You are the perfect person who needs Actemra or some other "suitable alternative" instead of prednisone. Actemra worked extremely well for me for stopping the pain caused by PMR.

Since I was on prednisone for a long time, my body got used to me supplying "synthetic cortisol" in the form of prednisone instead of the cortisol my adrenals should produce.

You probably aren't dependent on prednisone since you haven't been taking it. Actemra might actually work better for you than it did for me.

After I reached 3 mg of prednisone, I needed to stay on that dose for a long time even though Actemra was controlling by PMR symptoms. I had to allow time for my adrenals to resume cortisol production.