Advair HFA and doctors

Advair made me tired, so tired, I felt like the simplest chore was exhausting. I was told by the pulmonologist that of course the fatigue was unrelated to the medication. Personally, I think the doctors push the meds that they get perks from the pharmacy companies. They may get good results from 75% of their patients but be darned the 25% that may be sensitive to the meds, Modern medicine?

I just wanted to comment to all of you asthma sufferers. I grew up with bronchitis and my brother with asthma. We were always getting sick while young, about every 6 weeks. My nephew inherited asthma from my brother, and he had it very bad, was always getting sick, needing oxygen, etc. While in his teens, someone told him to start playing an instrument like the trumpet or trombone which really exercises your lungs. He started taking lessons in school and it didn't take very long at all to notice a remarkable difference. His other siblings would even get sick and he wouldn't! The exercise, being natural, is a far better and healthy prevention, and makes your lungs stronger. I can't believe doctors don't spread this amazingly helpful advice around. I'm VERY sure they must have heard this before. Wouldn't news like that spread like wildfire through the medical community? But they would probably lose some business!!! So I wanted to help pass it around. I hope it helps some of you!

My daughter is no longer on advair, but when she was I thought she was a hypochondriac. She had asthma since age 3 and by the time she was in 4th grade she was put on advair. She gained weight in her face and stomach. She would have trouble concentrating on her school work, stayed moody. She would lash out for little or no reason. She always had some ache or pain. Almost every day either her head hurt or her stomach hurt. It was would last under an hour each time

She started having muscle pains. had to be in a walking cast twice for soft tissue damage to her ankle. She would have no idea how it got hurt. If she crawled on her knees playing she would get fluid on her knees. She would have knee pain off and on for a weeks at a time. All the time we were at one doctor or another. Every one of them said her asthma medicine would not cause this. The last straw was when in 6th grade her shoulders would pop out of place if she tried to do push ups in gym. She had to have physical therapy three times a week for three months. Even though the doctors told me not to she has been off of advair for 4 years now. All of the side effects went away with the except for the problems with her shoulders. She has to do exercises a few time a week to keep the muscle's strong to hold them in place.

i have been on advair for a year and a half and in this time i went from having perfect teeth to having my teeth rotting out.one of my doctors told me that she dosent think that advair did it but then another doctor told me yes it did and the dentist say he thinks it might be caused by the advair.has anyone one out there had this happen to them.please if so let me know.you can email me at ******i could really use the help.

I have adult onset asthma that has gotten progressively worse since I moved from a small Midwestern town to a larger city in the Sonoran desert. On account of this progression in asthmatic symptoms and flair-ups, I switched from Flovent 220mcg to Advair 500/50 about a year ago. For a long time, Advair really seemed to be helping my asthma. Outside of gaining 10-15 pounds in this year (which I asked my pulmonologist about and was assured that inhaled steroids cannot be responsible for), I have fortunately not had many of the aforementioned side effects. However, in the past month after experiencing a bad flair up while studying abroad, I have developed severe heartburn, nausea, acid reflux, a sore throat, and mouth sores. I take the medicine as prescribed and am always sure to properly rinse out my mouth, having been warned about this. After reading everyone else's entries on this site, I am now curious if Advair is doing more harm that good.

Holy crikey. The docs put me on Advair Diskus for my shortness of breath , and although I've had minor anxiety my entire life, this sent it through the roof. When my girlfriend and I thought she might be pregnant, I flipped out and my mind raced for the week or so before we found out it was a false alarm. I've had that scare before, and wondered why I flipped out so much more this time around. Toward the beginning of April, I noticed my heart racing much more than ever, so I stopped taking it abruptly (nobody told me not to do that, and the doctors later on said it was fine to do so!). Later on that week, I had some trouble at work (big but not anything I haven't conquered before), and was in the doctor's office on the EKG because my heart rate was twice what it should've been! They put me on Xanax, which helped (but threw me up and down emotionally and physically), but for the past 4 months I've experienced all sorts of paranoia, psychoses, and phobia. Luckily it's almost gone, so for those of you experiencing it, don't worry, it gets better!

I have had asthma for about 12 years. It has progressed fast but don't believe it is emphysema yet. Stupidly I still smoke...or try to. I have used mostly salbutamol regularily and every now and again my doctor will try other types. I too have gained weight, lots of it, have leg pains and restless leg syndrome, blurred vision and fatigue. Many days I barely make to and from work. And all of these in just since taking Advair. I trust the doctors too much. Reading all of these are scary. It seems many doctors don't really have our best interest at heart. It begins and ends with money doesn't it? Another problem I have is because I am so sensitive to different thing, how can I know what is causing what??? I went for allergy tests last month and I could have told them more than what their tests showed and then some. I have since tried not to smoke and seriously looking into alternative treatments...stop the smoking for sure withpatches if I have to.

