Advair HFA and albuterol

I developed severe asthma at the age of 23 and am now 29. Let me say first that Advair develops an addiction!!! however, if I do not take it within days my body reverts back to the crumpled wheezing mess I was before I began taking it. I was taking puffs on my rescue inhaler every 3-4 hours which we all know is not good on the long term. Albuterol makes the heart race and keeps me dizzy for 15 min or so.
When I first started taking advair a super nice doctor *secretly* advised me to take one puff a day instead of two as a way to save money. that was 4 years ago and I am beginning to feel the need to take the usually prescribed second puff in the evening. I am aware of the long-term effects on the body but honestly nothing else works nearly as well. Everyday things like climbing stairs ends in an attack without it. necessary evil.

About 2 and 1/2 months ago I went to an urgent care facility since I felt like I was suffocating. I am a long time smoker (30 years) and have not had any problems with breathing accept for the occasional morning cough. Long story short, the doctor after hearing my breathing and taking 2 xrays said "you have a pocket of infection in your lung and COPD". I didn't realize it was that quick and easy to diagnose COPD and thought there were more extensive tests to prove that, but I went along with the doctor. The doctor prescribed Advair, an antibiotic, ProAir HFA (albuterol pump rescue inhaler), a decongestant and prednisone. I thought that was an extreme amount of medication but the doctor said she was being proactive. After a couple albuterol breathing treatments and a shot of steroids at the urgent care center I was on my way.

I finished the treatments of antibiotics and steroids as prescribed, but I never took the decongestant (did not want to over-medicate myself). Immediately after starting Advair my joints ached and I felt over all like I had the flu. With my 1 weeks checkup with the doc I mentioned this and she just smiled. About a week after that the achy joints starting easing up, but I started cramping in different muscles. For instance one week I would have a dull cramping in my leg that was persistent during the day and worsened at night. Then the leg stopped cramping, then the lower part of my back started in to a point it was hard to get out of bed, walk or bend over. Then when that stopped something else started up. Then during the last two weeks that I was on Advair I was having periodic chest pains, tightness in my chest, (once again) difficulty breathing, and my vision started to go (blurring)...that with the lower back pain. I am almost 50 years old and have been in excellent health my whole life, and honestly I have never felt as bad as I did while on Advair.

I stopped taking Advair 6 days ago. No, I did not call and ask the doctor's advice because I knew what the doc would say. The first day after quitting Advair I had restricted breathing so I used the rescue inhaler once. The breathing issue became better during the remainder of the day. Slowly the cramping in my body and chest eased up. Today (6 days later) my vision is back to what it was, no chest pains, occasional restricted breathing and will use the rescue inhaler during those times.

I think it's too early to know the long lasting affects of Advair, but at this stage in my life (unless I am worse off with my breathing than I am right now) I don't care to use the medication.

Boy can I relate to all of you. I have chronic bronchitis I think and adult onset asthma or is this lining of symptoms the side effects of advair. I live on albuterol as I keep thinking the advair is not working but keep taking ti 2 times a day. I have more breathing problems, the heartburn is a killer and now on Nexium for that.. My throat feels like it is closing up and the mucous stuck in my throat is a killer PLUS all the crap draining from my sinuses. This is all been going on sicne I started taking Advair. I found your site as I was looking to see if Advair was causing my visual problems. Yup, I think it is. This drug needs more warning posted all over it. I am off the damn med as of right now. Down the trash it goes.

I was started on Advair HFA about 35 days ago. A little background about me is that I'm 35 years old, in good physical shape. I'm a competitive cyclists doing road races anywhere from 45-100 miles, I work out 2-4 hours everyday. I've had lifelong chronic asthma, but have fought the disease with my healthy lifestyle. I also play the saxophone.

