This gives me some hope for eventually being able to stop my Actemra infusions. I have been able to go longer than a month between infusions but my inflammation markers trend upward. I wouldn't say my pain increases that much but it does increase some.

My rheumatologists interprets my lab values and says I definitely need to continue Actemra. After about 3 attempts to increase the time between my infusions, now I just stay on a monthly schedule. Currently, there is no plan to discontinue my Actemra infusions. I'm okay with staying on Actemra because I don't seem to have any side effects from Actemra.

The only relapse I had was when Actemra was stopped for 6 months. It wasn't my rheumatologist's intention to stop Actemra. There was a shortage during the Covid epidemic and no Actemra was available. The relapse I had was bad and led to increasing amounts of Prednisone along with a different biologic (Humira) which didn't seem to work very well. The experience I had with that relapse alone was enough to make me want to stay on Actemra.