Advair HFA and allergies

My daughter was on Advair, Singulair, and Zyrtec to control her severe asthma and allergies. We were so thankful that these medications kept her from having to be hospitalized 2-3 times a year for uncontrollable asthma attacks. About six months after she began taking these medications she began to have headaches, she had difficulty sleeping, she was irritable, she had stomach pains, leg cramps,and eventually depression and social withdrawal. She went from an outgoing and happy teenager to a bitter and angry person. In 2003 she committed suicide. Six months after her death reports started to surface about the link between singulair and depression and suicide. Perhaps for my daughter it was a combination of the three drugs. Whatever you do be cautious and do your research before taking any allergy or asthma medication. Go to the Singulair website and you will be astounded by what you read. Please try to get the word out about these medications.

I was diagnosed with adult allergic asthma one year ago at 38 years old. I started having problems breathing ONLY AT NIGHT on occasion and palpitations. Had a physical and ekg, totally normal. Went to allergist and they said I have alot of allergies and diagnosed me with the asthma. Funny thing, weeks before I niked 20 miles, hiked 12 miles, canoed 3 miles, played golf in a 3 day span and no problems. Since they told me this and started me on advair I haven't been able to jog more than 2 miles or bike more than 8 to 10.

Its very strange indeed, I have gotten more paranoid feelings when just get a little out of breath, and sometimes cant keep still in a car or sitting down.

I cut back on sugar, sodium and started exercising a little every day, only 15 minutes. But came down with a cold recently and back to square one. I am trying to take the advair only ONCE a day instead of twice and almost feel withdrawal symptoms like shakiness, paranoia, irritability. Does anyone have any idea about this? I am really confused! Thanks... J

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.

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.

After an allergic episode about a year ago, I was diagnosed with asthma. The doc put me on advair (2 puffs - twice a day) . After 4 months, I started having an anxiety issues. I couldn't turn my mind off, felt restless and was stressed out and full of worry about dying from the asthma. At this time I got a job 80 miles from where I was living and had to move. My family and friends attributed my mental state to my life change. Up until now, I had never had any issues with anxiety or depression. Over the course of about another 4 months things got worse and I went to see a asthma/allergy specialist. He put me on Allegra for my allergies and prednisone for the asthma. Needless to say, things got exponentially worse. i could not sleep, was restless and found that I would just get up and run around my backyard. The anxiety had gotten so bad with the lack of sleep that I almost couldn't take life. The doc never let me know about the side effects of the prednizone. A month later (now almost nine months from my original diagnosis) I went back to the doc to see what was wrong because of the depression and anxiety. He sent me to the pysc unit to arrange counseling. That never happened due to the business of the clinic I was at. 2 weeks later I stopped taking the Allegra and Advair. Within a day to day and a half I felt like a huge weight had lifted and it took a couple months to get back to what I would call fairly normal life. I share this just in case someone else is having similar effects or life events. It has taken almost 6 months to shake the mental patterns from the few months of exposure that I experienced. Know your body, listen to it and don't blindly accept what a doctor tells you without research. Doctors are a great asset, but science only goes so far and then God.

OMG, I was prescribed 100/50 Advair today at the Dr. I have a cough with some "wheezing" that is because of severe allergies. The Dr. and nurses were adamant that this was going to help me. I read all the literature before I went to try it, but was suspicious because there was no side effects section on the package insert. I entered "Advair side effects" in a search engine and this is the first site that came up.

BOY AM I GLAD that I never tried this stuff. I am going to throw it out right now. I won't ever try it, so glad I never did. I want to sleep tonight, and I already have trouble with anxiety, thanks anyway....all of you people can't be wrong!!!

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!

Severe leg pain, constant rattling, wheezy chest, severe anxiety attacks, fuzzy thinking, hypomanic symptoms, bloating, fatigue, increased blurry vision, after 6 months at incrased 250 doseage, wild dreams disturbing sleep. Stopped taking Advair a month ago. Within two days, fuzzy thinking cleared up rapidly and back to normal within 7 days. Within 10 days, energy level returned. Sleeping very well. Wheezy chest mostly gone. Bloating gone. Anxiety attacks...one very mild one four weeks after I stopped the Advair, but was able to control it by regulating my breathing and distracting myself...went away quickly...but when I was on Advair, ended up in ER with panic attack. When I began the Advair, I was living in an apartment with a flooding problem that created mold and mildew, and I am allergic to mold and mildew. I was having difficulty sleeping at night from the coughing, and was given Advair, and the doseage was upped after one year. Initially it helped me, but with the increased doseage came all the symptoms above. I moved, stopped the Advair, and now I am fine (just still have the allergies, of course.)

