what it could do to people that had to take it.

Yes! all of your symptoms should go away after you finish taking the round. I am not sure why people get so hungry and gain weight with prednisone, but that will go away as well. Remember these are steroids so it would be like what a body builder would take to gain more muscle and mass.