Advair Diskus and weight gain

I have only been taking this drug for about 3 weeks and I could not explain at first but just knew things were off. I can not sleep, have terrible nightmares all night long, wake up at 4 if I do sleep. I am 53 and have long hair and my head itches all the time. I now fear hair loss as I have read in other complaints. My eyes are dry, I just feel off, majorly ! My back and legs ache all the time, especially when I first get up in the morning I can seriously barely move or bend down. I feel like I am 83 instead of 53. I have had no headaches but have had weight gain already, especially in my midsection. I feel off mentally all the time, not able to concentrate at all. I am calling my doctor on Monday and they have to give me something else. Has anyone else had these symptoms and what else can you take or do?

I have pain in my hands, swelling in my legs that will not go away with diuretics, two tooth broke off, weight gain especially around the abdomen, one sore throat after another, and foul taste in my mouth without warning.

Dizziness, weight gain, muscle cramping, nightmares, nausea, bloating, water retention. My legs look like elephant legs they are so swollen. I have been on Advair for 3 mos and I have gained 9 lbs. I exercise 45 minutes a day and still gain weight. The blood pressure is up, the blood sugar is up, the hemoglobin is down and the GERD is not responding to the Protonix. It is exacerbating everything and I am going to request a change in meds. I am 53 and I do not want to go diabetic at this stage.

I have been on advair 250/50 for about 1 year now and i have had dramatic weight gain about 40 lbs. which i cannot get off i have never been a heavy person, since i started this has changed. Also i have had tooth pain in my molars which are now cavities, that happened within 3 months from taking this drug.

I was on Advair for less than a year and the Doctor's kept upping my dose. I went off of it for about 4 months last spring because of the weight gain issue. then I got sick with a respiratory infection last summer and Dr. put me on it again -- and I started immediately having jaw pain and terrible headaches. Went to dentist and found out my teeth were disintegrating (called resorption). I go to dentist every 6 months for cleaning and have xrays each year and never had a problem or cavities. Genetically both sides of my family have very strong teeth for their entire life (into their 90's). So I saw many dental specialists and surgeons and it was baffling to them. I'm 44 years old and now my teeth and jaw are a total mess. I've had my front teeth pulled and multiple bone grafts. The reconstruction process (if it works) will take more than a year and over $25,000 (not covered by insurance). And my Doctors still don't know if my other teeth now showing problems will also eventually fail as well.

And I didn't associate the Advair with the problem until I started to take Advair again (2 months after last jaw surgery) and almost immediately my mouth start gushing blood from where the bone grafts were healing. I stopped Advair again -- waited 2 weeks and took it again (just to make sure) and again severe bleeding occurred. I wrote the scientists that were testifying before the FDA's Advair Black Box hearing that this drug should be illegal. At 44 years old I am looking at the prospect of being disfigured for life, no less and issue is the enormous cost that it presents -- and who is going to hire someone with missing front teeth (it has destroyed my career as well).

Before I took Advair I never had joint pain, GI issues, much less teeth/jaw issues and now this is my reality everyday. I feel like I aged 20 years by taking Advair for 1 year. I also know that this damage is permanent and likely to continue to get worse despite having stopped the drug. I think GSK knows how dangerous this really is. I also think it stays in your body a lot longer than they say it does. We know it kills people and they admit it does. STAY AWAY FROM IT!

All Steroids are equally terrible -- stay away from Prednisone, Pulmicort, Nasonex -- they are all killers.

I would like to say something about advair that is POSITIVE. I have taken this drug, with NO SIDE EFFECTS for 5 years now and it has made a huge difference in my life.
I have had no isues with thrush (i rinse and spit) or weight gain or hair loss or coughs-

please don't condem a drug just based on your experience. reading through these comments I see a lot of times this has been prescribed fr folks who were not ashthmatic or with COPD. This drug is not for folks who don't have hyper reactive airways-but for those of us who do, it has been a lifesaver.

BTW I changed careers 2 years ago and entered the health field as a Respiratory therapist and adair has helped many many people. But its not a miracle drug-it has a specific purpose and if hat is not your problem, its not likely to be a good solution.

