Advair Diskus and medications

After being treated for COPD, first with prednisone (some years ago) and with Advair subsequently, I have suffered waves of extreme fatigue and panic attacks. I don't know if it was the original prednisone treatment or the use of Advair. The dosage was reduced last year from 500/50 to 250/50, but the waves of attacks continue. I cannot attribute the condition to anything else. I am not on any other medications except Duoneb. I do not have high-blood pressure. I have developed a pad of fat on my abdomen, but am otherwise slender. Considering that I eat very little, I am probably overweight inspite of my weighing only 120 pounds. Has anyone else suffered with my problems following the use of Advair (or prednisone)?.

I'm a 56 year old male who has been taking 500/50 Advair since it came out - about 9 years ago or so. Having severe asthma since my mid-twenties, this medication has been the best for me than anything else, and has greatly limited my dependency on prednisone and has kept my general well-being fairly stable. I always try to cut back when I'm breathing better, but have never been able to skip more than one day before asthma symptoms begin to come back. So far, I have notice no side effects! Anyone know what's up with that?
Also, I've tried everything under the sun to naturally get away from all medications, but have never been even close to successful....but I'm still looking.

i've been taking the 100/50 advair for years now. i have only ever taken one dose a day, frankly out of cheapness. i was unwilling to take anything that expensive twice a day! in the beginning of my asthma experience, i was also put on singulair but again, when i filled the prescription and saw how much it cost, i never refilled it (boy, am i grateful for that after reading what people have posted about it!)
i cough up lots of yellow glom from my lungs and i blow similar stuff from my nose. a CT scan showed my sinuses to be completely blocked with polyps and the doctors said that if i had the surgery, i could get off advair.
in dec of 2006, i had the surgery but within weeks of going without advair, my lungs were tight again and i couldn't breathe and had to do a week of prednisone to open things up. back to advair for maintenance, but this time the surgeon added 2 nasal sprays (veramyst & astelin) and other inhalers (ventolin & maxair), plus wanted me to go to an allergy doctor for immunology injections.
the surgeon also told me that polyps could grow back in a month after surgery! wish he had told me this before the surgery. i certainly knew that they could grow back but i figured i'd have a good 20 years! now i'm told that i need these 4 other medications, plus advair, plus allergy shots to keep my polyps from growing back!
i still have no sense of smell, i still sniff, cough up glom and have constant sinus infection, just like i did before having a $25,000 operation!
however, i don't take the other medication- just the advair once a day or once every other day.
i never thought i had any side effects until i started reading here. happily i have not gained weight. but a few years ago, i did notice a lot more hair in the shower drain. and my voice is often hoarse. i didn't connect this to advair use until i read people's complaints here.
i am determined to get off this crap!
i have a resistance pump to exercise my lungs and strengthen their capacity.
also trying a dry salt inhaler and various supplements.
this is a great site. we need to get all our complaints to the FDA- they have to stop allowing drug companies to profit while using us as unsuspecting guinea pigs

After never having asthma in my life I was put on Advair 100/50 at 34 ...
I have been on it for a little over a year but I have been reading these side effects and wanted to try and ween myself off this stuff. I cut back to 1 per day then 1 every other day and now I am down to 1 per week. Hopefully I am going to be off it soon. The side effects are real with the weight problems people are having with this stuff .... My question is does anyone else have the feeling in their throat like there is an obstruction or a lump? or like something is stuck in the back of their throat?? Does this go away ?

I rinsed my mouth and brushed my teeth after every use .... so I am not sure if this will go away with lower use or not

I have had EXTREME hair loss and I did not know what from. I never thought it was my advair. I checked all of my other medications and only one other one said there was a possibility of hair loss (PREVACID) so I went off of that but my hair was still falling out. I have been so desperate that I scheduled and appointment to see a dermatologist tomorrow. Today I happened to google "advair/hair loss" and I cannot believe all of the articles that came up with people expressing the correlation.
I have been so depressed from this hair loss. I had the thickest, shiniest hair and now I barely have a pony tail. I wear hats all of the time because I am embarrassed.It has been totally devastating.
What I need to know is which other asthma medication will NOT cause hair loss so I can switch? Too bad I just dropped $100 on a 3-month supply of Advair and now cannot use it.
Also, those of you who went off the Advair, how long did it take for you to experience hair growth or it not falling out?

