Had I listened to the folks that promote dead slow I would still be on prednisone. They encouraged me to stay on Prednisone for the rest of my life rather than try a biologic. It was a dilemma for me because my rheumatologist was saying that taking Prednisone for the rest of my life would be a bad outcome. I'm glad I listened to my rheumatologist.

There are possible side effects from any biologic but I think being "totally terrified" is unwarranted. I haven't had any side effects from Actemra and it works well for me.

You won't know if Kevzara will work for you unless you try it. However, my rheumatologist said if I could maintain my Prednisone dose at 3 mg or less, a biologic might not be needed.

The side effects from Prednisone were real to me. The Prednisone side effects were not that easy to manage without additional medications. I had higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol levels. higher glucose levels and higher intraocular pressures to name just a few.

I was on 10 additional medications which were treating Prednisone side effects. All those medications also had possible side effects and added to the Prednisone side effects. Fortunately, I was able to discontinue all of those additional medications after I was able to taper off Prednisone.

I have been on Actemra for 5 years. The number of medical concerns I have are less compared to the 12 years I was on Prednisone. I wasn't so sure I would have lived 5 more years had a stayed on Prednisone.

It is a personal decision and I hope dead slow works for you.