Hi Everyone, It is a blessing that I found this site. I have ...

Hi Everyone, It is a blessing that I found this site. I have been on Advair 250 now for almost three years and it has only done the one good thing it is supose to do ( keep my air waves opened. ) The side effects have been hell for me. I am 38yrs old now and in three years I have gained 52 lbs., swelling in the legs, arms, and face. I get really bad cramping in my feet and legs alot at night as well. My mood swings are are very depressing. I am feeling like I do not belong here on the earth and that it would be better for my husband and kids if I weren't here for them to see me. I went to my Doctor to talk to him about how I feel but he say's I could be going through the change of life. He also say's that thre is not enough steroids in the med. to have that much of a side effect. I couldn't even pee more then once a day it was that bad for me. I was litterly hold my water well. He put me on fluid pills to help with the fluid retention and they didn't work. First he said to take one a day. So I did for a month. Nothing happened. So I asked him if I could up it to 2 a day? He said yes. So for a month I tried 2 a day and again that did n't work. So I turned around and upped them again without his permission thinking it won't hurt me to 3 a day. Well I started to have more problems so my Dr. sent me to a specialist and he sent me for blood work. When they came back I was called to come back to the Dr.'s office. He has his chat with me told me it was a no no for that amount of pills to be taken. I told him that it was the only way I could get rid of the fluid in my arms and legs. He said that if I were to have continued on these pills I could have suffered Cardiac Heart failure. Now in Dec.2002 I went and had Abdominalplasty done where they cut the fat off your stomach and do some liposuction in some areas. Well I went in at 213lbs and in one hour I left at 206lbs. Now after 8 days. I managed to put the weight back on me and I started to cry. My husband and I spent almost $ 8000.00 on my procedure because my Dr. told me that I was gaing to much weight and if I were to continue down this path I am going to kill myself slowly. I tried the Atkins, weight watchers, and now I am going to CURVES and have done the 6 week loss challenge with 3 other ladies and by the end of the challange they lost weight and inches and I gained in my waist , belly, arms , thighs, and boobs. I was so depressed that I gave up exersising altogether. Why bother I feel that if I'm going to go I might as well be heavy. I have taken myself off the advair now for 4 days and it has been hell for me but I'm not going back on it. So if anyone has any ideas on what we can use as a replacement without the steroids let us all know. PS; Before going on the Advair I was on 40mg. of Prednisone ( steroids )a day for 10 days on and 7 days off for 3 months. I was a nightmare to live with. I looked and felt the same way as I did 3 yrs ago. So they can't tell us that there isn't enough steroids in it to have this effect I think theyare not getting the picture clearly. Thanks, Dorothy