I am afraid the pain will never end.

Hang in there . The Kevzara has been very good for me. My guess, It took me abt 2-3 months to have the Kevzara kick in. I was at 8mg prednisone when I started. Was able to taper to “o” by 4 months.
Remember, a PMR flare may not be the same as prednisone withdrawal.
Believeeeeee.

What were your symptoms of withdrawal? I am at the point of tapering Prednisone from 5mg( which gave me my life back) now to 2.5mg. Pain is noticeable, but the crushing fatigue and weakness is better. My Rheumatologist said most likely PMR was triggered by Covid. Cholesterol shot up quickly on steroid treatments. This is what my Rheumatologist wants to avoid: heart disease.
Did you notice help with pain and fatigue using Kezvara as efffectively as with Prednisone? Thanks!

Note: I am 79yo.
My personal goal is to be in remission next year by my 80th bday.
My self tapering schedule was 10% a week if no discomfort. Easiest for me was alternate 5mg one day and 4 the next day which equals 4.5 total.
If not ok stay for 5-7 days until comfortable.
If no discomfort, then go to 4 every day.
Repeat.
As long as I have had PMR, I force myself to get exercise everyday. Minimum a 2 mi walk. I have a Corrective Movement Specialist, i,e, trainer/pt who keeps me moving.
With that said, she has been a HUGE help and my number one resource.
One of my drs sent me for Pool PT that was PT in a tank against jets which led me to pool walking which is easy on the body. I have taken advantage of Accupuncture, shock wave therapy, TVT (targeted vibration therapy). I have been throwing everything at the PMR except the kitchen sink. It has been a slooooowwwww road, by inches, with occasional big leaps. BTW: I do have problems with the weather, humidity dew point…..a trip to Alaska away from it and I was a new person.

So the answer to your question “ Did you notice help with pain and fatigue using….”……I have no clear answer.
DON’T give in!

What were your symptoms of withdrawal? I am at the point of tapering Prednisone from 5mg( which gave me my life back) now to 2.5mg. Pain is noticeable, but the crushing fatigue and weakness is better. My Rheumatologist said most likely PMR was triggered by Covid. Cholesterol shot up quickly on steroid treatments. This is what my Rheumatologist wants to avoid: heart disease.
Did you notice help with pain and fatigue using Kezvara as efffectively as with Prednisone? Thanks!

I just wish to add a couple of things. Your taper from 20 mg to 8 mg in 8 months is phenomenal but needing to go back to 12 mg isn't surprising. Not many people are successful with their first attempt at tapering off prednisone. It isn't a failure ... it is just part of the learning curve.

Hopefully, Kevzara will make it easier to taper Prednisone the second time. I understand your misgivings about higher doses of Prednisone but if 12 mg isn't enough to be functional then that defeats the purpose of taking Prednisone in the early stages. Think of Prednisone as a "bridge" to better treatment with Kevzara. Hopefully Kevzara will provide better pain control with fewer side effects relative to long term treatment with Prednisone. A biologic like Kevzara takes at least 3 months to notice much of a change for the better.

Many people report good results from Kevzara for the treatment of PMR. I don't have any personal experience with Kevzara but I have experience with Actemra which is another biologic similar to Kevzara, By comparison, I was on Prednisone at higher doses for 12 years before I ever reached the bridge to more effective treatment with Actemra.

I have gone into a flare twice. The flares are tough mentally, because they resulted in increasing the prednisone dosage (e.g. a reduction from 2.0 to 1.5, resulted in having to go back up to 2.5) so I can function. Currently, after 30 days at 2.5 and another 30 days at 2.0, I reduced the dose to 1.5 a few days ago. No pain so far, but really fatigued.

Note: I am 79yo.
My personal goal is to be in remission next year by my 80th bday.
My self tapering schedule was 10% a week if no discomfort. Easiest for me was alternate 5mg one day and 4 the next day which equals 4.5 total.
If not ok stay for 5-7 days until comfortable.
If no discomfort, then go to 4 every day.
Repeat.
As long as I have had PMR, I force myself to get exercise everyday. Minimum a 2 mi walk. I have a Corrective Movement Specialist, i,e, trainer/pt who keeps me moving.
With that said, she has been a HUGE help and my number one resource.
One of my drs sent me for Pool PT that was PT in a tank against jets which led me to pool walking which is easy on the body. I have taken advantage of Accupuncture, shock wave therapy, TVT (targeted vibration therapy). I have been throwing everything at the PMR except the kitchen sink. It has been a slooooowwwww road, by inches, with occasional big leaps. BTW: I do have problems with the weather, humidity dew point…..a trip to Alaska away from it and I was a new person.

So the answer to your question “ Did you notice help with pain and fatigue using….”……I have no clear answer.
DON’T give in!

So far, I have not noticed a difference with Kevzara since I have only been on it 2.5 weeks. I wish I could offer I better input. My experience with Prednisone withdrawal was that I went down 1mg per week starting from 20 mg. At 15 mg the pain and fatigue set back in. At 10mg the pain was do-able but constant and at 8 mg the pain was not tolerable. I am now back to 12 mg. The fatigue is brutal. But, again, I am early days with Kevzara. I do not intend to titrate down for at least another month.