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New to the group diagnosed in January 2025. Started on 60mg worked my way down to 10 mg then it came back. Went back to 20mg, down to 15mg can handle the pain at this level but the side effect of the steroids. Started the Kevzara shot hopefully that helps. The biggest thing for me is that I was physically active and workout sometimes makes it worse with the fatigue and stiffness.
Replies to "New to the group diagnosed in January 2025. Started on 60mg worked my way down to..."
Do you have GCA or PMR or both?
Kevzara should allow you to get to a lower dose of prednisone than you would otherwise be able to do without Kevzara. I remember being on 60 mg of prednisone and not being able to taper down to 10 mg for 12 years despite tapering slowly.
A biologic similar to Kevzara allowed me to taper from 10 mg to 3 mg in a couple of months. I needed to stay on 3 mg of prednisone for 6 months to give my adrenals time to recover and start producing cortisol again. With time, my adrenals were able to produce more cortisol again so I was able to discontinue prednisone.
How rapidly your adrenals recover will mostly determine how quickly you can taper off prednisone. I think it is great that you started Kevzara so soon, With any luck Kevzara will keep your autoimmune condition under control. Kevzara won't suppress your adrenal function like Prednisone does.
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Welcome to the group. You'll find lots of great information here. My first reaction on reading your taper is that it sounds very fast to me. Just for comparison's sake, I was at 20 in January and now I'm down to 10. The taper does need to slow as you get lower, but yours seems like a fast dip. Have you been working with a rheumatologist? I highly recommend it.