Chronic bronchitis symptoms and conditions

IN DEC 2008 I CAME DOWN WITH CHRONIC BRONCHITIS, MY DR. PRESCRIBE 750MG OF LEVAQUIN ONLY 5 TABLETS FOR FIVE DAYS. AFTER ABOUT THE SECOND DAY I STARTED HAVING SEVERE PAIN IN MY SHOULDER, FOREARMS ,HANDS, BACK ,HIPS AND KNEES. I MADE A APPOINTMENT TO SEE MY DR. AGAIN . COULD HARDLY GET IN OR OUT OF THE CAR THE PAIN WAS SO BAD. WHEN I WAS TOLD TO GET UP ON THE TABLE THE PAIN WAS SO BAD I WAS ACTUALLY SCREAMING. SHE KNEW RIGHT AWAY THAT IT WAS THE LEVAQUIN AND KEEP SAYING I AM SO SORRY, IN AWAY I WAS RELIEVE TO KNOW WHAT WAS CAUSING THE PROBLEM THINKING I WOULD BE GIVEN SOMETHING TO MAKE IT GO AWAY . I WAS AT THE DR. ABOUT EVERY OTHER DAY THEN XRAYS MRI AND FINALY AFTER THREE DIFFERENT DR. I HAD TO SEE A ORTHOPEDIC WHICH STARTED A SERIOUS OF SHOTS , NINE SHOTS GIVEN SEVEN DAYS APART AT A COST OF OVER A THOUSAND DOLLARS. I WAS OFF WORK FOR FIVE MONTHS . STILL MY KNEE GIVES ME PROBLEMS BUT EVEN BEING ON SHORT TERM DISABILITY I WAS LOSING MONET AS I HAD TO PAY 500.00 ON MY MRI , 25.00 FOR EACH OFFICE VISIT WHICH WERE MANY PLUS 10.00 EVERY VISIT FOR THEN TO FILE PAPERS FOR MY SHORT TERM DISABILITY AND IF THEY WERE NOT SATISFIED WITH HOW THE FILE , THEY WOULD NOTIFY ME AND I WOULD NEED TO PAY ANOTHER $10.00 FOR THEN TO REFILED.I WAS ONLY GETTING 60%OF MY PAID MINUS MY SHARE OF THE INSURANCE . I STILL DON'T HAVE ALL OF MY ENERGY BACK BUT TO KEEP MY JOB I HAD TO RETURN TO WORK ONLY PART TIME FOR THE FIRST COUPLE OF WEEKS ,AND NOW THEY HAVE ME BACK ON FULL TIME AND IT IS VERY HARD THERE ARE TIMES WHEN I DRIVE HOME AND GO TO GET OUT OF THE CAR I CAN HARDLY WALK. IT HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE, I HOPE THAT THEY TAKE IT OFF OF THE MARKET.

I've been taking Advair for about 14months months, first 100/50 and then 250/50 to control my asthma and chronic bronchitis. During the past year I have actually lost 10lbs but over the past six months have experienced increasing symptoms/possible side effects from Advair: chest pains, leg pains/cramps, neasua, dizziness, acid reflux, trouble sleeping, memory issues and extreme muscle weakness. The leg cramps I've been able to control by taking vitamins and enzymes but the chest pains is worrying me. I was searching for possible answers to the mysterious chest pains and thought that Advair may be the culprit. Hence my entering this site. I'm going to chuck mine in the trashcan and go cold turkey Hopefully my symptoms will subside overtime and nothing damaged permanently.

I was just prescribed Levaquin (500 mg.) for bronchitis. I received a 10 day supply. The second night, I had trouble sleeping and felt quite anxious. By the 4th night I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack and had trouble swallowing. I called my doctor who blamed the bronchitis and gave me an additional prescription for an inhaler. That evening I slept a total of perhaps 20 minutes. My heart was racing and I felt as if I were choking. Another call to my doctor was placed. She advised I stop using the inhaler. I was becoming increasingly anxious, paranoid and began to have leg cramps. I haven't slept for more than a few minutes at a time for 3 days and the feeling of choking was so bad I had to go to the emergency room. They found it is from the Levaquin. I have never felt so desperate, paranoid, anxious, and horrid in my life. I actually had serious thoughts of ending my life to get away from this feeling. Even though I have been off it for two days, I am still feeling the effects, especially at night and was told I may feel effects for a week.