I'm a 36 year old triathlete. I started taking Advair 3-4 years ago. I noticed immedialty that my wheezing stopped. For this reason, I thought the medicane worked well. I also noticed that heavy excersion activities became a little harder. Initially I thought it was allergies. I had less wind. I kept taking Advair because it stolpped the wheezing. 3 months ago I changed my dose from 100 to 250. My lungs started feeling heavier and it was harder for me to breath. I decided to stop taking Advair 3 days ago. I'd have headaches once in a while with Advair but I never noticed any other problems. I've stopped taking Advair for 3 days now. I feel like I can take deep breaths again. I also feel like I'm going through a withdrawal. I've had an intense headache. I'm sure it will go away. The big test will be over the next week. I'll see how I feel when I'm training. I'm not sure if my Asthma is bad enough to take medicane but I'll see. I'll keep Albueteral close by just in case. I'll post again in 1-2 weeks.

I am 19 years old & I have been on a low dose of Advair for about a year & a half. It has done wonders for me. Weezing is a thing of the past. I forgot how constricting & uncomfortable I used to be. It makes my atheletic hobbies more exciting & less of a burden than before. Taking that first 6 foot sprint was a nightmare & regretful in the long "run". Now I'm vurtually worry free. I still keep an albuterol inhaler close just in case, but rarely use it except for when allergies act up. I know of no side effects thus far.

I started taking advair in September of 2006 after being diagnosed with allergy related asthma. I took it for 3 months. Then stopped for a few months over the winter and restarted in spring because of more serious symptoms of asthma. I have had severe stomach upset, acid reflex, rashes, and weight gain. I also feel dizzy a lot. I am very health consious and work out all of the time. I never gain weight so it seems obvious to me advair is the culprit. I am going to try getting allergy shots and see if I can stay off the advair. In home air filters do seem to help with the asthma

Several months ago, my doctor switched me off of Pulmicort and onto Advair 250/50, in addition to the Singulair and Zyrtec that I take. Yep, an asthmatic with allergies...ain't life great?

At first, Advair did control my symptoms better, as I was able to excercise without feeling chest tightness. However, other side effects, such as an extremely dry throat, and hoarsness to the point of pain while talking--let alone singing--has occured. I've also noticed increased tightness in my throat, and weight gain. Now, I had a fairly sedentary lifestyle before, but always maintained the same steady weight.

These side effects are extremely troublsome for me, because I am a professional singer! Since taking it, I have lost the upper part of my register, and have pain while singing anything more than a few bars. My doctor has decided to lower my dose and send me to an EMT, however, my pharmacist thinks I should switch back to Pulmicort. My sypmtoms were not as well controlled, but at least I could function.

I recently began to take Advair (about 2 months) and have experienced very few side effects. My voice gets a little heavy by the end of the day and I sometimes wake up with a sore throat (once a week). But my doctor had warned me about these effects and so I was not surprised. I do have more phlegm, which I hadn't associated with Advair, but rather with allergies. Overall, I am very pleased with Advair. I had a chronic cough for almost 3 years and used Albuterol inhaler 2-3x a day before begin prescribed Advair. I have not used the inhaler once in 2 months. I will continue to use Advair as prescribed, 2x a day!

First, I must say that ADVAIR always did exactly what it it supposed to for my astma. Within two doses of the medicine it has always soothed my lungs and helped me breathe.

But I have always gained weight every time I am on it for more than a month, so I wait until my asthma is pretty bad (usually in winter time or while allergies are bad). I use it intermittently for a month at a time and that helps keep my weight normal. If you suffer from a lot of candida, like I do, you should also be careful and stay away from eating a lot of sugar.

My doctor thinks I am crazy because I don't want to be on ADVAIR all year long, but it seems to help the way I do it, and I think that is the most important thing.

Hey guys, i was just recently put on advair to assist with my breathing. I have been weezing since allergy season has started. I have never had to use it in the past. I have only been on it for a few days now. my question is - does this take a while to kick in? Cause I still feel I cant breathe that well. I havent experience any of the side effects mentioned, however, I want my damn breathing to improve. I am perfecly healthy according to my doctor, and i have never had asthma, but sometimes had to take an inhaler when i was younger for my allergies - thats all! Any tips on how long this takes to start working?