Since I've been on Advair I've developed a constant sore throat. Been coughing up stuff constantly when I'm out training on my bike. Can't seem to sleep for more than a few hours at a time. The worst side affect has been the leg cramps which are killing my training for up coming races. I have constant leg cramps that force me to get out of bed over and over to work them out. My energy levels have dropped to the point that I can't do even half a workout without being totally wiped out. This is coming from a guy that averages 60miles a day on the bike, the other day I couldn't even do 15 miles and had to stop from the constant cramps and tiredness. This stuff is a nightmare. I've gone back to using nothing but my albuterol inhaler. I'll continue to do lung exercises 4 times a day and completely clean up my diet and basically get this stuff out of my system. Let this be a warning that you can't get something positive without something negative as well.

I am a part-time professional singer and attorney. I developed an odd cough-variant asthma this winter at age 42 -- it had scary breath shortness and wheezing plus lots of phlegm coughed up. I had never before had the shortness/wheezing/asthma, though I have always had allergies and occasional bronchitis following a cold. The asthma/allergy specialists put me on Advair 500 twice a day with each attack, plus an oral prednisone burst/short taper, nebulized (not just rescue inhaler) albuterol (beta 2 agonist), and antibiotics (a different one each time). I also take Claritin, Rhinocort and Astelin for my allergies. I had four attacks of asthma this winter that were treated this way; after the fourth, they put me on Advair 250 maintenance for a month. With each attack, I would get hoarse, have trouble sleeping, and get odd muscle cramps I never had had. The hoarseness was worse each time, but I was able to sing through it at my regular gigs. I attributed the side effects to the prednisone. With my fifth attack, they told me to ramp up the Advair to 500 and do all else the same, but as an experiment to see how this would alter those side effects, I decided to treat it with everything but the prednisone. The hoarseness, sleep trouble, and muscle cramps were all much worse. I found this site, noted the recommendation of several other singers to try Asmanex instead of Advair, and asked the docs about it. They agreed that all these symptoms could be related to the Advair and gave me Asmanex 250 twice/day instead instead of the Advair, plus all the other meds for the attack. The symptoms went away within a week, although it took a little longer for me to get over the asthma attack this time. I am extremely grateful to this site and all the users posting comments. I can sing again, sleep again, and exist without weird muscle cramps during treatment of my asthma. Thank you very much.

I have taken Advair 250/50 for approximately 7 years. It was a life saver for me. My asthma was out of control. I slept with my albuterol inhaler in my hand at night. Advair was the wonder drug. It worked when nothing else did. I had bouts of depression and weight gain over the years, but nothing really major. I ran out of Advair a few days ago and just hadn't had the chance to get a refill.I had been experiencing daily headaches, and an inability to sleep at night. I felt lethargic and beginning to feel a little depressed. I contributed it to the lack of sleep, but wasn't really sure why I wasn't sleeping. Today while sitting in class (I am a Nursing Student & will graduate in December 2009), I got a horrible cramp in my left leg, then my left arm went numb. I got a little light-headed and my head was busting! My heart rate felt fast, so I had my instructor take my Blood Pressure. It was 164/105. Now my B/P has NEVER been anywhere near this. I went to the ER, had labs done (all normal) and an EKG (perfect). After about 4 hours my B/P went back to 117/78, normal for me. The Dr. had no explanation for what happened or why. My husband came home, got online and found several forums addressing these same symptoms. I have made a decision to talk with my doctor about alternative treatment.

I was diagnosed with asthma as a child. In late teens it seemed to not be problem, however after 50, I started developing symptoms of asthma again as evidenced from COPD tests. I am currently using Advair 250/50 since 55 yo.

One symptom, that I have not seen addressed here is that of "slow healing" after injuries. I injured my back awhile ago, and it seemed like 2 years before most of my symptoms were gone. To this day I still feel lingering effects. Then I scraped my shinbone. It seemed like it took forever to heal, and now there is an ugly red/purple scar where the minor scrape was.

I had never taken so long to heal before, and read that this was a problem with taking Advair. I never figured my asthma was that serious in the first place, so I simply cut back on the Advair to once/day or less as it seems still to keep my breathing OK. Sometimes, after a few days of not taking Advair, I feel some minor difficulty with breathing.

