Advair HFA and ankles

i heard something on the television about a lawsuit involving advair and came across this site looking for information. i have been on advair for aprox 8 years. when i read some of these comments i began to cry. it so said exately what i have been feeling right down to being diagnosed with rhumetoid arthritis and fibro. i spent 6 hours in the er last week with a heart rate of 112. i went to my doctor as recommended after my visit and he blew me off because he was mad i went to the er and told me to go see a surgeon to cut into my collar bone, go down to my lungs and biopsy them. i see a different doctor next Thursday for a second opinion. i am so tired of being sick and to think, it could all be from this one thing. i am going to talk to the doctor about this on Thursday.

I am asking for a relative. Is swelling of the feet and ankles a side effect of Advair.

Been taking advair for around 4 years. My feet and ankles started swelling and the doctor has checked out every thing and all checks alright. Could it be the advair causing this. I am on the 250..................Bill

I have been off Advair for 7 months now. After quitting, I first got my voice back -- it had been cracking and disappearing by the end of the day. Then the swelling in my ankles went down. I was able to stick to a diet, and now I realize I looked like I was pregnant, my stomach was so big. I've lost 15 pounds on a realistically low-carb, low-gluten diet, fairly easily. I'm running again, finally with no muscle pain, and more lung capacity than I had on Advair. I've had a cold virus twice, and didn't become asthmatic, even though EVERY single cold had in the past. I was up to 500/50 when I decided to quit, and my doctor had told me I would likely have to stay on that dosage forever. (I'd had to supplement with Albuterol when I tried to exercise, and frequently had nighttime wheezes.) She was wrong. Advair is BAD NEWS. If you decide to quit, taper off gradually, over a few weeks. I went through a bad spell of painful headaches in the week I tapered.

I have been on ADVAIR for one month{I have stopped taking it now}.
I am a woman and after using this product I have severe swelling in my feet, ankles, calves. I cry every night it's so painful. I have headaches and I have never suffered from them. Angry flare-ups {but I think that's just me} Unusual exhaustion, and depression that I just can't pinpoint. After reading about the severe sore throats I knew I had to stop this medication because I usually have a bad bout of "strep" every year. Thanks for this web site. I'ts wonderful!!

Hello,

I am so, so glad i found this site! (like most of you).
I have been back and forth to the docs for the past 2 years for unexplainable severe swelling of the knees and ankles. I have asthma, but I also have Ulcerative Colitis. There is an arthritis associated w/ Colitis that can sometimes cause joint pain/ swelling, but I havent had severe problems with it until I started taking Advair. I didnt make the connection because it didnt start right away. I started taking Advair in Jan 2003. I had my first severe knee swelling in April 2003. They took blood tests and saw that my Rheumatoid factor was extremely high. They sent me to a Rheumatologist to test me for Rheumatoid Arthritis, but the tests kept coming back negative. They couldnt figure it out. I never made the connection until now. I guess I didnt think about it because of the fact that I have Colitis, plus it wasnt happening so often, but within the past 6 - 8 months, it has increased alot. My knees swell all the time and my ankles are always swollen. My calves are heavy and tight. My feet swell all the time and the pain is unbarable.

Other symtons include:

achiness in hips
abdominal weight gain
overall weight gain
depression/moodiness
waking up @ night
sore throats
tenderness in roof of mouth
cant concentrate
headaches
and probably more that I cant thionk of right now.

I never thought it had to do with this med. But I dont understand why my doctors never firgured it out. They know what meds I take. Whats the point of me telling them what meds I take if they dont take it into consideration that this may be the cause of some of my problems??? I feel like a fool because I should have has sense enough to do my own investigating. All these docs do is right you a prescription and/or refer you to another specialist who tells you the same crap.....which is nothing!!!! We all need to be carefull w/ these meds. they can be dangerous. I am going to make an appt. w/ my doc so I can be weaned of of this med. Like most of you have mentioned, this medication works great for my asthma but all the side effects are not worth it.

Good luck to everyone!!!! :-)

Hello Everyone,

I thought I would let you know that I did more research on this stuff, and for the record we who have the swelling of the feet , ankles, face , arms , and middle area have what they call EDEMA. go to images and see what you have to look forward to.
I took myself off the advair in Dec.04 and my weight hasn't changed and I'm still heavy. Before this stuff I weighed 154 that was 9yrs ago. now I am 225lbs.

PLease check this site out it might put your mind at ease knowing that this lovely stuff that they have created has back fired.

