Peak flow meter symptoms and conditions

It seems as though a lot of people here have experienced what I have...shortness of breath, feeling like you can't get enough air, lightheadedness when standing, etc. I'm only 21 and on 50 mg of this sh**. The past 2 days I have cut myself down to 37.5 mg and hopefully this will help. Being anxious about not being able to breathe correctly makes it worse. I'm pretty sure the shortness of breath is not cardiac in origin as I have recently had a normal chest x-ray and echocardiogram. I even tried a peak flow meter to see if I had developed asthma, and my reading was 400, which is normal for my weight and height. 5'3, 108 lbs. I am convinced that it must be the Toprol, which I was taking for inappropriate sinus tachycardia. If I had some kind of cardiomyopathy (which causes shortness of breath) that symptom would be HELPED by taking the Toprol XL, as it would relax the heart. I want off this stuff, or at least reduced a lot.

I am a 26 year old female and was prescribed Advair some years ago by my Asthma & Allergy doctor. I took it off and on for several years. Honestly I was scared to take it because of the side effects I thought it might have. About 16 months ago I went off birth control because my husband and I wanted to have a baby. I continued to take Advair 150/50 twice a day. I got pregnant in July and had a miscarriage Sep 1. Then while still taking Advair I got pregnant again shortly after that. After my first OB appointment it was established that the fetus/egg sack had no heartbeat. I had a D & C done in December to clear out the unsuccessful pregnancy. I decided after reading all these comments and thinking about my own side effects of taking Advair that my miscarriage were the cause of taking Advair. I believe Advair may have decreased my body's ability to clot blood properly and that is what has caused my babies not to thrive. I decided in January of 08 to stop taking Advair. I asked my doctor about the Advair and being put on another medicine in Jan and he seemed to think that there was nothing wrong with me taking Advair. I stopped taking it anyways. I decided since mostly all of my mild Asthma symptoms were caused by exercising that I would just use Proventil/Albuterol inhaler before exercise. It worked great and in Jan, Feb, March of 08 I trained for a 5k, and ran it in March under 26 minutes. I have been off Advair ever since Jan and have been fine. I used a peak flow meter to be sure my breathing was normal. I only use the Albuterol occasionally now. Furthermore I am now almost 20 weeks pregnant and doing fine. Besides the miscarriages I also blame Advair on other side effects I experienced when taking it including leg cramps, increase in heart rate, restlessness after taking in evening, night sweat, hoarseness, dry throat, headaches, and whenever I would get a cut or something it would take forever for me to stop bleeding.
now my blood clots quickly no problem. I was taking no other meds besides Advair when I experienced all this. DON'T TAKE ADVAIR...unless you feel the benefits of the drug outweigh all of the horrible side effects. Demand another med. with fewer side effects.

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?

Firstly, there is hope! I have been off the evil Advair for 8 months now, I have my Ventolin at the ready but typically I use it one or twice a week...and when I do I hold it at arms length away and only inhale a tiny amount.

Okay a little rewind to the start of my recent problems. I went to an allergy doc since my asthma seemed to be getting worse, he did the test where they scratch your back with 70 or so allergens, from the reactions he determined what some of my trigger are. Turned out to be house dust mites, mold, grasses, cats, horses, shrimp etc. Then the idiot put me on Advair rather than dealing with the real issues.

After 2 years on this evil substance, my chest was so tight when I didn't take it, and generally my breathing was the worst it had been my whole life. I felt like there was something in my lungs that I just couldn't cough up...this gradually did subside. Long steamy showers helped me a little here.

So this is what I did.
Bought a copy of Reversing Asthma by Richard Firshein, a must read, he was a chronic asthmatic and reversed his own condition, you must buy this book.

Armed with my known allergies, I cleaned up the house, bought the pillow covers that keep the dust mites out. I sprayed all the carpets and duvets with an anti-allergen spray. And of course avoided my other known triggers.

I bought a Microlife digital peak flow meter to map my progress.

On Richard Firshein's advice I take a whole host of daily supplements, cod liver oil, vitamin C, magnesium, beta carotene and so on.

I exercise 3+ times a week and I bought a PowerLung Lung Trainer to build up my breathing muscles (I haven't been using this a whole lot so far though).

I'm still working on finding my triggers, so I still have days that aren't as good. I think something I occasionally eat or drink is bothering me. Oh and I found being dehydrated seems to cause my breathing to go downhill.

All the best to you all.

My local pharmacies have switched to dispensing only ProAir HFA inhalers in place of the usual albuterol inhalers by Warrick, per the new law concerning the ozone layer. Am experiencing severe breathing problems because of the switch. Was under cotrol with the old type for over ten years, it was a life-saver. The new type inhaler doesn't work for me. Even after adjusting to the slightly different feel and mastering a slightly different user technique, it fails to ease my breathing. Peak flow meter stays around 250. Why drastically alter a medication for non-medical reasons? I am reading on internet forums that I am not alone; thousands of users are having problems with the new HFA inhalers. I can't walk to the store now, I can't go up & down stairs, I can't carry on a sustained conversation. ???? I appeal to the powers that be to make our old inhalers available to us again. Let the marketplace decide which type to buy. This is a frightening failure and we need help.

Update to my June 20th post.
I have mild asthma but got prescribed the evil Advair by my doc a couple of years back. Recently my asthma felt like it was the worst it's ever been. Like other people have mentioned I felt tired, rundown and anxious. If I didn't take the advair every few hours my chest became tight and I'd start the usual asthmatic downwards spiral of panic.
I stopped the advair 8 days ago, my chest was tight at first but is easing up. I've had the rescue inhaler at hand but have not had to use it yet. I bought 'Reversing Asthma' by Richard Firshein and a Microlife Peak Flow meter to monitor my progress. My peak flow dips a little at night and first thing in the morning but I'm still well above average. Interestingly the tighteness doesn't affect the peak flow that much, which is great ammunition for calming yourself down when it feels uncomfortable.
Like Spunky said below, it's hard to trust some Docs, and the pharmaceutical companies are going to be as crooked as oil and other big business. They're eager to treat the symptoms for a quick fix rather than find the underlying causes, And a good diet, vitamins supplements, a clean environment and an exercise program isn't going to keep them in the lifestyle they're accustomed to.