Now that I am 63, and so concerned about "slow healing", which I attribute to Advair, I have asked my Dr. to perhaps take me off Advair and simply take Albuterol when needed. Then I read that Asthma patients should only use Albuterol if that is sufficient to control symptoms and to advance to Advair to control more severe symptoms. Another article says that Albuterol does not heal Asthma, only assists with sudden onset of breathing difficulties and that I may still damage my lungs if I do not take Advair.

I remain at a loss as to what is best: Taking Albuterol when needed (perhaps a few to several times/week) or as I was doing before, contrary to recommended dosage, of 1-2 times/day. Fortunately my Dr. goes along with my changes, but tells me if symptoms get worse, she will put me on Advair 2X's/Day (which I probably will ignore dosage because of healing side effects, and use once/day or less).

I will report back later after trying Albuterol for time without the use of Advair at all.

I have been on Advair since Feb. of this year, I have had a lot of these side effects but didn't really realize it was from this med. At first I was told to take it 2x a day, reading the directions it says it has to be 12 hours exactly apart. My work schedule didn't allow that so I just took it 1x....Working 2 jobs I just thought when I couldn't sleep and was always tired, it was from working a lot. When I told the Dr. about not being able to sleep more than 4 hours, I was told since I was taking the meds 1x a day that wasn't it. After a bad cold and bronchitis I was told I had to take the Advair 2x a day, now i'm more tired than ever, still can't sleep and have a headache that won't go away even with migraine medicine. I'm even jittery and forgetful--kinda ditsy now and itchy off and on all day...After reading this blog site I see its not in my mind and i'm going to stop taking this med. I think i'm going to the health food store and find something natural.

I have used Advair 250 for a few years now and have noticed a few of the same symptoms as the other posters, but my main concern is whenever I go off the drug for too long my asthma gets drastically worse. I have become extremely dependent on this expensive drug that I can barely afford and I fear it is just weakening my health while only mildly suppressing my asthma. I feel stuck with this drug now. I feel like a slave to it. It's an awful feeling.

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.

BreatheWrite.

August 5, 2008

Thank you for this website. These testimonies has confirmed by suspicions of Advair's side effects.

I am 52 years old and was diagnosed with adult onset asthma 10 months ago. My physician prescribed Advair (500) and Albuterol inhaler. I was instructed to take the Advair 2 times/day and Albuterol 3 times/day. During the last few months, I have noticed a slight weight gain, fatigue, hoarseness, dry mouth and occasional insomnia. The hoarseness has resulted in 2.5 weeks of losing my voice. Also, I have noticed that my recovery from a prior illness, such as cold, was very slow.

As a result, I discontinued the Advair and use the albuterol as needed. My voice began to returned to normal in two days and I am feeling much better.

Now I am wondering if I am experiencing drug withdrawal symptoms due to discontinuing Advair five day ago. The following symptoms are: dizziness, and needle-like tingling in hands, feet and side.

Again, thank you gals for sharing you'll experience with Advair.

I'm 18 years old and I've been taking Advair (500) for about 4 years. I've had very persistant asthma my whole life and my Advair seems to save me from having to use my albuterol around 6 times a day. About 9 months ago i lost my voice for over 2 months. After that went away I had a break for about one month then around 6 months ago I developed what seems like a smokers cough yet I don't smoke. I just got a chest x-ray done and they said it was normal. They put me on steroids and antibiotics but it doesn't seem to be helping.

Could it be the Advair? I don't know that I can go without it even if it is. I want to get rid of this congestion in my lungs. I'm sick of coughing up mucus daily. Does anyone have any advice?

I couldn't handle Advair for more that 3 weeks!

Had no problem with lower dose, other than voice changes, but prescription was not strong enough.

Higher dose: Couldn't sleep more than 3 hours per night; Indescribable Depression; Weight gain.

Stopped the Advair cold-turkey. Within 2 full days I was feeling almost human again, but still not my normal self.

In 4 full days feeling like myself and needing to use Albuterol inhaler again.
Advair was fantastic for my asthma, but mental health is equally important.

