I was on Advair for almost three weeks. Within the first few day...

I was on Advair for almost three weeks. Within the first few days, I thought it was helping. Then I started having really bad problems with acid reflux, throat irritation/hoarseness, a dry cough, need for nearly constant throat clearing, and tightness in the throat. It also seemed like the Advair was getting less effective in helping my breathing. I ended up going to a asthma specialist. In addition to asthma, I found out I may also have this other condition called Vocal Cord Dysfunction (VCD). VCD is commonly mistaken for asthma as the symptoms and triggers are very similar. Also, there is a fairly high rate of co-occurance with asthma and some literature even suggests having asthma predisposes one for developing VCD (having GERD and allergic rhinitis also appear to be triggers). In one study, 56% of individuals with "severe" asthma were found to also have this condition. Another 10% were found to not even have asthma. The point in talking about all this is that I think in my case taking Advair significantly exacerbated my symptoms of VCD. M y doctor's response was to put me on prednisone when the Advair didn't work. It seems like lots of people posted concerns about similar side effects to mine and some even noted they were having more trouble breathing. They might want to look into this condition. Here's a link: www.cantbreathesuspectvcd.com