I started advair a year ago for COPD and the side effects have be...

I started advair a year ago for COPD and the side effects have become intolerable, but I'm between a rock and a hard spot, because it has made it possible for me to get off of the rescue inhaler which I was previously using every two hours. My hair periodically falls out by the handful, my legs swell every night and a deep bruise to my right leg has created a four week odyssy of the ankle swelling to twice the size of the other by dinnertime and the bruise is only just starting to appear - I suspect the steroids have slowed healing. I also have most of the same side effects as listed by others here - belly-bloating, diarrhea, severe stomach cramping, charlie horses, quicker temper, hoarseness, sore throat, heart palpatations, and chest pressure, trouble swallowing, bruising, blurred vision, most disconcerting is the way this stuff is affecting my short term memory. I just started back to school and I can't absorb anything into my memory and my ability to conceptualize (one of my best skills, previously) is now frightenly limited. For the first time in my life, I know what it is like to be the one in class scratching my head with a dumb expression on my face. I realized that it was the Advair, because I tried studying in the early morning (after the last dose of Advair had worn off) and Voila - my memory and conceptualizing abilities had partially, but dramatically, returned. But I need the Advair to GET TO class and by the time I reach the test (after my morning dose of Advair), I can't recall anything in a timely enough manner (test taking had always been my strength). I hate to think what this drug is doing to the minds of children in this country. I now know for the first time in my life, what a horrible feeling it is to not "get it" after trying with all your might. I flunked a math test last week after studying days and nights for it - first test I've ever flunked in my life and I used to get Bs in college while not opening a book until the night before a test. Does anyone know of anything else that is anywhere nearly as effective without all the side effects? I suspect it is the fluoride in Advair that makes it so dangerous - a good percentage of the dangerous drugs taken off the market or still on the market, but with blackbox warnings contain Fluoride - it is highly reactive and unpredictable. Flonase (nasal spray made with steroids and fluoride) makes my father and sister nearly psychotic!