Flovent symptoms and conditions

My 4y/o son has asthma that was not well under control, so the doctor put him on Singulair and Flovent about 2 months ago. In the first few weeks, he started having severe leg pain. He would be up at night crying. I would massage his legs till he went to sleep. He also started soiling his underwear with small thick amounts of stool multiple times a day; despite the fact that he has large soft bowel movements at least twice a day. His asthma has been well controlled since the start of the medicine. We stopped the Flovent 1month ago to see if the Singulair would continue to control his asthma, which it has. We adjusted his diet, since the doctor attributes his stooling to constipation, which has not helped. He is now frequently peeing his pants and frequently complains of arm and leg pain which comes on suddenly and seems to last for 5 to 15 minutes. I am going to take him back to the doctor for a full check up to rule out anything more serious, such as a spinal tumor, but till then I am going to stop the Singulair and see how things go. I wanted to stop it as soon as the incontinence started, but was afraid of his asthma flaring back up. Is flovent causing anyone's kids any issues. My son also seems to be having trouble getting his words out.

I was started on Advair HFA about 35 days ago. A little background about me is that I'm 35 years old, in good physical shape. I'm a competitive cyclists doing road races anywhere from 45-100 miles, I work out 2-4 hours everyday. I've had lifelong chronic asthma, but have fought the disease with my healthy lifestyle. I also play the saxophone.

Since I've been on Advair I've developed a constant sore throat. Been coughing up stuff constantly when I'm out training on my bike. Can't seem to sleep for more than a few hours at a time. The worst side affect has been the leg cramps which are killing my training for up coming races. I have constant leg cramps that force me to get out of bed over and over to work them out. My energy levels have dropped to the point that I can't do even half a workout without being totally wiped out. This is coming from a guy that averages 60miles a day on the bike, the other day I couldn't even do 15 miles and had to stop from the constant cramps and tiredness. This stuff is a nightmare. I've gone back to using nothing but my albuterol inhaler. I'll continue to do lung exercises 4 times a day and completely clean up my diet and basically get this stuff out of my system. Let this be a warning that you can't get something positive without something negative as well.

I was on Advair for a few months back in about 2005. I was taking it for asthma. I noticed after about a month of using it that I would have these severe asthma attacks if I came in contact with an irritant. Instead of minor coughing if I was near someone smoking my lungs would practically slam shut and I could not get any air. These were far more reactive and severe than I have had on any other meds or none at all. I stopped taking it, switched back to Flovent and the problem went away. A few months later the FDA announced the black box warning for Advair and that this was a possible severe side effect. They need to be more up front with patients about this risk so they can decide if it is worth using, I wasn't given that option.

I have been on advair for 2 years and am starting to experience headaches that last the entire day. It helps with my breathing difficulties and I am unsure if I can just stop taking the medication. Its really difficult for me right now and I'm starting to feel depressed about it. I'm not sure how I'll get through this.

I'm so glad I found this! I thought I was going mad for a while there. Background: I'm a 34 yr old female. Diagnosed w/ asthma at 12, but they suspect I had it before that. Used only Ventolin for a long time. Five years ago, right around the time I had my second child, my symptoms (and allergies) seemed to get much worse. We moved around that time, to a house with a HUGE Chinese elm in the backyard (which I now know I'm allergic to) and right next to a main freeway. Around this time, Dr. prescribed Advair 250/50 when he realized I was using Ventolin up to 6 & 7 times/ day. The first year, I actually felt so much better (I could BREATHE!!) that I think I wouldn't have noticed any side affects. Year two I had MAJOR hair thinning. Dr said "age and hormones". Following 3 years on it: Almost constant nasal congestion (despite always being on a decongestant), sinus infection, tonsil infections, laryngitis, TWO bouts of pneumonia in 3 years. Around the year mark on it, I did experience the depression and anxiety, however, I had had the "baby blues" with my first child and just thought it was a more severe version of that. Now, I feel CONSTANTLY "run down" and almost always have some low-grade infection (yeast, UTI, sinus, bronchitis...etc.), am always hoarse and am just waiting for another round of pneumonia. I also get dizzy A LOT. I am in the second day of a cold turkey quit and am looking for alternative diet/exercise therapies. Good Luck to everyone!

