Advair HFA and doctor right

Like most of you who have posted here, I too saw remarkable & remarkably quick improvement in my asthma (& even some allergy) symptoms. However, I'm also discovering that it is not worth the side effects!!! I would rather have the sneezing & wheezing than what I've been dealing with the last week or so!

And just to help put it in "context": I'm 31 years old & have had asthma & allergies since the age of 4. When I was younger it was really bad, I was often in the emergcency room 2 or 3 times a week, was prone to bronchitis & sinus infections, etc. When I was a teenager, I mostly outgrew it (though I've always had a rescue inhaler & some type of allergy medication, I just didn't have the severity/intensity of symptoms/attacks I did as a kid), but in my late 20's noticed that some of the symptoms seemed to be coming back, not too seriously, just "uncomfortably". I was using the Albuterol as my rescue inhaler with the Flovent inhaler & Allegra & was having good results, with minimal to no side effects, but when Claritin went over the counter, most insurance companies stopped covering the Allegra. I went in to my doctor's office almost 2 weeks ago to see about getting my treatment options updated... what I had in mind was perhaps getting upgraded to the higher dose of the Flovent inhaler & having the doctor right a letter so the insurance company would cover my Allegra, and was put on Flonase & Advair instead. Over the years I've taken Theophylline, Albuterol, Proventil (inhalers), Flovent, occassional rounds of Prednisone, allergy shots, Allegra, nebulizer treatments.. you name it.... and I can honestly say that as awful as some of that stuff made me feel (particularly the Prednisone & Theophylline), I can't EVER remember there being a time when I'd rather have the bad asthma, than the icky side effect!! This stuff is awful!!!!! I'd stopped taking the Flonase, but then realized 2 things: 1). it's the exact same ingrediant as the Flovent, which I'd had no problems with & 2). I was still taking the Advair & feeling crappier & crappier. It's the most god-awful stuff I think I've ever taken!

I've only been taking it since the evening of March 31st (it's now midday on April 12th) & here is the list of side-effects I've noticed, and that seem to be getting worse instead of better:

nausea (pretty bad too, have had days where all I can eat is saltines & gingerale!)
dizziness (have actually fallen twice! This from someone who dances, rides horses, does yoga, etc!);
ringing in my ears (LOUD)
earaches & itchy ears
headaches
joint/muscle stiffness, swelling & tenderness (feels like I've got arthritis or something & my back & neck muscles just ache all the time!)
sinus pressure/tenderness & blood when I blow my nose (just short of full-on nosebleeds)
depression/lethargy/extreme fatigue (again, I'm someone who usually enjoys things like walks, puttering around the house & garden, riding horses, doing yoga, going dancing... & all I've wanted to do is either sleep or lay around... yesterday folding a load of laundry made me soooo tired I wanted to cry!)
emotional changes (irritability, weepiness, etc.)
sleep disturbances/insomnia (not getting restful sleep, feeling to wound up to sleep, nightmares like I haven't had since I was a kid, etc.)
vision changes (blurry, those weird silvery traces/flashes somebody else here mentioned)
itchy skin -- ALL OVER!!
dry skin
1st diahhrea, now constipation
frequent urination
weight gain -- which is strange considering I'm too nauseaus to eat anything most days
strange & constant taste in my mouth (very "chemically" & slightly metallic) -- nothing tastes right
heartburn/indigestion (which I've never had!!)
heart palpitations/tremors/restlessness/nervousness
inability to concentrate
memory problems/"fogginess"
scratchy/mild sore throat
tender roof of mouth (eating toast is difficult)

The list goes on & on.... and, I am really good about taking it exactly as prescribed (had even cut back & that's not helping) & being sure to rinse my mouth out with water (& gargle!) & so on.... what I find most strange is that many of the symptoms would seem as though they couldn't possibly coexist... that they would cancel each other out (e.g. having insomnia & sleep disturbances at the same time as extreme fatigue & constantly wanting to nap; intense hunger pangs & weight gain when I'm too nauseaus to even want to think about food, etc.)... but there they all are!!

What scares me is that aside from having allergies & asthma, I've always been a very active & healthy person.... and in the last week I've gone from feeling like a young healthy person with some uncomfortable asthma/allergy symptoms to feeling like a sick, decrepit, feeble & exhausted old person.... my 89 year old grandpa has fewer physical complaints & is in better shape at the moment!!!

If it wasn't for this website, who knows how long I've had let myself think it was due to something other than this god-awful medication... thanks!! I've taken my last dose of Advair!! I'm just going to have to explore some other options to treat my symptoms (I hadn't thought I was actually "bad" enough to need something like Advair in the 1st place), or get the insurance company to cover my Allegra!

I am a 28 y.o. that began on 250/50 in february. Hadn't had asthma problems since I was 17-then had an an upper respiratory infection in january-went to the doctor because chest tightness wouldn't go away& was immediately placed on
Advair. Went to an allergist who sent me to a cardiologist because my heart rate in the office was 176! I always had a fast heart rate, but worried I had some congenital defect. After multiple tests, an electrophysiologist told me I should limit my albuterol use but said nothing about the advair. I went back to the allergist last month and my breathing was worse so they increased me to 350/50 twice a day. I had horrible palpitations and was very jittery the first few days, but I figured it might get better-and it did. But I have nausea now about every other day, only gained about 5 pounds, but the bloating has made me go up a dress size on bottom. Then for the last two weeks I have been geeting horrible cramps in my calves and feet & I started to wonder if it could be my advair because I have never experienced anything like this before. Also, I have been very moody, depressed and irrational, which I blamed on my "health problems" (my asthma is still not really under control) but now I wonder if this is a side effect as well. I'm so glad I discovered this site, because I was going to "tough it out"---not any more! I am talking to my doctor right away !!