My mother, 70 years, just visited me and is on Advair Diskus, I want to say at least 2 years now. She has COPD with chronic bronchitis. I don't even know this woman anymore. She is depressed and extremely short with everyone. She has a rash that started on the back of her legs that fills with fluid then scabs. She has informed me she has had the rash almost a year now. It has spread to her arms and neck lately. It comes and goes in it's severity. Her Dr. cannot give her a diagnosis. She too, has spoken the words "miracle drug" in the beginning. I just got off the phone with her and she said she would rather risk an asthma attack than stay on Advair. Risk death than stay on Advair? What is this drug doing to people?

I had cough for almost a month when I started to feel a light localized pain in the lower rib area, between the breast and the upper abdomen. ( when taking a deep breath or coughing).Then I was prescribed levofloxacin (levaquin) 500 for 10 days for a “supposed” pneumonia and sinusitis, no RX or lab tests done, by one pneumologist. Well, I felt others side effects but what really matters is that after 2 days taking the medication the pain worsen a lot, felt like a stab. I could not move in bed, was difficult to move, seat, get up, drive, work, whatever… In the fifth day I complained to the doctor who said I had muscular pain and the pneumonia was gone, but I should continue the 10 days treatment. So I did. After 7 days I felt when coughing that something was stretching and unsticking in the pain area. After the total disconnection the pain diminished a lot. Second week, back stabbing pain, third week front pain again, same type and disconnection, then diminished. Fourth week I felt something was loose , crackling in the area while driving or doing some movements. I also felt painful, loose knees and painful elbows. After many doctors, many exams and RXs done, now I know I had chronic bronchitis and costochondritis and I ended up with two ruptures of the costal cartilage, ( costochondral junctions ) 6ª and 7ª ribs, caused by levofloxacin. The RXs now show calcifications , body repairing the ruptures. I can not exercises now for 3 months. Ah…The sinusitis was back 2 weeks after stopping the medication. What I say now is: God protect us from some stupid doctors and these dangerous medicines !!!

These posts have certainly raised some questions in my mind. I am a 48 female, w/mild to moderate COPD - chronic bronchitis due to years of smoking. I have been taking Advair for about 8 years. I have joint and muscle pain all the time, clearing of throat constantly, hoarse like voice, poor urine stream, red eyes, blurry vision. I've had depression and anxiety attacks for years so I can't really blame that on Advair. I take 250/50 strength once a day. I cannot take the second dose in the evenings. If I do, I will not sleep. I go to my pulmonary doctor next week and will definitely talk to him about other options and coming off Advair.

You people are freaking me out. I just started today with my first dose of prednisone for my first bronchitis diagnosis. I've been sick for 3 months and thought this would be a good med for me to rid the coughing. I'm starting to reconsider taking any more if all I can expect is long term adverse effects. I took this once before years ago for a severe skin allergy. I got the psychosis initially but then adjusted the dose. Then, I would get euphoric and full of energy, like being on a stimulant. I had no idea the round face thing was due to this, I thought I just ate too much while I was home sick for 2 months. I think I'll try the herbal alternative route. If it works, I'll write again and let y'all know. Thanks for all the comments.

I suffer from sleep apnea and use a C-Pap. I have a long history of chronic bronchitis and pneumonia. My sinuses are usually congested. It is imperative that my airways be clear at night when I am sleeping. I have been using muscinex for a few years now and it WORKS. Since I began treatment with this drug I am able to sleep through the night as I am not congested. Nasal drip and mucus stays thin and does not collect in my throat and lungs like it used to. Since beginning the use of this drug, the incidence of respiratory infections, bronchitis and pneumonia have become infrequent. The only side effect I have noticed is dryness in my nose and throat. We run a humidifier at night and this takes care of the excessive dryness. I have only seen an improvement in my quality of life.