I have had severe asthma since I was 3 years old (25 now). I have been on about every asthma med and for the past 5 years have been on advair. For 5 years I have had chronic hives that can only be controlled by zyrtec and if I try to go off adviar it will put me in the hospital within a week. I have developed a dependency to this awful drug....and now I can't get off of it. I have experienced weight gain and have to eat a very script diet so that I don't become fat. If you have just started this drug I suggest to get off of it ASAP.

I hope this helps someone.

I was never allergic to anything in my life until I went around this cat at the age of 33. I sneezed and got a really scratchy throat. I thought it would go away, but it turned into a cold. I thought the cold would go away, but it turned into bronchitis and then pneumonia. I was jogging everyday at the time and realized something was wrong when I couldn't finish my run.

I was hospitalized for two days and upon discharge I was stocked up with a cocktail of drugs: Singular, Advair, Albuterol inhaler, and Claritin. Needless to say, I took them all, because I was scared of dying. Thank God I'm not a good medicine taker, because I missed many doses and only took them as needed. I think this is why after 3 years I have only started to see the effects of these meds in the last 8 months.

Okay... I have major joint stiffness(all over) especially neck and fingers, heart palpitations, nervousness, short patience, horrible memory, lack of motivation. Oh my God! The weight gain...Please!

Before this, I was completely healthy. After reading this I will reduce myself to my inhaler and Claritin. I notice they are cool. Otherwise, if I keep my stress level down my breathing does really well. It would probably help if I got rid of the cat. Shhhh...Don't tell anyone. LOL.

I have since put my self on a juice fast using a high powered juicer to cleanse my system of all the trash the doctors gave me.

God bless you all and I speak life and breath into each of our lives.

BreathWrite.

I can't believe that this drug is legal and that it has not been taken off the market. I have been on it for a year and couldn't understand why I was gaining weight, nothing helped to get those pounds off. I started at 160 and now at 195 and growing. Three years ago I had triple bypass, weight 150, some of the meds caused some weight gain, but nothing like this. My joints was so sore in the morning I couldn't hardly walk, I just knew I was going to be using a walker if this kept up. BTW I'm 65 female, always been active and busy, now I just do what I have to or can and that doesn't make me happy. I have recently been having crying spells and sore throat, voice lost, and enlarged tongue. The enlarged tongue caused me to do some searching on side effects.....I am so glad I found this page. I haven't taken any puffs of Advair since., that was 3 days ago. My tongue is starting to shrink, my joints aren't as sore, my crying is stopping. The weight is still with me and might never lose it, time will tell. I don't seem as hungry and eating less so maybe there is hope. This is a drug that should have Big warning all over it. Advair has taken a year of my life at this point. If there is ever a law suit I would be the 1st to sign. I didn't have that many breathing issues and really didn't understand why the Dr. put me on it.
I usually check up on drugs before I take them, this one slipped through the cracks, guess cause it wasn't a pill. At this point I just hope that others find this in time and stop using Advair before it ruins their lives.
God Bless
Barbie Kay

I was diagnosed with allergy induced asthma in my freshman year of high school. I was given Advair for a couple of weeks to help deal with a major attack I experienced. After seeing an allergy-asthma specialist I was told to continue with the Advair until I could get my AIA under control. I was also placed on Singulair, Flonase, MaxAir AutoHaler (for emergencies), Acuneb (also for emergencies) and I was already on Zyrtec and an eye drop Patanol. At the time my Zyrtec and the Astelin I was on were not enough to treat both the allergies and asthma. I also began taking allergy shots. I was an athlete playing fast pitch softball, conditioning P.E. including weight lifting and running, and I was also doing aerobics in my regular P.E. class. I swam often, was an active outdoors man, rode horses, and ate a fairly healthy diet. I could not figure out why I weighed 145 lbs at 5'2. My doctor said I was healthy and that I shouldn't worry about my weight but now that I am a 19 year old 5'3 weighing 130 lbs I realize that my weight gain was not normal. Although I do not play softball right now, I practice belly dancing and yoga. I often go hiking, running and swimming and I walk about 30 minutes a day to get to and from classes at LSU. I worked hard to keep a healthy diet, and exercise often so that I would not gain the dreaded freshman 15. It took me two years to get down to 130 lbs and I never attributed my weight gain and inability to lose weight to my Advair until I was off it for almost a year and then had to start taking it again to deal with a flare up. In less than two weeks I had gained almost 10 lbs and was feeling miserable.After I got to college, I would often go for runs to help keep myself in shape. I got to the point where I had to quit running because I was always short of breath and I would have severe asthma attacks. I was on all of the above mentioned medications and often on Prednisone for sinus infections. I also experienced the dry cough and the tightness of chest. I experienced almost daily headaches -some were attributed to stress but I am not sure if the Advair caused the others. I was also very groggy, dizzy, and EXTREMELY moody. I disliked the way I was feeling while I was on Advair and took myself off it earlier than I was recommended. Since then I have been feeling a lot better and I am able to control my occasional flare ups with zyrtec and flonase and occasionally singulair if I feel my asthma acting up. I got dizzy easily for a few weeks after I took myself I was not told by my doctor that I needed to rinse my mouth out to avoid thrush, nor was I told about the possible weight gain and some of the other side effects. I am going to stop taking Advair unless I absolutely need it and I am not going to stay on it for long, especially if I start feeling like I was before.