I am a part-time professional singer and attorney. I developed an odd cough-variant asthma this winter at age 42 -- it had scary breath shortness and wheezing plus lots of phlegm coughed up. I had never before had the shortness/wheezing/asthma, though I have always had allergies and occasional bronchitis following a cold. The asthma/allergy specialists put me on Advair 500 twice a day with each attack, plus an oral prednisone burst/short taper, nebulized (not just rescue inhaler) albuterol (beta 2 agonist), and antibiotics (a different one each time). I also take Claritin, Rhinocort and Astelin for my allergies. I had four attacks of asthma this winter that were treated this way; after the fourth, they put me on Advair 250 maintenance for a month. With each attack, I would get hoarse, have trouble sleeping, and get odd muscle cramps I never had had. The hoarseness was worse each time, but I was able to sing through it at my regular gigs. I attributed the side effects to the prednisone. With my fifth attack, they told me to ramp up the Advair to 500 and do all else the same, but as an experiment to see how this would alter those side effects, I decided to treat it with everything but the prednisone. The hoarseness, sleep trouble, and muscle cramps were all much worse. I found this site, noted the recommendation of several other singers to try Asmanex instead of Advair, and asked the docs about it. They agreed that all these symptoms could be related to the Advair and gave me Asmanex 250 twice/day instead instead of the Advair, plus all the other meds for the attack. The symptoms went away within a week, although it took a little longer for me to get over the asthma attack this time. I am extremely grateful to this site and all the users posting comments. I can sing again, sleep again, and exist without weird muscle cramps during treatment of my asthma. Thank you very much.

I have only been taking this drug for about 3 weeks and I could not explain at first but just knew things were off. I can not sleep, have terrible nightmares all night long, wake up at 4 if I do sleep. I am 53 and have long hair and my head itches all the time. I now fear hair loss as I have read in other complaints. My eyes are dry, I just feel off, majorly ! My back and legs ache all the time, especially when I first get up in the morning I can seriously barely move or bend down. I feel like I am 83 instead of 53. I have had no headaches but have had weight gain already, especially in my midsection. I feel off mentally all the time, not able to concentrate at all. I am calling my doctor on Monday and they have to give me something else. Has anyone else had these symptoms and what else can you take or do?

Hey all. I have had asthmatic bronchitis for about 6 weeks now and I have never had asthma or bronchitis before. It started off as a normal flu for 3 days with fever. Then when the flu went away, I started having trouble breathing and shortness of breath. I never had that before. The doctor told me it was bronchitis. All tests were fine. I was taking azithromycin (took 3 paks of them) and that was the only thing that made me feel normal, but it did not get rid of the infection. Then I was placed on cipro and steroids. Now I'm not on any antibiotics. I'm taking steroids and just started the advair inhaler. I was having asthma attacks and everything. Very scary. I was just wondering how long it took you to get over it and what you did to get over it. I have been to so many doctors and had so many tests done. It's affecting my life. I won't leave the house due to fear of having another asthma attack. I just hope I feel normal again soon, please.

I must admit I am very surprised by all of the side effects of Advair. I have been taking Advair 250 for years and have NEVER had any problems. I'm 28, healthy, thin, and happy. I exercise several times a week. ALL drugs have side effects. I don't think it's fair for anyone to say "don't take Advair, it's a horrible drug" because it works for some of us. I was taking Flovent before but it didn't work for me. I needed a rescue inhaler several times a week. Since I've been taking Advair I don't even fill my prescription for my rescue inhaler! All drugs have side effects, but they don't effect all people!

I started taking Advair a few years ago because my doctor suggested it. I noticed after taking for a bit and then stiopping, I would get ill and have bronchitis. After a few episodes of this, I started taking it regularly. I was supposed to be taking it 2x a day but only took it at night. After about a few months of regualry taking it at night, I forgot to take it one evening and woke up in the middle of the night with the worst attack ever. I started testing this with on and off uses of the advair to see what the relationship was and one for one, if I did not take the medication, I had an attack. I believe that the regular use of Advair caused my body to become dependant on it. I wish I had never taken it in the first place. I am now having asthma attacks 1 to 2 times a day and before Advair, once every 3 months or so.

My only problem with Advair, but believe me it was a doozy, was pain in my feet - on the bottoms of my feet. I mean, this pain was so terrible that when I woke up in the morning I could barely walk because the bottoms of my feet hurt that much. All day long I would have to put up with the pain. This went on for almost two years before I decided to quit the Advair. After I quit it the pain in my feet was completely gone within two months. The problem isn't the Flovent in the Advair. The problem is the Serevent in it. I know this because after quitting the Advair I still continued with a Flovent HFA inhaler for my asthma and the pain still went away.

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 wrote a post few days ago about Singulair and how great my daughter is doing since she started to take this medication three months ago.
Then I started reading about all the side effects that other children had because of Singulair. I GOT SO SCARED!
So scared that last night I stopped giving Singulair to my daughter.

From January to September my daughter had asthma every other week. She was put on steroids (prednisolone) every time she couldn't breath. Then in September the pulmonologist said we have to take control of the situation because so much steroids can damage a little body.
She made me feel I had been a terrible mothers since I always refused to give her singulair.
She convinced me and then I started Singulair, but now I feel worst because I have the feeling I am giving poison to my daughter even if her asthma is under control.