OMG! This site is awesome! I honestly thought I was going crazy and something else was wrong with me! I quit smoking back in Dec 2007 and early Jan 2008 I was diagnosed with bronchitis. The bronchitis eventually got worse and at the end of Jan dr put me on steroid packs and an inhaler to assist me with the congestions. Early Feb I was diagnosed with Chronic bronchitis and was sent to a lung specialist. My lungs were only expanding 40% capacity due to the infection in my lungs so I was prescriped the inhaler, antibiotics, seven days of seroid and the Advair twice a day. I have now been using the Advair about three weeks and even though I feel a whole lot better my side effects are bad. I have a lot of congestion still, especially in the mornings, I cough almost all day long, I sleep maybe four or five hours a night (if that), my mood swings are aweful, I have a sharp pain under neath my left arm pit every once in a while, my rib cage hurts 24/7, I get headaches at least once a day, my nose is bleeding at least once a day and my hands tingle all the time. I did not realize that all these symptoms were side effects to the Advair dosage... 250/50???? OMG... I have to stop taking it. I've never had allergies or asthma up until the chronic bronchitis but if these are side-effects to the Advair I wonder if I was just not better off fighting the bronchitis through antibiotis only. I have not experianced weight gain though, and I am thankful for that as I do not need to gain any more weight. :-) Thank you all for sharing your comments as I now know that I might be just fine using allergy medicines and an inhaler from time to time instead of using Advair twice a day.

So nice to see that I'm not just imagining the adverse reactions. I've been taking Advair 250/50 for about 3 weeks now after being diagnosed with asthma/chronic bronchitis. I went back to my doctor the following week because I was still having chest pain, back pain, felt as if I still wasn't getting enough oxygen and mentioned that I was having a lot of difficulty with being jittery. He evaluated my breathing with a peak flow meter and since that seemed to be OK, he wanted to do an EKG - which he did and seemed to see something that warranted a referral to a cardiologist. So far the cardiologist has not seen anything out of the ordinary.
I'm thinking more and more that there is nothing wrong with my heart and that this is all being caused by the Advair. Has anyone else been referred to a cardiologist and found out nothing was wrong?

My son is 4 years old and has been on Advair 100/50 for 3 weeks. He has chronic bronchitis and since the Dr has put him on Advair we have noticed a change in his behavior. He cannot sit still and is wired ALL the time. His pre-school teacher said he is being very disruptive in class. He has trouble sleeping at night and he has a runny nose all the time. He has been telling me that his legs hurt him and his stomach hurts all the time. I assumed the legs hurting was due to him "growing". Boy was I dumb. I now believe it is linked to this medicine!
Has anyone ever stopped taking this medicine "cold turkey?"

I was prescribed Levaquin 1000 mg. for 5 days for pneumonia the last week of December 2006. I was also prescribed Prednisone. Everything I ate tasted like metal. A couple of days after I started taking the Levaquin I started experiencing muscle cramps in my rib cage which are so severe it makes me double over in pain. After more than a year I still have the muscle cramps which now include not only my rib cage, but the arch of my feet and sometimes legs. I have a torn tendon in my left arm which didn't happen until about a month ago, but I am sure it is caused from muscle damage from the Levaquin. I am also on Advair Discus 250 which I didn't take before using the Levaquin. I didn't require inhalers or other medication before the pneumonia. My doctor now says I have COPD caused from asthma and chronic bronchitis. I used an Albuterol inhaler when I first got sick because the pneumonia was so bad. I thought after taking the Levaquin I would get back to normal. But even after the infection was cleared up I would get out of breath, so I returned to my doctor. She did an x-ray and said I had COPD and prescribed the inhalant. What I don't understand is that I didn't have breathing problems before the Pneumonia. I didn't have joint pain and muscle cramps either. I have had to quit working this past year because of it. I cannot go without the Advair, I can no longer walk long distances without pain. I have constant muscle pain just trying to do normal housework. How long do the effects last? Must be a lifetime.

