Kevzara……Lucky me, no side effects, except a minor rash where I place injection occasionally. Note: I use some lotion on it, no big deal. I’m abt to have my 9th dose.
I resisted taking “another” drug. At no point did I understand that it would allow me to “get off of prednisone”. I had been stuck at 7-9 prednisone for a few months, when I started. I have self tapered. No flares, but did/do have some muscle overuse.
GREAT NEWS, took my LAST prednisone 1mg yesterday.
May my success continue and come your way too.
I am so grateful for this Group.

VERY similar story here! I finally gave in and am glad I did. Aside from a little bit more bruising I've had no side effects. I'm down to 2.5 mg and doing fine.
I have an occasional day of feeling crappy but mostly I have energy back and pain is diminished a lot!

"Frankly the list of side affects scares the heck out of me, and I’m wondering if you felt the same way but chose to go on it anyway."
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I'm just wondering what side effects of Kevzara are so frightening to you? I don't wish to downplay any side effects because they do exist.

I have been on Actemra for more than 6 years with hardly any side effects compared to Prednisone side effects. I was reluctant to start Actemra because nobody knew anything about it. It was relatively new treatment for PMR/GCA at the time when I started Actemra. There was fear mongering about the side effects on another PMR forum from people who had no personal experience with taking Actemra. These same people downplayed all the Prednisone side effects which I had already experienced.

I almost refused Actemra after my rheumatologist went to all the trouble of getting it approved for me. However, I made a commitment to my rheumatologist that I would be willing to try Actemra if it was approved.

Rather than confirm or deny the "potential" side effects from Actemra, my doctor just said I wouldn't know if Actemra would work or not unless I tried it. That seemed logical to me instead of fearing the unknown. My doctor also said I could easily stop Actemra if I experienced side effects.

The only thing that bothered me was when my doctor wanted me to do injections every 2 weeks instead of weekly. My doctor said he wanted to "play it safe" with less frequent injections.

I'm glad I overcame all my fears. Actemra works well for me with almost no side effects. More importantly ... I was able to taper off Prednisone for the first time in 12 years.

I was on Kevzara for 8 months for PMR. It did help PMR symptoms but didn't allow me to reduce the prednisone below 5MG. The side effects I had were cholesterol going up 50 points and white cells dropping to below normal. I had to get off the drug due to cost and the cholesterol and white cell counts went back to normal within a few months. I was offered Actemra by my doctor and hesitated since it is a similar drug and I thought the side effects might be the same. My primary care doctor encouraged me to go on Actemra, telling me that the cholesterol rise I had was not bad enough for me to need a statin and I would probably not be on the drug that long, so I am now on Actemra.