I hope you get to try Actemra. I also hope Actemra works for you. Actemra was offered to me as my best hope of ever getting off Prednisone but it didn't come with any guarantee.

Do you know why it is called reactive arthritis now instead of Reiter's syndrome? Hans Reiter was a Nazi war criminal. I will put a link about reactive arthritis here in case anyone is interested.
https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/331347-overview#a2
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I'm not a fan of prednisone. However, I give prednisone credit for me not being addicted to opioids. My doctors never prescribed opioids to me except for post-op surgical pain. I mostly took Prednisone for all my autoimmune pain. I have tried many types of NSAIDs and DMARDs. I am relatively new to biologics but I have been on Actemra for more than 5 years.

Prednisone spared me from surgical interventions a couple of times. I was told I wasn't a good surgical candidate for a lumbar fusion because of chronic prednisone use. The spine surgeon didn't think I had enough solid bone to hold all the hardware that would be needed to fuse my lumbar spine. Also, when I needed Prednisone, I was at risk for too many surgical complications.

I had a tremendous response from Actemra. I haven't needed any Prednisone for 3.5 years. Not only was I able to discontinue Prednisone but I also was able to discontinue 5 more medications that were treating Prednisone side effects.

A lumbar fusion is a possibility now but I don't have that much pain anymore. I would need to be off Actemra for a month before surgery and a month after surgery. I could probably be off Actemra that long but I won't do the lumbar fusion unless the pain returns.

My medical problem list now reads a "history of" long term Prednisone use.

I'm not sure how I feel about Actemra because I don't seem to have any adverse effects from it. However, my medical record lists "long term, current use of Actemra (tocilizumab)" as a medical problem.