I have been on singulair for about 7 years and it has really helped my asthma. I tried going off of it because I hate the thought of having medicine in my body at all times, but it was like having chronic bronchitis so I went back on it. The only side effect I have noticed is easy bruising. The bruising has continued and then I started having something else happenb. I have blood vessles that are breaking in my fingers and it's really painful. For no reason all of the sudden I feel this sharp pain in my fingers then hot and itchy and then my the vein/veins in my finger/s bursts in gets purple and swelled. I talked to my Doctor about this and she just advised me to take a baby aspirin every day and said if it happens any where but my fingers to let her know. I have tried finding out if anyone else has had this symptom but have not seen it. I am not sure if it's something to worry about or not.

Prednisone is a miracle drug that is saving my life. I realize that the side effects can happen and do. I've experienced them too: pockets of fat on my face even though I've lost 25 pounds; loss of hair; Thrush in the mouth and other yeast infections; hyperactivity; insomnia; blurry vision; the shakes; reduction in muscle tone; and secondary infections because of compromised immune system. I have pulmonary fibrosis and waiting for a lung transplant. There is no known cause, cure, or treatment of this terminal disease and most patients die in 1-5 years. Prednisone is the only drug that will at least slow the disease down until I receive that transplant call. I realize that most people on this post are not terminally ill and you can say, "no" to this drug; but just wanted you to know that for some of us it's a miracle drug.
Di

My then 8 yr old daughter was prescribed ADVAIR when her doc diagnosed her with mild asthma. 2 puffs twice a day.She had developed a wheeze during a 5 day rainy spell in our area. I notice the change in her early on. A gifted student, she began to display symptoms of ADHD. Lack of concentration, unable to focus. She became emotional frequently. Gained wieght in a short period of time. Nosebleeds, some so severe she choked on the clots. My daughter chronicled her levels daily, gradually losing lung capacity..she began at 300 on her flow meter and within 6-8wks she was below 200. She began to complain of leg aches, loss breath during ordinary gym activiites, climbing stairs, walking at the mall.

I began to search online for forums such as this. I found that ADVAIR was intially to be used in chronic asthma..not like my daughter's mild case. Also, that ADVAIR was known to increase asthma symptoms in some cases,so severely that it was actually almost pulled of the shelves but "saved" when the FDA , instead, allowed for a black box to be printed on the label, stating a warning.
I also read that ADVAIR should not be prescribed to children under 12.

Many advair users made claims of exact symptoms my daughter was experiencing. Many said that when they went to their doctors with these claims, they were "blown off" or told " you can't prove it". Why would so many doctors take this stance?
After 80 pages of comments from users who were athletes, vegetarians, parents, nurses, etc stating their negative effects and prolonged symptoms even after getting off ADVAIR, I called my mother.

My mother is 63 and a more severe asthmatic. She had in the last 12 months been to the ER, 5 times. No oxygen, unable to breath, heart palputations, symptoms of heart attack, chronic bronchitis...twice having to stay for 2-3 days. When I told her I was going to wean my daughter off ADVAIR (NEVER QUIT ADVAIR COLD TURKEY. WEAN IT OFF) She told me that she had been on ADVAIR, for the past 16 months....

It has now been almost 2 yrs since my daughter and mother have been off ADVAIR. My daughter regained her lung capacity and actually improved it within 4 weeks of getting off. It took her about a year to lose the wt.Her concentration/focus returned to normal in about 6 months, but I had to meet with teachers to help her adjust. No wheezing, no joint pain, no severe nosebleeds. My daughter has only used her emergency inhaler 2 times last year, once during a field day in high humidity heat and once during flu season.
My mother has not been to the hospital since getting off ADVAIR. She did notify her doc about getting herself off and he just looked at her with eyebrows raised and said "what have you been reading?"...He did put her on SINGULAR bec she has to be on medication....I do not know of any side effects she has form that.