Rob

My son has been taking advair 250/50 for 19 months now. He was said to have exercise induced asthma and allergies. But since he has been on it we have noticed behavioral changes, moodiness, extremely emotional, headaches and leg pains.

Could this be advair? Doctors say no but I don't know what else to think. Afraid to stop the medication. Don't know what to do.

This website is wonderful! I finally have peace thanks to being off Advair and knowing that all those dreadful symptoms were side effects of Advair.
I have been on ASMANEX now for 29 days and haven't misssed my life before on Advair. When I was on Advair, my asthma was not in control. I used my inhaler at least 2X/day, I was panting when I exercised, my asthma woke me up at night and my leg cramps kept me from falling asleep for many hours every night.
I was on Advair 250/50 and felt awful. I now take ASMANEX 220mcg only once per day; before I go to bed and my asthma is in control. I am taking 280 mcg LESS of steriod than when I was on Advair and no Serevent and I feel better than I ever have!
It's amazing b/c I tried Advair 100/50 and it didn't work for me at all but ASMANEX(mometasone) is much more effective.
I have been waiting for this drug to come on the market for some time (it is the same drug as Nasonex just like Flovent is the same drug as Flonase) b/c I have horrible allergies which flares my asthma and I have found that Nasonex (mometasone) was far superior for clearing nasal congestion than Flonase so I assumed it (Asmanex) would work great for asthma too and I was right.
As a matter of fact Nasonex works so well compared to Flonase that at the moment it is pollen season and I don't even feel like I have allergies. Now that is amazing.

In response to Tessa and the lady with the little girl, I too experienced a sore throat over the last month and I can say the acne is starting to fade away (I am happee41 from previuos entry). The sore throat was most noticable during the first week of taking Advair, additionally; it seemed that I got worse with my allergies. My dosage was Advair 250. As stated in my earlier entry, I think I was misdiagnosed. However, I have added natural foods to my diet, i.e. soy, sunflower seeds, vitamin E and fish oil supplements. I'm also not feeling fatigued and I can finsih my workouts now. I am trying the alternative route in the hopes that asthma symptoms do not reappear. It's only been 8 days and so far so good.

I've been on Advair for less than one month (22 days exactly), but have experienced several side effects noted here, i.e. acne, fluttering hearbeat. I also noticed a slight wieght gain of 4-5 pounds in 2 short weeks. Needless to say, I have taken my last does as of today. I also think I was misdiagnosed with asthma. I suffer from mild allergies and hindsight tells me I had contracted viral bronchtis, which can mimic asthma symptoms. I have since changed my diet to more natural and minimally processed foods and I feel great (outside of the Advair side effects). I rarely get sick, but this last bout of illness has made me realize that you have to be wary of misdiagnosis and doctors pushing new medications of which knowledge of long-term effects is nil. I've changed my primary doctor as well (I wasn't surprised to find a low rating score by current and past patients, which means I should have shopped around first like any good consumer).

I was prescribed advair for "allergies" my symptoms mostly coughing from the 2 cigarettes I have a night.
I am post menopause so I thought the weight gain and belly bloating was "normal". So how interesting to read the different side affects that everyone is experencing. I'll stop now and see if the bloating stops. I've also have been experencing joint pain also attributing that to age and the possibility of arthritis? ? ?
Thanks for this site. I hope to get rid of this bloating. I've only been taking the advair disk . . . well I just started my second disk last week.
Think I'll quit while the quiting is good.

I have been Advair for over four years. I had terrible sleeping and some of the other side effects. I found out through working out and sweating you sweat out the extra troxins that you get from the medications and allergies. I sleep really well and do not have a whole lot of side effects. I can not go two day without Advair. I would be in the hospital. I would love to try the homepathic stuff. Where do I go for that????

I am a 55 yr old female that has battled with asthma my whole life. In the more recent years, it seems to be more related to allergies, than the earlier years when I was more affected by temp changes and activity. I have used a form of albuterol in inhalers for years to control it. About 5 years ago my doctor put me on Serevent and Flovent. Last year he changed me to Advair saying it was the combo of the two of them. I have gained a lot of upper body weight in the last 5 years. I have never had a weight problem until now and can't seem to lose it. I have also developed high blood pressure and have to take meds for that and for "water weight", and joint pain and have to take meds for that. I stumbled onto this forum and it has been a real eye opener. I realize that some of this is due to my age and body changes but I now wonder how much has to do with the medications, particularly Advair. I wonder if I can drop the weight - and therefore lower my blood pressure and cholesterol and maybe lessen my joint pain if I stop the Advair? Has anyone experienced anything like this. My asthma was pretty controllable prior to Advair - Thanks for any info you may have.