I'm a 40 year old female with severe asthma (since I was about 4). I have taken more meds in my life than I can count and nothing has worked like Advair Diskus 500/50. I absolutely LOVE this stuff (so far). I have been taking it 2x a day for two months and no longer need any other meds, not even my inhaler which I always used as my security blanket. I have also had major skin issues since childhood and my skin is now softer and smoother than ever. I don't have any weight gain issues, sore throat, cough, headaches, etc., but I am noticing that lately my body feels TIRED and my legs feel crampy at times, mostly when I wake up after a full night's sleep. I really think this med is well worth it for me, but maybe not for all. Is everyone here rinsing their mouth out after each use? Maybe that is the cause of the sore throat side effect. I wish everyone good health!

My 15 y.o. daughter has has first hand experience with weight gain on Advair. About 6 years ago at about 9 y.o., she gained 20 lbs in 6 months - and it started happening exactly when she started the drug. She was very active (swim team, gymnastics, etc) and did not overeat. It is very frustrating that both her pediatrician and her asthma/allergy specialist deny that her small dose of Advair is to blame.

For some reason, and I have talked to others that this has happened to, switching to Singulair did not help her with the weight problem. Seems the people who are hypersensitive to inhaled steroids are also sensitive to Singulair. Concerned about her rapid weight gain, and because she was always so thin, I took her to an endocrinologist to rule out any other problems. After a lot of bloodwork, he concluded that he could not rule out that it was a side effect of the Advair and/or Singulair, and that they may have elevated her blood sugar. I have read tons and tons of postings on the internet about children & adults rapidly gaining weight from inhaled corticosteroids (i.e. Flovent, Advair), along with the round face, bloated stomach, stretch marks, thin skin, easy bruising, etc. but nobody ever says what happens after stopping any of these drugs. Do people ever go back to normal? Do kids look like themselves again? Do any of the side effects disappear?

She is now 15 y.o. and cannot reverse her weight gain no matter what (30 lbs overweight). The last 2 years, she has only been on a small dose of Pulmicort (a different class of corticosteroid even safe to take when pregnant) since she has mild persistent asthma, and allergy shots have helped trememdously. My husband and I have been looking for 6 years now on how to avoid our daughter's weight gain with asthma drugs. If you run into any info., please let us know. Any experiences or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

OMG! This site is awesome! I honestly thought I was going crazy and something else was wrong with me! I quit smoking back in Dec 2007 and early Jan 2008 I was diagnosed with bronchitis. The bronchitis eventually got worse and at the end of Jan dr put me on steroid packs and an inhaler to assist me with the congestions. Early Feb I was diagnosed with Chronic bronchitis and was sent to a lung specialist. My lungs were only expanding 40% capacity due to the infection in my lungs so I was prescriped the inhaler, antibiotics, seven days of seroid and the Advair twice a day. I have now been using the Advair about three weeks and even though I feel a whole lot better my side effects are bad. I have a lot of congestion still, especially in the mornings, I cough almost all day long, I sleep maybe four or five hours a night (if that), my mood swings are aweful, I have a sharp pain under neath my left arm pit every once in a while, my rib cage hurts 24/7, I get headaches at least once a day, my nose is bleeding at least once a day and my hands tingle all the time. I did not realize that all these symptoms were side effects to the Advair dosage... 250/50???? OMG... I have to stop taking it. I've never had allergies or asthma up until the chronic bronchitis but if these are side-effects to the Advair I wonder if I was just not better off fighting the bronchitis through antibiotis only. I have not experianced weight gain though, and I am thankful for that as I do not need to gain any more weight. :-) Thank you all for sharing your comments as I now know that I might be just fine using allergy medicines and an inhaler from time to time instead of using Advair twice a day.