In my research, I did come across a few ADVAIR users who truly benefited from it. Also some who preferred the pros to the cons they experienced so they were content. I say, if you are lucky enough to have ADVAIR do what it's supposed to , good for you. BUT, if you are seeing an increase in severity of your symptoms please notify your doc, or get a new doctor if they won't listen. Asthma deaths related to ADVAIR have ocurred. The term "RARE" occurence of increase severity of symptoms or death is a misnomer. There are too many users citing this. Please be careful. Listen to your body and GOOD LUCK TO ALL.

I HAVE BEEN ON ADVAIR FOR 5 YEARS STRAIGHT. I HAVE HAD ASTHMA SINCE I WAS 17, DURING THESE 5 YEARS OF USING ADVAIR I HAVE GAINED 65 LBS AND HAVE HAD CHRONIC BRONCHITIS AND CONSTANT PHLEGM THAT NEVER GOES AWAY. I HAVE WHAT THEY CALL A "MOON FACE" AND ALL THE WEIGHT I HAVE GAINED IS AROUND THE MID SECTION. I AM ALWAYS TIRED, SO TIRED I CAN'T EVEN PLAY WITH MY CHILDREN. THIS IS THE FINAL STRAW! I AM ADVAIR FREE STARTING TODAY. I TRULEY BELIEVE IT HAS MADE MY ASTHMA WORSE THAN EVER, I HAVE A CONSTANT COUGH AND THE PHLEGM IS ALWAYS THERE NO MATTER WHAT I TAKE FOR IT AND BELIEVE ME, I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING TRYING TO RULE OUT THE ADVAIR AS BEING THE CAUSE OF MY SIDE AFFECTS. I DON'T CARE WHAT ANY PULMONOLOGIST SAYS ABOUT IT BEING TOO LOW OF A STEROID TO CAUSE ALL OF THESE SYMPTOMS. I KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT IT IS THE ADVAIR. IF YOU USE ADVAIR NOW, MY ADVISE TO YOU IS TO GET OFF OF IT A.S.A.P. BEST OF LUCK.

I have taken 2 days of the 4mg pak. I am also taking avelox and I have a pain in my back on the right side which may be from either of these drugs. I have an upset stomach so I think the pain is stomach related. I had a bad cold for 2 weeks before going to the doctor. He said it would help my chronic bronchitis. So far it hasn't. I'll see.

I am a non-smoker and have been using Advair for 4 days to treat chronic bronchitis. On the 4th day I noticed my voice is strained and my throat is a little tight. I was concerned about this being a side effect and am relieved and frightened to know that it seems to be a very common side effect. I am going to stop taking it right away.

I have asthma and used to get chronic bronchitis, twice a year for aprox. 30-40 yrs. I lost my husband 4 yrs ago and began having migraines. In addition to prednisone, I was a guinea pig for migraine meds. and pain relievers. Eventually we found that a beta blocker would prevent and another drug would relieve a migraine so i was loaded for bear. I also took about 8 advil every day just to move my hips in the morning. I was loosing control of my weight again. Feeling depressed about what I was doing to my self.
One day I heard about MSG and remembered a teacher in 1980 telling me to "stay away from that stuff, its poison" and we would laugh and say "Alright, Mr Rhodes" and keep eating the cheese curls because they were soo good. well I became curious and started researching MSG and I was amazed and appauled. Google it sometime, and follow the webring on the bottom of some of the pages. It hit home with me. I began changing my eating habits for me and my children. It was a slow process and alot of trial and error, but we have found foods that everyone likes and I balance it out. My 12 year old daughter was slow to come around, but she began trying new stuff and seeing that "healthy" isnt all bad. I use only whole wheat flour, brown raw sugar, NO ASPERTAME EVER, fresh druits and veggies, small portions of meat, and organic when i can afford to. I have lost 49 lbs since november and i feel great! after some weight came off I began to exercise, and slowly stopped taking medications. Today I am happy to say that I am drug free, Not even advil and I blame MSG as the main culprit. Other things I avoided is hydrogelated/hydrogenated oils of any kind, high fructose corn sugar. If I can help even one person by sharing my experience I am grateful. Please if you have trouble, try to live MSG free. Its hard work at first but you learn what is good and what is not. Oh my daughter has lost weight too and is thrilled!! Best regards. Teri