I'm 28 and just in the past 2 years I've developed some allergies, and just recently got on Advair for breathing difficulty. I had been using my Albuteral, and got irritated having to use it just about every 4 hours. So Advair worked awesome for the first week 1/2 but now it's been two weeks and I'm starting to get bad side effects. The thrush in my throat...even with washing my mouth out thoroughly. Weight gain I just noticed this week, and dizziness, cloudy thinking, headaches, and wondered why my back has been sore when I haven't even done much hard work?? Well,thankfully to this website I know I'm not crazy and ADVAIR is horrible. Tonight i'm convinced and getting off of it. I'm going to try and go a more Holistic route if possible and use my albuterol for the time being. I do wonder like some of you mentioned about kick backs. Makes me sick!!!!!!!! And it's true about the bullying, I go in next tuesday to check on my thrush.....she's not going to like what I have to say!!!!!!!!!! Wish me luck!!!

OMG...I have been on Advair for 5 years and I am awed at your posts. I have been blaming most of my symptoms and weight gain on my weight. I knew that I was having the hoarseness and continuous sinus drip, but I did not realize it was from the Advair. I just thought my allergies were getting worse. I feel so stupid.

I have the thinning of the skin and bruising. A simple touch of my arms and the skin peels and bleeds. I have read and re-read these posts and the symptoms all of you have I have and have had doctors tell me, they have no idea what is causing the symptoms. What an eye-opener. Thank you.

I am so grateful that I have discovered this site. I have been off Advair for the past two weeks, just b/c I needed a refill RX, and couldn't get in to see my doctor, but I am a little concerned now, that I hear I should have weaned myself gently off. Guess it is too late now.

Best of luck to all of you and I will keep checking back for future help.

Two weeks after stopping advair I lost 5 pounds mostly in the face and a little in the stomach. Then I realized that I had a yeast infection (not the usual sypmtons) and immediately started a sugar/starch/carb-free diet and went on an anti-candida natural meds cure. The diet was not easy at first because everything has sugar in it. But I started buying my own veggies and meat, cooking enough at night so we had leftovers for lunch and I did start imrpoving and lost another 6 pounds off my stomach within six weeks. I backslid and felt it, and went back on the diet. I'm eating more calories now but I'm still losing. Reading the anti-candida (yeast infection)websites helped me and I know that it will take from 3 months to a year to recover from the imbalance that advair has caused in my body. After 8 weeks I've lost 15 pounds and I feel my immune system is starting to work again because minor scars from cuts and bee stings have started to heal and fade after 2 years of not healing!!!! My finger/toe nails are also going back to normal. My husband's toe fungus cleared up in four days after going on the same regimen with me (apparently you can pass a yeast imbalance to your partner over time...they probably won't have as bad a case of it because their immune systems haven't been comprimised by advair or other steroids). I also take glucosamine and a high potency multivitamin with minerals without added sugars /starch/etc. which most pharmacies carry and eat lots of fresh garlic from the farmer's market.
Read as much as you can and remember that it takes time to loose weight and build a healthy immune system... But throught this process I have learned a lot: the yeast infection was actually causing my newly developed food and chemical/perfume allergies....so controling the yeast imbalance is helping me with those allergies... I can actually be around people with perfume on again without feeling like I am having a stroke. My allergist in Plattsburgh NY never told me about this connection, he said some people just are sensitive. Boy, now I know, if a doctor doesn't answer my questions , I'll find one who is willing to and can.
Hang in there everyone and find a doctor who will help you and not dismiss your side affects/problems.
Best wishes!

Hi,
I never had asthma before, but was prescribed Advair because of a single wheezing incident at night. (My allergies have always been horrible this time of year) Six weeks later, I was tired, my face was breaking out and my entire body was swollen. I felt like a sausage. I had this dry hacking cough and that mucus-y feeling at the back of my throat that I could never clear. I started to get very lethargic and depressed. Normally I'm at the gym at 5 am, but I couldn't get out of bed to do much of anything, other than go to work and come home. The pharmacist said it's not the Advair. I went to an internist. She said it wasn't the Advair. Then I found this site and stopped taking it. Four days later all my swelling is gone, no more coughing, I have energy, and I'm not depressed. When the internist got indignant and told me she had been a physican for X number of years, I told her I have been in my body for 36 years, and that's longer than she's been a physician. I can't believe that some in the medical profession haven't heard of all the side effects people aren't experiencing.

I'm glad it's over.