I've had asthma since I was a teenager, and about 9 years ago I went to an allergy and asthma specialist and had the whole gamet of tests run to find out why my allergies and asthma were worsening. I was prescribed Advair, Albuterol, Prednisone, & Servient. At the time, these were the only medications I was taking and never experienced any severe side effects. My asthma was much better and by my one year check up, I had almost completely stopped using the Albuterol for sudden attacks. Due to my graduation from college, I was no longer covered under my parents insurance and due to the cost of the medications, discontinued my treatments. I felt fine, hadn't had any attacks or breathing episodes, so I felt I could do this without any problems.
Fast forward to this summer. My asthma symptoms had returned and my PCP put me back on the Albuterol. It helped the sudden attacks, but I was blowing through an inhaler in a month. Last week I found myself in my local urgent care center, barely able to breathe, gasping for breath. I'm 31 years old with an almost one year old. They gave my 3 breathing treatments and prescribed Prednisone (only 5 days worth), Albuterol, and the Advair. After a week on the Advair, I feel so strange. I haven't had to use my fast acting inhaler since last week, but I feel like my heart is going to jump right out of my chest. I have a constant headache, a weird ache in my right arm, can't sleep even though I am exhausted, and my mind is constantly racing. It's like I can't slow down. After reading all these crazy side effects and comparing them with my own, I'm stopping the Advair. I have an apt. with my asthma specialist in 2 weeks and I will be sure that he doesn't put me back on this med. It's awful...can't imagine taking any drug with a side effect of death.