I'm now 43, and I've had bad allergy symptoms since about age 17. Perennial symptoms and nearly daily headaches and facial pressure and bad throat drainage. Also, every time I got a cold, I'd get a cough that would not go away for months.

Finally, a few years ago, a new family doctor suggested I try Advair for that cough. Wow. Cough gone in days. Wow. That seemed invaluable to me.

But, I do notice thick mucus in my throat now, and I can't seem to clear it, at times. My voice is affected and diminished, it seems.

I'm not sure that any other side effects are occurring for me. However, after my wife saw a commercial about death risks associated with Advair(naturally the commercial was from a law firm), I decided to do some internet reading. I am curious about the possible heart effects. I had a mitro-valve prolapse in my teens, and am not sure I should be taking medications that can alter your heart rhythms.

I think I'll call my doctor and see what other options I have. I am intrigued by the idea I read below, from April of 2008, about reducing dosage to once a day, or every other day, or once a week, or down from 250 to 100, or all of the above. If it still controls my cough, that's may be all I need.

I've never had bad asthma. Just bad allergies, that have led me to this.
So, I just might try a reduction plan.

I really felt the need to post my story about Advair. I started having seizures 2 years ago. I have been seeing a neurologist since then. In the mean time, I have been working with a lung specialist for asthma/COPD. I was placed on Advair. Over several months I started experiencing vision changes, muscle pain, muscle cramps, headaches, weight gain, confusion, trouble speaking, constantly clearing my throat, severe pain near my left armpit, with sever muscle tightening. The muscle tightening was so severe that my arms and legs started moving and twisting by themselves. This is called agentatious movements. The neurologist has been putting me through a battery of tests because these symptoms can be from a severe neurological disease. As of now, I have been passing them with flying colors.The neurologist thinks I am faking, or these symptoms are a figment of my imagination because he cannot find a reason for them. That's when I decided to start checking the side affects of all my medications, and found this site. I have printed off all the stories that match my symptoms and will take them to the neurologist to prove I am not a nut case, and them I will see my lung specialist and take care of getting off the Advair. It does work, but there has to be something else in the medical world than can help us breathe without feeling like we are dying other wise. I want to thank everyone for putting their story out there is is a great help to know you are not alone. Good luck!

I was diagnosed with asthma after 34 years of a very athletic life. My dr. prescribed me predisone, proventil, singular and ADVAIR!! Although the predisone was for a 7 day period, the other three meds. I was to take indefinetly. For someone who has never been on any medication, this was a very hard adjustment!! I took all meds. for about 6 wks. but my gut feeling was just telling me to stop, so after blurriness of vision, weight gain, shakiness, loss of sleep,mood swings,loss of concentration, severe heart burn(especially at night), breast tenderness, back pain and the need to clear my throat all the time I took it upon myself to get off the drugs!! I stopped about a week ago and am feeling a slight shortness of breath but I'm going to stay on top of it and work out on building up my lungs and flushing all these medications out of my system. Sometimes doctors are to quick to diagnose a person and put them on unnecessary medications. I believe on our bodies having the capability of healing themselves with natural elements. I'm on my way to a natural product store to find a healthier way to heal my body. Thank you all for the comments!! I'm relieved to know that I made the right choice on stopping ADVAIR!!!!

My husband is 46 and has been on Advair for about 3 years for COPD /asthma. I do not believe in all this medication however his doctor told him to take it so he did. We trust our doctors. He use to be an avid runner , rode horses almost nightly, good physical shape and always full of energy. I have been noticing over the last couple years he has no energy, he has chronic muscle pain ( can not even lift much anymore), hoaseness all the time, eyesight is deteriorating, weight gain ( and he has been dieting), problems sleeping at night , feels light headed , and always exhausted. Recently he has been constantly complaining, which he never does, on how much his body truly hurts all the time. So I decided to find out the side effects of all the medications his pulmonary specialist has kindly prescribed for him and guess what his problems all relate to taking Advair. So as of tonight he has stopped taking this medication because I gave him a copy of what shows on this site and how everyone else has the same side affects. I thank all of you. I did convince him a couple months ago to start going to a massage therapist weekly , He used to go monthly,to help him with his muscle pain, however the pain was so much that he has to go weekly. He just started going for acupuncture which he really seems to see a difference in his breathing. She told him the first medication she was getting him off of was Advair. How interesting.

Paula , Burlington, CT.