I am a 26 year old female and was prescribed Advair some years ago by my Asthma & Allergy doctor. I took it off and on for several years. Honestly I was scared to take it because of the side effects I thought it might have. About 16 months ago I went off birth control because my husband and I wanted to have a baby. I continued to take Advair 150/50 twice a day. I got pregnant in July and had a miscarriage Sep 1. Then while still taking Advair I got pregnant again shortly after that. After my first OB appointment it was established that the fetus/egg sack had no heartbeat. I had a D & C done in December to clear out the unsuccessful pregnancy. I decided after reading all these comments and thinking about my own side effects of taking Advair that my miscarriage were the cause of taking Advair. I believe Advair may have decreased my body's ability to clot blood properly and that is what has caused my babies not to thrive. I decided in January of 08 to stop taking Advair. I asked my doctor about the Advair and being put on another medicine in Jan and he seemed to think that there was nothing wrong with me taking Advair. I stopped taking it anyways. I decided since mostly all of my mild Asthma symptoms were caused by exercising that I would just use Proventil/Albuterol inhaler before exercise. It worked great and in Jan, Feb, March of 08 I trained for a 5k, and ran it in March under 26 minutes. I have been off Advair ever since Jan and have been fine. I used a peak flow meter to be sure my breathing was normal. I only use the Albuterol occasionally now. Furthermore I am now almost 20 weeks pregnant and doing fine. Besides the miscarriages I also blame Advair on other side effects I experienced when taking it including leg cramps, increase in heart rate, restlessness after taking in evening, night sweat, hoarseness, dry throat, headaches, and whenever I would get a cut or something it would take forever for me to stop bleeding.
now my blood clots quickly no problem. I was taking no other meds besides Advair when I experienced all this. DON'T TAKE ADVAIR...unless you feel the benefits of the drug outweigh all of the horrible side effects. Demand another med. with fewer side effects.

I have been on Advair for about 5 years. I started with the 100/50 dosage and i guess it wasn't working for me so I was switched to the 250/50. I am 5'6' and I use to weigh about 150lbs. Now after 5years I weight almost 200lbs. I have been experiencing major leg pain that just started a year ago, and I have no idea where it came from. I thought my weight gain was due to birth control, but I stopped taking that a while ago. now after reading all of these comments I think that the Advair was the cause of all of it. I just got married last May and I weight about 165, I have not been exercising like I should, but I don't eat a lot of bad foods. I have gained over 30lbs since then. I went to the doctor about a week ago before i read all of these comments and ordered a 3 month supply of Advair. I think Im just going to stop taking it all together. I would rather take my albuterol more often than have people asking me every six months am I pregnant because my face looks fatter.

i'm 17. I have extremely bad asthma. and i've had it all my life. i remember being 3 taking nebulizers. i don't know it had gotten better, worse or stayed the same over the years. but i started taking asthma preventers medications because it was really out control. i have horrible allergies all together (which really is all asthma is) but little, tiny things will set asthma attack off instantly, like a short breath from under my bed or even steam from the dishwasher o_O. so i needed to go on preventers. i went from prevention inhalers, pills then finally advair.(and no doubt it works the Best) i was still kinda a kid at the time so it was 100/50, im to young to remember any side effects. but 100/50 wasn't cutting it, so i went to 250/50 , im still on it today. its hard to notice rashes, sinus, mental etc, problems because i have soooo many other allergies. plus im taking medications from them to.
i'd say im pretty healthy though, despite asthma i still play sports and i don't have to use my inhaler THAT much when i take advair it does work good, and i don't really notice all the symptoms/ side effects mentioned in the other comments, its a very good possibility some people are just allergic to advair, i was allergic to some meds i was on, plus, advair is a drug. Every drug Will have some kind of side effects unless its all natural. i question albuterol, i'll find myself reaching for puff when i don't even need it. O_O ! even with the new cfc free inhalers they have out.

DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, SWEATING, NAUSEA

My son (9) was on advair off and on for a while for severe asthma. I noticed depression, anxiety, fatigue and fibromyalgia type pains all over his body. I had him checked for lupus and other diseases and all negative. He also developed a severe rash between his legs causing much pain and discomfort as he had to walk like a bull-legged horse-riding cowboy. Showering often never helped. I assume he has candidis yeast infection(systemic). He was finally put on Prozac and I took him off Advair against my doctors advice. i took him off slowly and your body may need to make it's own steriods and not go into shock. He takes as much albuterol as needed to get him better and then i give him prednisone for 3 days when things become an emergency. tTe prednisone leads my son to anger and suicide but it goes away after he finishes his course, but it saves his life. He is now 13 and much happier and his face and body has thinned out by half. I will never give my son Advair again.

I am a 61 yr. old female former smoker diagnosed with COPD/emphysema. I was put on ADVAIR 500, along with using a nebulizer with albuterol and bromide to "inhale" several times a day.I also was on oxygen. I quit smoking and worked at getting my health back and to the surprise of the doctors went back to playing tennis several times a week.After reading about the side effects of the high dose Advair I had my Dr. reduce the amount to 250. It has been almost a year now that I have been on Advair. I have noticed some of the side effects mentioned here. The leg cramps, and leg spasms have been horrid. I also have had blurry vision. And lately I seem to not be able to sleep even if I am tired.I am going to see if my Dr. will let me drop to the 100 Advair level. Lately I have been intentionally skipping Advair doses to see if I notice any difference in my breathing. I almost forgot- since going on the meds listed above I have had kidney stones, an emergency appendix surgery and now high bilirubin count. I cannot find any info on those problems if result of medication ADVAIR. Even though I smoked for a number of yrs. I was very active and not over weight. The Dr. thinks thats why I am back to playing tennis. Has anyone else had a gastro problems ??Thanks A.

I have just tried Advair, and after 4 days, joints all over my body started to ache. My eyes hurt alot and my vision got blurry. Lastly, I just have a general feeling of unease. I quit the advair and was much better within 3 more days.
All pain is gone and eyes feel normal again, although my eye sight seems diminished. I took no other drugs and felt fine before taking the Advair.

I am 44 and suffer from mild copd. I can get by with Albuteral, and will do
so from now on. I know that one is safe.

Good luck to all.

I am very skeptical of all of the claims I have read here. I am no advocate of GSK or any other drug company for that matter, but I think people are getting carried away with attributing their symptoms to Advair. The known side-effects are readily available, anything else is purely based on assumption. I agree that Advair may in fact have many more possible adverse effects than they let the public know, but let us be careful about making ourselves little scientific researchers and concluding a causal relationship based upon a single case study (and an informal one at that). Talk to your doctor about trying something with less risk, such as Singulair, Azmacort, Intall, Fluticasone Propionate, etc. Please though, be careful not to be so quick to claim generalizable findings based on your specific case. I myself am going to work with my physician to attempt a gluten-free diet and a less invasive medication therapy. Advair is not habit-forming or addictive, so withdrawals are doubtful at best. Read up on the pharmacology of Advair (salmeterol in particular), and you can come to your own conclusions. Best wishes to all of you fellow asthmatics!

I have been on Advair for the past three years after a severe asthma attack on Oct 2005....what a mistake..I got all the side effects possible...really! Rash, arrhythmia, tachycardia, eye problems, runny nose, shakines, depression, anxiety, sleeping problems, nausea, muscle cramps or muscle spasms, hoarseness or voice changes, sinus infections, abdominal pain, dizziness, etc, etc and it is gatting worse! I am on 100/50 once...every two days! I could not stand all of this anymore- Does anyone know about some other less dangerous medication (Albuterol gives me the worse arrhythmia) Is it sensible to note that Advair and another dangerous medication; Paxil are from the same maker: glaxosmithkline pharmaceuticals? No wonder! Any input/help will be most welcome-A very worry French guy in San Francisco-