I have been taking Singulair on an off for about 2 years, a month here, a month there because I get so cranky and agitated - also I can't sleep well. The chronic bronchitis does improve. However, this last round of 2 months of taking 10mg I have experienced joint pain in my fingers and extreme spaciness - I am losing everything, can't remember what I'm doing.

Anyone else with the "spaciness"?

THANK YOU ALL for posting!!!

I've had chronic bronchitis attacks three months in a row now, and now suspicion of pneumonia on top of it. I had a feeling something wasn't quite right when my doctor said, "Let's pull out the 'big guns'" and prescribed Levaquin, but the pharmacy's patient advisory leaflet only mentioned a few innocuous side effects. I picked up some guaifenisen and ibuprofen at the pharmacy at the same time.

Get home, pop a few ibuprofens for pain in my diaphragm from coughing so much, make dinner, take my first levaquin with dinner as prescribed. After dinner, infojunkie that I am, I search for more about this stuff, and found your and other boards. Thank goodness!

It's too late to stop those ibuprofen, but I know not to take any more for the next four days of levaquin treatment (should I wait longer?). I also know not to have caffeine and to drink lots of water, which won't be a problem, and to discontinue use if any of those serious side effects occur (thanks for nothin', patient advisory leaflet).

I'm going to be very guarded in my taking of this medicine thanks to your posts. I really need to be able to breathe better; I'll keep you posted!

I ahev been taking advair for 2+ years on and off when I was sick for chronic bronchitis and asthma. Within the last 4 months I have been on either the 500mg or 250 strength... I have gained over 30# in 3 months time and have a huge belly! I have not changed lifestyle to have gained so much weight. I kept joking marriage did it to me as I am a newly wed. Someone told me they quit the advair as they gained so much weight. SO I stopped cold turkey afraid my asthma would get worse. While taking it routinely I was having to use my rescue inhaler daily plus use of the nebulixer when at home. I have not had an attack since i went off the advair!!!! I also had severe leg pains/ aching. When we took a trip my legs and feet had 3+ pitting edema! All the edema has gone done. I have bene advair free for one week now. I was alos getting pimple like sores on my back and I never had acne or skin problems in my life not even as a teen ager.

Picked up a prescription for Lisinopril today. 20MG tablets for High Blood pressure. 57 yo male, smoker, beer drinker, chronic bronchitis. (Yeh, I know)
Was on beta blockers before (Tenormin) At night cramps in feet and calf mucles, cough, diareah, lethargic, fatigue, cough and most importantly IMPOTENT, Viagra is not all its cracked up to be.
So, as far as side effects, looks like they about simular, but I sure hope the impotency problem will be solved.
I'll take the stuff stuff tomorrow, but thanks to this site, I'm warned. Thanks to all. I asked my doctor to switch me to an ACE inhibitor. I want a normal sex life back, as I did before the Beta blockers, then I think I can live with some of the side effects.
I'll report back in a month.

Wow... stumbling on this site is a breath of relief so far. I've only been on Advair a little less than a month but my anxiety and mood swings seem to have shot through the roof and I've been waking up from less and less sleep every day with no explanation for my sudden bout with insomnia. I'm a 29 year old smoker that quit and started taking 100/50 Advair for an allergy asthma compounded with chronic bronchitis but I think this morning's dose will have been my last. Too bad I relapsed on the cigs before I found this site :/