There was an expert on the Mike and Juliet show the other day that said that Advair was not meant to be taken for a long period of time. It is suppose to be a short term medication but the doctors and pharmaceutical companies will not tell you that. For some people this medication really works , and for others the side effects outwieght the benefits I personally don't think the the doctors know anything about half of the medication that the prescribe. They just look in a book and pick a drug that fits your condition. They never tell you the long term side effects from the drugs, and that really makes me upset. I have taken several drugs that the doctor prescribed for me and they don't tell me that it is harmful until I come back in with a serious problem. I think we should stick to the good old home remedies, because people who didn't take these drugs 50 years ago had a longer life expectancy than we do now and the seen to be doing fine.

I have taken 100/50 Advair off and on for several years and hadn't noticed any problems. Three weeks ago I was switched to 250/50 strength Advair following a bad cold which I believe had become bronchitis but my NEW doctor believed was an asthma attack. I don't have asthma "attacks". I just have asthma which is always under control except for when I am exposed to smoke. Even then it isn't that bad. I just use a puff or two on my inhaler and I am good to go. So, I don't think I even needed to be put on the 250/50 strength! Right away, even with careful rinsing, I started to develop a sore throat. I had a constant cough, had to constantly clear my throat to try to speak and it hurt to talk. Within two weeks, besides the throat and congestion problems, I felt miserable as if I had a severe case of influenza: major headache, sinus and teeth pain, joint pains, severe fatigue, chills, burning eyes and blurry vision. I also developed an itchy red rash on my buttock and felt as though I was beginning to get a UTI. Because I felt so lousy, I told myself I didn't have to take the Advair which I knew would just make my throat feel worse. So, I went a whole weekend without the Advair and I started to feel better. Then on Monday morning, I took the Advair (which immediately made my throat hurt) and later went to see the new doctor in the afternoon. (We didn't discuss Advair because I hadn't made the connection and, obviously, he didn't either.) The doctor said I was negative for a UTI and thought my rash was cellulitis. He prescribed an oral antibiotic. I haven't taken any Advair since Monday a.m. because I read about its side effects on the Internet on Monday evening. My throat feels better. It is so good not to be constantly coughing and clearing my throat! The rash didn't respond to the antibiotic, but it did respond to the anti-yeast infection skin cream I decided to use on it. Unfortunately, the antibiotics DID give me a vaginal yeast infection and now I am also treating that! I am wondering if there is a connection between my skin yeast infection and the 250/50 Advair or if Advair just causes thrush (a mouth yeast infection)? Also, my eyes still burn and I still get blurry vision. Could I have a yeast infection in my eyes? I'm wondering because I have read on the Internet that steroids--just like antibiotics--can cause yeast infections. If so, then maybe thrush is not the only type of yeast infection that 250/50 Advair could cause?

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.

Hi all. I'm posting again after being off Advair for about a week. I've noticed a dramatic change in my emotional health. The anxiety that I've been suffering from for the last three months while on Advair has now entirely vanished. I feel like my old self again, and friends and family have also noted the difference. I won't ever take this medication again-- I'd rather deal with my asthma in a preventive way.

Very prone to thrush mouth-even after brushing and gargling, weakness in muscles, Doctors do not know the affects of taking Advair for longer than 6 months

Hi all. Thank you for the posts-- this helps put my own symptoms in perspective. I'm a 28-yr old female and have had severe asthma since I was a toddler--which resulted in a childhood full of long hospital stays and all kinds of toxic drugs which aren't even prescribed anymore. I've been taking advair for about 3 months and have noticed that my mood has been off. I'm normally a peaceful person, not easily rocked, practicioner of yoga, etc. But for the last 3 months I've had sleeping problems (very severe in the 1st month-- to the point that I couldn't sleep at all) and have been experiencing anxiety, with heightened awareness of my breathing patterns and the occasional racing heartbeat. I've *never* had anxiety before. I went in for an EKG and they found that my heart is normal. Since I'm not a worrier or a person who is prone to anxiety, this was very disturbing for me-- I couldn't understand what the underlying cause was. This has had negative effects on my work life and my personal relationships--I'm just not as energetic as I used to be. I'm going to go off the drug and will report back to this website if I notice an improvement in my anxiety levels and sleep patterns. If so, then the cause will be obvious.