My 7 years old stopped Singulair 12 hours ago, I do not know what is going to happen now. Of course I cannot call the pulmonologist anymore in case my ds gets bad.
Somebody here said that she is giving her son Nordic Naturals Fish Oil, Culturelle probiotics, vitamin c, and changing his diet - increased magnesium and decreased dairy.I will love to have more information about this alternative way of controlling asthma. I do not remember who wrote this post. If there is a web site of a doctor I can contact i will do right away. I live in New York.

I need help. Thank you so much.

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.

My three year old son has been on Flovent since he was two, he has been showing signs of restlessness, aggression, sleeplessness and other behavior problems, I did not think anything was wrong until I looked up the effects and saw they were listed as a reason to stop taking the medication. I have been doing my own trial and error research with him. He has been off Flovent for two weeks and I have not seen a difference in his behavior, luckily his asthma was ok, which leaves me to believe that it is the Singular pill that is the problem. I will post an update in two more weeks under the Singular side effects.

I have an 8y.o. daughter that has been on Singulair for about 3 years now. Since she started taking singulair she has been absolutely miserable! She cries at everything, is very moody, has leg pains, wont leave my side and is tired ALL the time. She has circle under her eyes, she looks like she hasn't slept a wink in days! She has been off her Singulair for about 5 days now and she is a totally different person. She has been "happy-go-lucky" and full of herself, she has even woke up happy (which hasn't happened in I dont know how long). She was put on Singulair by our Doctor b/c she had Pnemonia two times in a row. She has Allergies and Asthma and for the past 3 years has been on: Singulair (4mg), albuterol, flovent, Zyrtec, and Flonase. That is just too much for a little girl to be on. She hardly eats at all, gets headaches. I just see such a difference when she is not on it but, what will she take in place of this? My husband also takes Singulair (he is miserable all the time), he doesnt sleep at night and is always tired. Anyone have alternative to this drug?

I had been taking singulair for over two years. I am 70 yrs old and in good health except for light asthma, allergy problems. My doctor took me off it. It did some good in the beginning but the last four mts I was continuing to get wheezing and bronchitis infections. I also had a lot of leg pain and was tested for all kinds of blockage, etc. I experienced very painful leg cramping, toes twitching, etc. The only way I could stop it was to pull my toes forward as the worst happened at night and woke me up. I finally found Leg Cramps with Quinine an all natural homeopathic med. It worked like a charm. I didn't know that this was a side effect of Singulair. Since I am off singulair just two weeks. It was replaced with Flovent an inhaler ( 2 puffs 2 x a day to begin and then later it will be 1 puff as the inflammation gets better. It also comes in granules. I am feeling much better and now I am ready to stop Leg Cramps as I feel the singulair may have been causing the problem. While taking Singulair I also had stomach cramps with diarrhea. I will not go back on Singulair. If the cramping returns, I will definitely go back on Leg Cramps with Quinine (available in any pharmacy over the counter and very inexpensive.

I would like to say something about advair that is POSITIVE. I have taken this drug, with NO SIDE EFFECTS for 5 years now and it has made a huge difference in my life.
I have had no isues with thrush (i rinse and spit) or weight gain or hair loss or coughs-

please don't condem a drug just based on your experience. reading through these comments I see a lot of times this has been prescribed fr folks who were not ashthmatic or with COPD. This drug is not for folks who don't have hyper reactive airways-but for those of us who do, it has been a lifesaver.

BTW I changed careers 2 years ago and entered the health field as a Respiratory therapist and adair has helped many many people. But its not a miracle drug-it has a specific purpose and if hat is not your problem, its not likely to be a good solution.

My nine-year-old daughter has headaches every 2 days on Symbicort. But with Flovent and other things we have tried, she has ended up taking 3 courses of prednisone over the winter.

Any other ideas? We are about to let the doctor know about the headaches. I don't know if it's worth it to continue on the Symbicort.

Maybe back to Flovent. We are hesitant to try Singulair or Advair, have already tried Pulmicort.

4 yr. old son on Albuterol and Pulmicort for asthma triggered by allergies and colds. He is off of both during the summer, once he goes on the medication for the allergy season he experiences mood swings, violent tantrums, is confrontational, basically his personality changes. We have tried reducing the dose and cutting out one medication or the other with the same effect, the symptoms persist. We feel we have no choice because of the severe asthma attacks.

my 6 year old has what doctor's have called cough-induced asthma or reactive airway disorder. He doesn't wheeze but gets these severe coughing spells which get worse at night. Usually comes on during the colder months. He is on Flovent, and Singulair to maintain When he gets the coughing spells, he gets the Albuterol inhaler 2 puffs every 4 hours. It makes him NUTS. Literally climbs the walls, Can't sit still. I'd rather have him cough than to see him like this. Now with the most recent coughing episode, I've noticed an extreme personality change. To the point where his 1st grade teacher called me to ask if it could be the medicine. He's normally a shy kid, sweet now all of a sudden he's a social butterfly in school and interrupting the teacher. AT home, he's just not right .Doctor changed him to Xopenex inhaler but he's still not right.

