This is my personal opinion but your question isn't too personal. It is a very good question!

Prednisone was restricting my life already so I wouldn't say my life is more restricted on Actemra. I had problems with prednisone combined with almost any other medication that suppressed my immune system. However, Actemra didn't seem to cause any additional problems for me.

Actemra allowed me to rapidly decrease my prednisone dose to 3 mg. Before starting Actemra, the lowest dose of prednisone I could ever maintain was 10 mg. My prednisone dose was usually much higher than 10 mg most of the time since I was diagnosed with PMR.

My opinion is that less prednisone suppresses my immune system less.

I'm not saying that Actemra doesn't cause problems with the immune system. My rheumatologist says I'm still immunocompromised. I still need to be careful but no more than when I was on higher doses of prednisone.

I have never tested positive for Covid. When I get a cold it resolves quickly. When I was on prednisone, some of my colds would linger for weeks. I haven't had any infection more than a cold since being on Actemra. Usually any infection would cause a flare but I don't have flares anymore.

There are warnings that serious infections can happen to people on any biologic. I wonder how many serious infections happen when people are on prednisone plus a biologic.

I'm currently on Actemra alone. I believe I'm at less risk now than when I was on prednisone.