Boy i thought i was the only one and my family thought i was just making this stuff up. I have asthma and have had it since i was 10 now age 23. Recently i went to the doctor because i was using my albuterol inhaler to much i was using one a week. The doctor told me i had bronchitis now even worse so he put my advair 250/50 ive been on it for about 2 months. One week after taking it i notice my voice changed and my troat was bothering me, i was having nose bleeds. This week i started having really bad headaches my hands fall asleep at night without my even sleeping on them, also bad back pains my legs get bad cramps at night. One bad thing i really hate is i know i have gained a good mount of weight about 30lbs in so little time. My husband notice my mood swings ive been having towards him getting mad at him for no reason. Thank goodness im not going crazy seeing that im not alone. IM GONNA STOP TAKING THIS MEDICINCE AND CALLING MY DOC MONDAY MORNING!!!!1

26/f on Advair for 1 year, 3 mos. Diagnosed with asthma when I was 17. Was overusing my Albuterol and my symptoms got worse so pulmonologist prescribed Advair 250/50. After the first week of taking 2 puffs a day, I didn't need Albuterol inhaler and was able to exercise for the first time in YEARS without needing emergency inhaler. Advair was my life saver. Also prescribed to me was Protonix- the doctor thought I had acid reflux which contributed to my asthma symptoms. I take that seasonally now, when I notice a hoarseness in speech. I do get headaches every so often, they have been occurring more frequently as with mood swings so I am researching medications. I have no idea if this is tied into my Advair use since I've been on it over a year now. I might try going off Advair to see if it is related. I've also had a weird muscle cramp in my left armpit area which I NEVER would have thought was related to Advair but several people here have reported it.

In short, the headaches, mood swings, etc. do NOT outweigh my ability to exercise and breathe normal. I will most likely try to lower my dose of Advair or ween myself off to see how I do, but if my asthma worsens, I'd rather stay on Advair

I'm a 37 year old male and I've had asthma since I was a small child. I did the albuterol inhaler for many years but they took that off the market because of environmental reasons, so I had to switch to something. I wound up with the Advair 100/50. I noticed fairly early on that when I went to take the second prescribed puff at the end of the day, I didn't really feel I needed it. So, the combination of me being strongly skeptical of drugs and Advair being expensive led me to skip taking the second puff. The next morning, when I went to take my FIRST puff of the day, I noticed I didn't feel I needed that puff either, so I didn't take that puff. Long story short, I take ONE puff of this Advair every 3 to 5 days. It's been working well for me for about 3 or 4 years. I also take many healthy supplements like Omega Fatty acids, multivitamins, Vitamin C, minerals, etc.
So my message here is: Try taking LESS Advair... As little as possible. If your doctor figures it out, tell him/her whatever you feel like. Lie if you want. NOTHING (repeat) NOTHING is more important than your health and unfortunately the ONLY person who REALLY cares about YOUR health is you. You have to protect yourself. Don't let your doctor's ego win out over your health. You don't owe your doctor any anything except payment for your office visit.

Hi All -

I hate to read how Advair has affected all of your lives negatively however, after reading the information on this site, I feel so much better about what I have been experiencing.

I have had asthma all of my life. I was taking Albuterol (as everyone does) to control it when I had an attack, Singulair and Serevent (only prior to exercising to help stop an attack from happening). I went to a new pulmonary doctor with a bought of severe bronchitis and he told me that I was "not controlling my asthma properly" and that I should have been on Advair a long time ago. I trusted him and started taking it twice a day.

