Bronchodilator symptoms and conditions

Hi! I am 29 years old and have had asthma since i was young. As i entered high school i had very rare exacerbations but around 4 years back attacks became more frequent. I visited my doctor and he advised me 40mg of Prednisone a day for 5 days (20mg in the morning and 20mg at night). He mentioned that this was safe and no tapering was needed for this short burst. So every time i start having exacerbations i just follow this regimen. I have had no tapering or withdrawal symptoms and i can breath very well even after the Prednisone is off.

Recently, i had an exacerbation as the New Year started. So i started my regimen again on Jan1. But after 5 days, my symptoms were not relieved yet. It seemed like my asthma, triggered by an acute bout of Bronchitis, was worse than before. So i continued this regimen until 12 days. I was taught before that as taking Prednisone approached 2 weeks, it would be wise to taper. So on day 13 - 15, i took 30mg of Prednisone per day (15mg in AM, 15mg in PM). On day 16 - 18, 20 mg per day (10mg in AM, 10mg in PM). On day 19 - 21, 10mg per day (5mg in AM and 5mg in PM). On the 22nd day, i had 5mg once a day only. The next day, i woke up very drowsy, with muscle and joint pains, dizzy and light headed. But i just fought it and went on my day feeling sooo out of it. And at night, i just felt chest tightness. I again had difficulty of breathing unrelieved by around 3 puffs of my inhaler (which was a combination of a long acting bronchodilator and an inhaled corticosteroid) which was also good for acute events of asthma. This provided no relief until i took a total of 15mg of Prednisone again. The next morning, on day24, i felt better. I tool 10mg thinking i could maintain myself on 20mg a day. But as the day progressed, as still had these joint pains and wheezes and difficulty of breathing. So a night i took 20mg again. I started reading on Prednisone and tapering and noted that these symptoms might have been an adrenal crisis, I haven't consulted my physician yet. But am trying to taper myself off decreasing my dose 5mg every 3 days. I hope i can get back when i learn more.

I hope this helped people in some way. Stay healthy everyone!

Yeah i was taking advair, i hardley used to even have asthma. I might need 1 puff or 2 from inhaler each week. Then i got off advair. Now i need inhaler at least 4-5 times a day. I'm real pissed, i wish i could sue advair. Come to think about it, my sister was on advair a lot longer than me, and around Christmas 2005, she was in hospital in comma, because of advair. They should take it off the market, and pay out billions for the deaths they caused

No side effect that I've noted. For me, works probably twice as well as any of the others, including Singular, Pulmicort, etc. (that bronchodilator in addition to the steroid is brilliant!) I have some tiredness, stuffiness, etc. off and on, but attribute that much more to the underlying allergies, asthma, etc. rather than the medication - certainly better on the meds than without. Does wonders for my actual breathing.

I posted May 10. Since then, I have continued taking Advair, but am now almost completely SIDE EFFECT FREE!

The trick is to remove what doesn't make it to your lungs. DON'T SWALLOW ANY! Rinse and gargle five times.:

1,2 - Gargle lightly and deeply 2x to get it off your voice box. Spit each time.
3,4 - Gargle strongly 2x to get it off the sides of your throat. Spit each time.
5 - Rinse mouth thoroughly and spit

After 1 week, heartburn and hoarseness were gone. After two weeks now, I have regained some voice control. (It may never be perfect with Advair because he bronchodilator may also be relaxing the muscles around the voice box.)

It's likely that a lot of the long-term symptoms like bruising could be from prolonged swallowing/ingestion of the stuff.

If Advair can control my asthma with no side effects, then I don't care about addiction. Have to take something daily in any case.

Please, anyone who tries the gargling, share whay you have learned!!!

I have been using Azmacort (Corticosteriod) for the treatment of my Asthma for over 8 years with great success. With the new laws elimating the use of CFC propellents by the end of 2005, I decided to go to my Allergist to discuss possible alternatives. She immediately prescribed Advair telling me that it contained both a Corticosteriod and a long acting bronchodilator (Serevent).

I started using the 250/50 Advair diskus and within a week was experiencing all of the symptoms describe by other users:

Stomach Bloating
Anxiety
Constant throat clearing
Hoarseness
Sleeplessness/Night sweats
Chest tightness
Worsening Asthma

I immediately went back to my Allergist the very next week and told her of the problems I was having. After a complete check-up, including a breathing test, I was told everything appeared normal and that there was no explanation for the problems I was experiencing. She reluctantly told me that I could go back to using the Azmacort, which I did, and all of the symptoms eventually disappeared within a couple of weeks.

I have been researching Azmacort articles and found that KOS pharmaceutical has acquired a 10 yr agreement to produce Azmacort, along with testing of non CFC propellents.

From my personal assumption, it appears that the Servent additive of Advair may have been the cause of my problems.

Also I have been wondering whether the diskus (powder) was effective in reaching my lungs, or was it just hitting the back of my throat and being ingested into my stomach causing both the throat and stomach problems I experienced.

One thing for sure, I will NEVER use Advair again.

The guaifen is an expectorant, so of course it will make you cough!! That's what an expectorant does!! It loosens the phlegm so you can cough it up and out (unless you just WANT to swallow it). Also a bronchodilator which helps breathing.

The loss of appetite, not being able to sleep is caused by the PSE part of this Rx--PSE being pseudoephedrine which acts like speed for a lot of people.

Makes my nose a little dry but drains my sinuses and opens up my lungs, which is why I'm taking it!!

To the "guest" who posted about their 7 year old being on Advair:

You're wise to take him off of it. I can't believe so many doctors are giving this drug to children!

It's the salmeterol (which is the long-acting bronchodilator) that's causing his behavior changes. But if you're son's asthma is only mild, prescribing a drug like Advair seems very excessive. (Not to mention stupid.)

In my own experience (as well as other family members) Singulair has actually worked better than Advair. Of course there's no drug that's free from side effects, but I don't know of anyone who's had problems with Singulair. I highly recommend asking your doctor about Singulair as an alternative.

Good luck,
Jen