Choice of words symptoms and conditions

I was diagnosed with asthma as a child. In late teens it seemed to not be problem, however after 50, I started developing symptoms of asthma again as evidenced from COPD tests. I am currently using Advair 250/50 since 55 yo.

One symptom, that I have not seen addressed here is that of "slow healing" after injuries. I injured my back awhile ago, and it seemed like 2 years before most of my symptoms were gone. To this day I still feel lingering effects. Then I scraped my shinbone. It seemed like it took forever to heal, and now there is an ugly red/purple scar where the minor scrape was.

I had never taken so long to heal before, and read that this was a problem with taking Advair. I never figured my asthma was that serious in the first place, so I simply cut back on the Advair to once/day or less as it seems still to keep my breathing OK. Sometimes, after a few days of not taking Advair, I feel some minor difficulty with breathing.

Now that I am 63, and so concerned about "slow healing", which I attribute to Advair, I have asked my Dr. to perhaps take me off Advair and simply take Albuterol when needed. Then I read that Asthma patients should only use Albuterol if that is sufficient to control symptoms and to advance to Advair to control more severe symptoms. Another article says that Albuterol does not heal Asthma, only assists with sudden onset of breathing difficulties and that I may still damage my lungs if I do not take Advair.

I remain at a loss as to what is best: Taking Albuterol when needed (perhaps a few to several times/week) or as I was doing before, contrary to recommended dosage, of 1-2 times/day. Fortunately my Dr. goes along with my changes, but tells me if symptoms get worse, she will put me on Advair 2X's/Day (which I probably will ignore dosage because of healing side effects, and use once/day or less).

I will report back later after trying Albuterol for time without the use of Advair at all.

I have been on Advair since Feb. of this year, I have had a lot of these side effects but didn't really realize it was from this med. At first I was told to take it 2x a day, reading the directions it says it has to be 12 hours exactly apart. My work schedule didn't allow that so I just took it 1x....Working 2 jobs I just thought when I couldn't sleep and was always tired, it was from working a lot. When I told the Dr. about not being able to sleep more than 4 hours, I was told since I was taking the meds 1x a day that wasn't it. After a bad cold and bronchitis I was told I had to take the Advair 2x a day, now i'm more tired than ever, still can't sleep and have a headache that won't go away even with migraine medicine. I'm even jittery and forgetful--kinda ditsy now and itchy off and on all day...After reading this blog site I see its not in my mind and i'm going to stop taking this med. I think i'm going to the health food store and find something natural.