My daughter is 7 and was just put on Singular as a preventive medication for croup which she gets when she has an infection. She is not on a daily inhaler nor does she have asthma attacks at school. I asked the doctor for an alternative to the pulmicort breathing treatments b/c the prolonged use of this caused her to have dental issues (8 cavities) and he gave her singular. I am concerned of the side effects in the reviews of this medication but I need some relief for my child. She has been on the medication only 1 day is frequent urination a side effect and can it come on that quick? If there is another medication that doesn't have the side effects apparently singular has please let me know.

I have a 4 year old that was on Singulair for 17 days. He has always been a strong will child, yet he was always manageable. Those days that he was on it, and a couple of weeks after were the hardest weeks I have ever had with him. Within days of taking it I began to notice an extreme change in his behavior. He was moody, angry, he was beginning to be aggressive. He wasn't sleeping through the night anymore, and even began wetting the bed, something he hasn't done since he was two.

It was prescribed for his asthma, he couldn't walk five steps without coughing and wheezing. It did work, but I didn't think it was worth it. I went in to see his doctor, she said the aggression wasn't a side effect of Singulair in children, but had been recorded in adults. So she said it was fine to take him off of it. And to control his coughing he could just use 2 puffs of Flovent twice a day.

Well, he's been off of it for almost 2 weeks. His first days off were the same if not worse. He was even moodier than usual. I started thinking it wasn't the Singulair. He became exhausted, sleeping in the day. Was still angry and not sleeping at night.

But as he heads into his 2nd week off Singulair, he seems to be acting normal again. :) Normal for a 4 year old anyway. He's been sleeping through the night for the past few days and has been happier. He's playing again with his toys in a non-aggressive way. He just seems like he's becoming himself again.

I read some things were people said they didn't notice a change in their child, but it's taking some time for my boy to get back to "normal."

I took Advair for almost 4 years. I did not take it regularly (as regularly as they prescribed), but took it reasonably regularly.

I think Advair is the worst drug! It wrecked my teeth! I had perfect (no cavities) until I started taking Advair, which is when I started getting cavities. My teeth will never be the same.

The worst part though, was that after about 2 years of use, I got a horrible case of pleurisy. I had it for 8 months. I went to dr. after dr. No one would listen. I finally got one to do a lung x-ray--within which I had scaring throughout my chest/bronchial tubes. My asthma was getting horrible, and I was literally at 75% oxygen intake (yah--my asthma dr. later told me I should have been in the hospital). I finally looked up and researched Advair--and found out that one of it's side effects was lung infections. By the time I found this out, I basically had a lung infection for 2 years. I fought with my asthma dr.--to get off of Advair. Put me on Flovent instead, which has been fine. I was off and on Prednisone for more than a year throughout all this time. Once off of Advair, the dr. put me on a regular dose of Prednisone (probably gained 15-25 pounds during that time), and an anti-biotic, once I finally won that battle. I FINALLY got better after about a month of treatment! But, ever since then I cannot get a cold/upper respiratory infection without having to go on prednisone in order to stop the cough. Plus, I then got my gall bladder out, and I now get major pain in that area when I get a cough.

I flat out refuse to EVER take Advair again. Nothing is worth going through anything like that again! It was miserable! I'm sure I had some other symptoms, such as stomach pains, headaches, depression, anxiety, etc., but seriously, I was just trying to breathe for so long, that none of the other stuff caused me as much worry!

My 7 yr old daughter has been off of Singulair for 12 days now. The change in her personality is amazing. She experienced two nights of strange dreams and waking in the middle of the night. We put her back on Flovent once a day as a substitute. Her aggression and frustration went away within days. She is so happy and content with herself. I can see that she is no longer frustrated by emotions that she could not explain. She's silly, funny, happy. She no longer hates us, pulls her hair, or tries to slap herself because she's thinks she deserves it. She has been on the drug since she was 3-1/2. We were doing family therapy to try to help her. This is no longer needed. She's back to her old self. What a shame no one warned us of this potential side effect. I also wondered how I missed the news story since I just found this site in September 2008. The news story about Singulair came out in March - just around Spring Break. Since we were out of the country, I missed the news. Isn't that a convenient time of the year to break a story? I'm sure many other families missed the news.