@grownupcf

I wasn't very optimistic about Actemra because of all the negative feedback I received from another PMR forum. I tapered by 1 mg per week just so I would get the "inevitable flare" over with and I could move on. My lack of optimism probably hindered me from getting off prednisone sooner. I was convinced that taking Prednisone for the rest of my life was probably my best option.

I was pessimistic even when the endocrinologist told me 3 mg was a low dose that I could simply stop taking Prednisone as long as PMR was controlled AND my cortisol level was within the normal range. It wasn't optimism so much as it was a huge leap of faith that I would not have an adrenal crisis.

It was my nature to be too pessimistic when I needed to be more optimistic. Long term prednisone use and chronic pain made me pessimistic. I was naive to think that prednisone wasn't causing me to have some serious health consequences. Then someone addressed this issue with me after she woke up out of a coma after a bowel perforation with a subsequent adrenal crisis from her long term prednisone use.

The person I'm referring to died but she lived long enough to change everything about how I felt about Prednisone. I wish I had known that person too when I was first diagnosed with PMR. She would have been happy that I got off Prednisone when someone else was telling me to take Prednisone for the rest of my life.
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