I am a 35 year old women, with severe asthma. I have had asthma since I was four years old. I have been through numerous meds. Currently I am taking Singulair, Combivent, Advair diskus and thte 7 day Predinsone. In July 2007 i had a severe asthma attach where i almost lost my life. In the past I'd rarely take the Advair, but since that last time in the hospital i have been religiously taking it. Right now i have a severe chest cold and i am taking theraflu and vicks cold meds and i am noticing strange things. Irregular heartbeat, feeling bloated, some anxiety and my weight gain. By reading the other posts and this whole site, i know believe i should ween myself of this Advair again. It is too much to worry about ...

I am 37yrs old and have been on Advair for years, I use to weigh 110pds. now I weigh around 165, I have chest pains all the time,
pains in my legs and chronic back pain, also
pain in my leg's. I have mood swings and feel sluggish all the time. I have headaches a lot as well. I am still on the Advair, never realizing that the Advair was the cause.

I'm very glad that I found this site! I took Advair for appx. one month. I experienced the weight gain and awful sores in my mouth. I rinsed my mouth each time I used my inhaler. I stopped taking it 3 days ago. The sores are disappearing and I feel like I'm losing some of the weight that I gained.

The most serious side effects of generic advair diskus includes weight gain, vision changes, trouble sleeping, irregular heart beat. There are certain drugs which interact with generic advair and increase the side effects. Look at the the list of drugs http://www.internationaldrugmart.com/advair-diskus.html so that you an be preventive and stop in the increase of the intensity of side effects.

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 8 year old son began using Advair this year after a bout of wheezing sent us to Urgent care. When he was finally officially diagnosed with Asthma this fall, our GP gave us Advair again. My son did great as far as asthma and breathing - didn't need his rescue inhaler once. Unfortunately he gained 8 pounds in 3 weeks and his face and stomach began to look extremely puffy. He also had 3 nosebleeds in quick succession, one when he slept which was a much larger nosebleed than he'd ever had before. I immediately discontinued his use of Advair when I went online and looked at the side effects. Unfortunately I had to talk to the nurses at my clinic several times to explain to them that I was CERTAIN an 8 lb weight gain was not normal and that I was no longer giving this medication to my son, no matter what our GP said. It seems that the clinical trials didn't show weight gain as a significant symptom, but later reporting by doctors has shown it. Doctors don't seem to have this information!

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.

I am a 46 year old female and have had asthma all my life,medication,shots,inhalers.The past year it got very bad and I was going through inhalers almost weekly. My doctor put me on advair in may of this year.I was so happy it really helped my asthma,no inhalers.Then the side effects started-I felt sick like I had broncitis,sore throat ,sounding hoarse,headaches,very annoyed,anxious,moody,felt like throwing-up,not sleeping,urinary tract infection,backache,confusion,weight gain.I thought I was very ill and was almost afraid to go to the doctor,then I thought about being put on advair and when the symptoms started.I looked up side-effects and BINGO! I am going to tell my doctor to get me off this,kinda afraid I'll get really bad asthma again,but what do you do?Feel like total gargage every day?or not be able to breath?What a choice.This all took place in a matter of 5 months.Everyone is different,every body can or cannot tolerate certain drugs.People do know their own bodies and why doctors don't listen or believe them I don't know.But,I sick and tired of being sick and tired and my whole summer was wasted thanks to advair.Hope I have another option.Lisa K.

Hi all. I am a 37 year old female. I was diagnosed with severe asthma when I was 30. Nothing helped me, nothing! I was coughing blood, in and out of the hospital, had to leave my job and for two years resigned myself to knowing I was going to die sooner rather than later. It was a daily struggle just to walk through the house.

Eventually a pulmonologist started me on Advair 50/500. Almost immediately my breathing became better. I had my life back. I had the energy to start my own business and am doing things I never thought was possible.