I have been on it for 17 days and over the past five days I started having severe anxiety over my breathing functions. I was monitoring every breath I took and wasn't breathing unless I told myself to. This started causing severe panic attacks...I HAVE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE IN MY LIFE!!!!! I am not prone to anxiety or anything like that and I have had asthma ALL MY LIFE!!! This was an entirely new behavior. I thought I was going crazy...I couldn't stop thinking about breathing.....I analyzed what was new in my life and what I have been doing differently that could cause this change in my life and the only new thing was Advair. My husband had to give me a Xanax (something that I have never taken in my life) just so that I could function and go to work. So I went on line and I found at least 50 web sites like this one devoted to Advair and a link to panic attacks, anxiety, depression, etc...I STOPPED TAKING IT!!!!! I don't care what my doctor has to say...the benefits are not worth this drug taking over my life and changing me as a person. I am done. I will deal with my asthma as I have always done so and I don't care if he thinks that I am "not controlling it". I left a message for the doctor and I am still waiting to hear back. I haven't taken the Advair since yesterday morning and the panic attacks have started to get milder. I am still a little bit focused on the breathing but only if I am alone and not preoccupied. I have to believe that these side effects will go away in time and when the drug is out of my system. I learned a valuable lesson. I will only take a drug if I research it first.

Thank you all for your comments....you have helped me to preserve my sanity. We all can't be feeling the same thing and not attribute it to the culprit..ADVAIR!!!!

I began taking Advair 250/50 in Nov. '06, approximately 1 month later started having pretty severe spinning & dizziness. Initially I was diagnosed with mild asthma and Ive always had allergies. The Advair cleared up the wheezing almost immediately and it never occurred to me that maybe the Advair was causing my dizziness. However after using in on and off for the last year and a half, I have experienced anxiety, a few panic attacks (for the 1st time in my 42 years), and this overall feeling of cloudiness. I recently started the Advair again and almost immediately I am now feeling very dizzy again, headaches with this stabbing pain behind my right eye, an overall feeling of instability. To add: last year when this all started I saw a neurologist, and a whole series of tests to check the cause of the dizziness Including a brain MRI, eeg and bear tests, these all came back normal. I am truly beginning to believe that the Advair may be the cause of all of this. Just a note, I also have felt the pain in my arm and neck. Has anyone else experienced these feelings in your head? I have stopped the Advair, to see the difference. I'll stick with Albuterol for now. I am a stay a home mom who has always been really healthy, eats right and exercises regularly. Any feedback would help!

I have been using Advair 250/50 for about 4 or 5 months to control my exercise induced asthma primarily when cycling on my 50-60 mile rides. So far I am pretty happy with how it is working, although I have noted that others have had initial success only to have some serious problems later on. My only complaint is the hoarseness, coughing and dry throat it gives me. I now have that somewhat under control with some aggressive cleaning of my mouth with water after I take a dose. I swallow some water and swish it around my mouth very aggressively, spit it out and then make sure I drink 4 or 5 gulps of water to clean my throat with the emphasis on gulp. Now the hoarseness and coughing is relatively minor. I also take two puffs of Albuterol about 20 minutes before riding. This is pretty standard for those that do vigorous prolonged exercise.