Take care,
Dorothy

I've been using Advair 100/50, prescribed by my allergy/asthma dr., for about four years and love it! I have experienced some muscle ache, but I believe this is caused by my cholesterol med. Also, about two years ago, my ankles began swelling. When I went to my internist, she did the automatic BP check for the office visit and it was low. We started cutting back on the BP med and eventually discontinued it. My ankles stopped swelling and the BP has stabilized to normal. As I stated, I believe the aching is caused by my cholesterol med, but it's not debillitating and is something I can live with. If it is caused by the Advair, it's still not a big deal because I don't have the attacks I used to have. I can visit in a house with burning candles or a cat, which used to bring on an almost immediate attack. I used to avoid those situations. I couldn't enjoy a Christmas party or visit for more than 30 minutes or so. I love my Advair!!!

I was initially put on the 250 and thought it was wonderful because I could breathe again ! After about 4 months though I began to have episodes of my knees and ankles collapsing with no notice. I was hurting in all of my joints and went through a whole series of tests for rheumatoid arthritis which came out negative. My doctor reduced the Advair to 100 since I was breathing so well and these problems with my joints got somewhat better. I did not put it together with the reduction in Advair dosage. THen about 6 months later, my asthma became worse and he upped me to the 250 again. Well, I can breathe but I am unable to walk very well. My knees, ankles, elbows and shoulders all ache constantly. I am afraid of falling as my knees and ankles give out several times a day. It is really frightening. I have told my doctor that I think there is a connection, but he dismisses my theory. I think he thinks I am a hypochondriac !!! I am upset because I really think there is a connection and I know this was a new drug and now I am worried that if I get off of it my ashtma will be worse than before.

I am so thrilled to have stumbled across this site. So many lightbulbs are going on. I have been gathering pieces of the Advair complications in my life just recently after taking it for years. Finally so many things are making sense. I started taking Advair 100/50 in 1996, and like most people, I had almost immediate relief of symptoms. My alupent inhalers that I used to puff on regularly started to expire before I was even 1/3 of the way through them. What a miracle!
I experienced no MAJOR side effects until my dosage was bumped up last fall to the 250.

From that point on, I have experienced:

* a chronic raw, gravelly sore throat. I saw a specialist (who knew what amount of Advair I was on and never mentioned this as a possibility) He sent me on my way with a pamphlet on heart burn. I don't have heart burn, and my friends joke that I have a permanent new, husky smoker's voice!

* severe dry skin and horrible eczema, concentrated mainly on my lower legs and ankles-- this started almost exactly one month after my dosage was increased but I didn't make the connection

* thinning hair

* cuts, sores slow to heal

* yeast infections are a frequent and nasty visitor

* swelling in my ankles

* toe and leg cramps

* slight weight gain

* irritability-- my typically sunny attitude has shifted to a lot of depression and feelings of anger off and on

Also, like so many others here, when I tried to talk to the Dr. about decreasing my level of Advair, she told me not to mess with success and wanted to hear nothing about it. When I flat out asked her what the long term consequences could be of inhaling steroids, she responded by saying "Well, you don't absorb them in your system since you are inhaling it, so there's obviously nothing to worry about! Harumph.." She acted like it was the stupidest question she had ever heard and left me feeling angry and frustrated.

I consulted with my dermatologist in regards to my eczema.. I have almost been scratching my legs until they bleed because the itching is so insufferable and nothing has been alleviating the symptoms. She confirmed that the Advair use could definitely be linked to my increasing, chronic skin problems. Another patient in their practice had developed full blown Cushing's Syndrome after years of excessive inhaled cortisone. Her skin was thin and papery and her whole system was a mess.

I have an appt with a new dr. this week to begin a regimen of weaning off this stuff. I am quite scared and only wish I would have connected the dots sooner. It was my German brother-in-law, a doctor, who raised red flags with me when I told him about my symptoms and showed him the dosage of Advair I was taking twice a day. He was quite stunned and quickly convinced me the severity of the situation.

Debilitating pain in fingers, wrists, knees and ankles, similar to what I imagine arthritis must be. Pain is severe in particular joint for a couple of days and then seems to "travel" to a new joint.

What side effects should I watch for?
Although side effects from fluticasone and salmeterol are not common, they can occur. Tell you doctor if any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away:

dry or irritated throat
cough
difficult or painful speech
tremor
nervousness
dizziness
headache
upset stomach
diarrhea
cough
dry mouth
throat irritation

If you experience any of the following symptoms, call your doctor immediately:
vision problems
white spots or sores in your mouth
swollen face, lower legs, or ankles
cold or infection that lasts a long time
muscle weakness
increased difficulty breathing
skin rash
unusual bleeding or bruising
rapid or increased heart rate
chest pain or discomfort