Sure, I have experienced some of these side effects...weight gain, moodiness, leg cramps, slight swelling in my throat and a very annoying urge to constantly clear my throat. BUT...I AM ALIVE!

I have read some of these other posts. If you can get by without the Advair then maybe it is not the best choice for you. If simply drinking enough water, as one stated, made me not have to use my albuterol, I would never even consider taking it. Hopefully someday there will be something better that does not have these side effects. But...until then, if you are like me, and need it to literally survive, then these side effects are worth living to spend another day with my family.

Although, I will say that it is a shame that it has to be so expensive. Since there are people that need this medication to survive, they should come up with a better plan to lower the costs.

I have been on advair since 1999, I have gained over 50lbs since I started taking it. It wasn't until earlier this year did I say enough is enough, I can't do this anymore. I will have new insurance on 10/1 and will go to the doc then. I pray there is something else out there other than these inhailed steroids. Now I don't want to be without any meds because this has worked the best so far. I have been on azmacort, servent, q-var, flovent, predinisone, other steriod shots, singular and of course albuterol, slo-bid, proventil. My side effects have been yeast infection (mouth), migraines, rapid heart rate, bad dreams, dizziness and confusion, emotional spells, nausea and of course weight gain. I am glad I found this site. Thanks

I am 48 yrs old and have been on Advair 500/50 for a little over three years now and although it helped my asthma dramatically in the beginning, everyone around me has commented on the crazy mood swings I have been experiencing for the past two years. I have also developed a very persistent case of thrush in my mouth/throat that never seems to go away-the doctor keeps on asking me if I rinse my mouth and it's starting to get annoying because I'd be an idiot not to rinse out my mouth-I even gargle, but the thrush keeps coming back! Also,my throat always feel tight-I frequently feel like I'm choking and I get hoarseness that interferes with the important thing like reading a book to my son. Recently, I have started bruising very easily. Everytime I mention all these things to my doctor she says that I should stay on the Advair and disregards my complaints about the side-effects. I would really like to stop using it, but I stopped once for Three weeks and I had a really bad bout of tightness in my chest and shortness of breath-any suggestions on how to get off it and what I can do instead?? I forgot to mention that I have gained weight and even dieting won't get the weight off-I am very active and exercise, but the weight stays.

Sept. 4, 2007 I am now 55 yrs old and have been on ADVAIR for 2 1/2 years. I recently stopped taking it because my insurance co-pay was maxed out for the year. It was going to cost me $235 for a disk and I didn't want to pay it. So it's been two weeks now. OMG, the differences I am noticing. My weight is dropping and I'm not doing anything different. I have gained about 20 pounds. Then when I started reading some of the side effects of ADVAIR on line I realized I had almost all of them. Fuzzy thinking, bloating (especiallly right after eating), disturbing dreams, hoarseness and the constant need to clear my throat, digestive problems and heartburn all the time, foot cramps, feel tired and rundown, heart palpitations out of the blue like just sitting at the computer or watching TV, weight gain.

So already no more bloating, dropped 5 pounds, sleeping without the bad dreams, more energy. I'm feeling better on a daily basis. I have an Albuterol inhaler that I have used, but just drinking enough water helps. I plan on seeing a Naturopathic doctor soon to try a natural way to deal with my asthma.

I started taking Advair 500/50 about 3 years ago in October. In October of 2004 I was about a size 9/10 and in the past years I am over 200lbs and wearing a size 16. I know that weight gain is normal with getting older but my diet plan would allow me to gain almost 55lbs in 3 years. On top of the weight gain I almost always get a sore throat and im always coughing up something. (Gross I know) MY moods are so wack..I have the weridest moodswings. I came by this website trying to find answers to why I couldnt loose all this weight and now I think that I have the answer. I have decieded to gradually take myself off Advair.

I have used Advair Diskus for about 7 months for mild Asthma. It helped my breathing but I gained about 46 pounds. They claim that Advair is an inhaled steroid so does not cause weight gain but my doctor said she has seen it happen hundreds of times. I started a strict diet but still gained weight. I stopped using Advair a week and a half ago. My weight is dropping rapidly so I won't use Advair again if I can avoid it. So far my breathing has been OK and I'm hoping my luck will hold.