My son came down with pneumonia about two years ago. After being hospitalized for his pneumonia for five days(his oxygen was at 83 percent), he was put on Albuterol and Pulmicort for about a year which was working ok till his wheezing started to get worse .His doctor said it was time to see a asthma specialist in Forth Worth, Texas named Dr. Rogers. Well, Dr. Rogers evaluated my son and took an xray of his nose, diagnosed him with sinusitis and with severe asthma . MY son was put on Advair 115/21 immediately and told to get off all other medicine including his Pulmicort. He was to use the Advair two puffs twice daily every day . HE was to use the Albuterol when he was coughing or needed it for rescue. I got the Advair and as a cautious parent , I always read all of the medication guide that comes with the medication I give my son . I read all the side effects and became at that very night I was to give the medication to him very scared but I was told by Dr. Adams that it would control his asthma. The next day I tried to get in touch with my doctor but was talked to by his nurse and assured the medication was safe. My son at the time also had an upper sinus infection and was put on Prednisone and Zyrtec for his allergies, Nasonex, and also Omnicef which is an antibiotic for 20 days.
Even one day after taking the medicine, my son was sleeping and started sweating really bad that night and he had tremors in his legs and his arms and his heart was racing . As I watched my son sleep even on that second night of taking Advair, I put my head to his chest and would listen to his heartbeat cause now I was worried . His heartbeat was regular at first then when I listened more his heartbeat actually would skip a beat every now and then and his body would shake when it started to beat normal again .
I called the doctor two days after he was on the medicine and he assured me it was the Prednisone my son was on and not the Advair and I told the doctor about the tremors and he also said it was the other medicine . Then I asked the doctor about all the information in the medicine guide that came with the medicine that was conducted in 2006 a few years ago and all the side affects and all he said was that Advair was the safest on the market at this time and that the study in the report was a horribly conducted study and that usually people were dying not cause of the Advair but the Salmeterol being used alone and not a bronchioldialator used to treat both symptoms . It has been four weeks, one month since my son has been using Advair and he is off the other medications he was taking for his sinus infection. These are his symptoms after he takes the medication. About one hour after he take his medication he is very hyper, nervous, his heart is racing a mile a minute without even running around, he is sweating, he can not sit still for one minute and he has muscle spasms. At night when he goes to sleep his whole body shakes as though in a convulsion and I have even had to be there with him to calm him down. He has bad leg shakes and his arms shake and every single night since he has taken this medication he has sweated so badly that it soaks the pillow through and the pillowcase down to the mattress. He had been running fevers at night for five nights now . I was told this medication was safe but when I look at my son his eyes are glassy all the time and he is just not the same and he does not seem happy with all these tremors he has with this medicine . If anyone is reading this please print these pages out and take to a lawyer so we can all get money from the makers of Advair because I'm sure like me we were all told this medication was safe and not harmful . I am calling my sons asthma specialist and telling him to take him off this medication immediately as I had requested before and he told me it wasn't wise because it was controlling his asthma . How can a medication control asthma symptoms that will cause a person to die from taking it and cause them worse symptoms when they try to get off of it?

I've had a case of Asthmatic Bronchitis for the last two months. Doctor prescribed the Z-pack (2 Rounds) and a ProAir inhaler (Albuterol). After 1 month of this I felt better...but still not 100%.

Then he gave me the wretched Advair. I took one puff...and 15 minutes later was in the emergency room. I completely couldn't breathe...lost all color in my face...heart was racing...nervousness...tremors...chills...etc. I took a couple puffs off the Albuterol and that helped open the airways so the ambulance ride wasn't necessary. But the ER visit was still necessary.

They gave me a nebulizer treatment and 60mg of Prednisone and after an about 2 hours I was released. Now today...exactly 12 hours later I have the dry mouth, hoarseness, and leg cramps others have mentioned. Hoping this will clear up soon...I mean common I only took 1 puff!

Long and short...stay away from this medication at all costs! Something must be wrong if so many people are having these types of effects.

WOW!!! Now that I have read all of these postings I feel so much better!!! Well not physically but mentally. I am a 29 yr old female. I really started to think I was going crazy! I had been on Advair for 2 years until I just recently decided to stop smoking and start taking better care of my body. Well today is day #25 for me to quit smoking and stopping Advair. Still till this day I am having terrible chest pains! I thought that I would get better when I quit smoking. but whoa!, I'm really starting to think that the Advair did all of this to me. (I know smoking isn't good either) but this drug is terrible!! I have had so many anxiety attacks from this. lack of sleep as well, gained 60 lbs in 2 yrs. I have been using my albuterol nebulizer treatments every 8 hrs just to get me by. does anyone know if this will stop or when it will stop?????? PLEASE PLEASE HELP!! THIS FEELING IN MY CHEST IS HORRIBLE! I feel like my chest is being crushed in. is there anything I can do to make it feel better??? any suggestions????

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.

I am an RN. I have complained to my allergist and Practisioner for years that I have terrible hip pain, muscle and joint pain with the Advair. It works great to control the wheezing, but everytime I start back on it, within 2 weeks I am limping and crying with pain in my legs and hips. Everytime I manage to get off for two weeks the pain subsides. I have had xrays of my hips and there is no deterioration. I too have gained considerable weight. We have tried Spriva and it also had adverse reactions. It increased mucus instead of decreasing it. If anyone has a suggestion, I would like to hear what it is.