I wanted to make one more post just to raise awareness about another asthma drug I've tried. I took singulair in the past (about 5-6 years ago). At first it was a wonder drug-- totally clearing up all symptoms allergy and asthma related. But it did a number on my digestive track for the first 3-6 months of use-- I could not digest anything (and I eat very healthily--lots of fresh fruits and veggies everyday and little meat). I eventually went off that drug and tried it again this past year after a bad bout of the flu and some consequent sinus infections. I only took it 3 times and each night I had a horribly violent nightmare. Normally, I'm what you might call a happy dreamer-- maybe an average of 1 nightmare per year, if even. I stopped taking singulair on the 3rd night, and on the 4th night my dreams went back to normal. This was truly a disturbing experience, and I feel sure that singulair was responsible-- all the dreams were of a paranoid nature. I haven't had a dream like that since, and it's been more than a year since I stopped taking that. Asthma medication seems to have the potential for psychological side effects that everyone should be aware of. It is only fair that doctors warn their patients so that they know what any possible changes in their moods might be from. I really wish my doctor would have mentioned something to me. I'm sure I would have tried both drugs anyway, since I also know that people react different to different medications. But I certainly wouldn't have stayed with Advair as long as I have, knowing what I know now.

I wish all of you health, peace and happiness. I hope you are able to get well and live normal lives.

This is unbelievable. I was checking on another drug and stumbled in here. Have been on advair for several years. I've had chest pain, short of breath foggy head, joint aches, numb hands and feet,upset stomach all the time every test known to man and they find nothing. ALL the symtoms mentioned here are wrecking my life. No energy, insomnia. I used to be hard working , hard sleeping. Got caught up with ambien for sleep. I sleep, but still feel terrible. My dentist gets mad just looking at my teeth, which used to be great. I have gained 40 lbs in 4 years.No matter what I do it won't come off. Time to cut back or something.no more ambien, even if I die awake. Bad combination of meds, all legal. enough already.

My 14 year-old son was diagnosed with asthma after he was given a breathing treatment. He was prescribed Advair and it has been terrible since then. Advair caused him a severe insomnia. He cannot stay in school because he is so sleepy but cannot sleep at all. I am getting ready to sue the company and the doctors who prescribe this knowingly. Someone needs to do something before these drug companies and doctors kill more people on their way to being richer!

I have been on advair for about 5 to 6 yrs. I was on 250/50 at first and my hands and legs would all ways hurt me. Then I had a bad asthma attack which landed me in ICU. That's when the doctors gave me the largest dose of the 500/50. It has been a year since I have been on this and I have hair loss.
One side of the head around my egdes are bald.
And the rest of my hair is getting very thin. I am only 39 years old, and I have to were wigs.

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.

I've been on Advair for 4 or 5 years and can never find a doctor who will even entertain the notion of taking me off of it. Although I have many symptoms that have been documented by GSK they consider it "very unlikely" that Advair is causing my joint pain, bloating, headaches, mouth sores etc. Last year I had pneumonia (also a reported adverse reaction) and THIS year I was diagnose with osteoporosis (yet another risk). I think these doctors are afraid that if they agree to wean me off & I die they'll get sued. Sorry to be so blunt but the problem is that the last doctor who tried to wean me off (now retired) even contacted the manufacturer & was told there is "currently no protocol" recommended for the cessation of Advair. My asthma got so bad when I tapered off, even with oral steroids he eventually just put me back on, hoping to hear of a protocol later. I'm very frustrated to say the least. Doctors seem to think "well it seems to be working since your still alive". Of course I can't to a certainty attribute all my symptoms to Advair it seems very unlikely that NONE of them are. Can't say if the Advair is directly causing depression but the Advair SITUATION is depressing!

My 10-year old son was prescribed Advair in Nov 07, along with Singular for his asthma. Soon after taking Advair I noticed a change in his behavior, very moody, quick to anger and was unable to concentrate on tasks. His was having trouble with his grades at school, he went from being a A student to getting C's and D's and even one F on his schoolwork. He also was having trouble walking and could not even run without tripping, he also developed a shaking in his left arm, and he was unable to use his left arm at all, just like he had lost all strength in it. He had the symptoms of someone suffering from a mild stroke. After realizing these stomymns were not going to go away on their own, we took him to a peditriction and they ran blood tests and scheduled a MRI for him.

In the meantime, when the stomymns did first start he even told me that he did not feel like himself, so I immediatly took him off the Advair and Singular. He did go back to taking the Singular again,with the doctors ok. He had been on that the year before without any side effects, so I knew it was not causing the problems he was having.

He went off the Advair at the end of Nov. so he was basically only taking Advair for about 2 weeks. He had a scheduled MRI the first of January. Right before his MRI, we noticed that he was improving; his walk was getting better, he didnt get frustrated so easily, his grades were improving and he was beginning to use his left arm again. He was able to open bottles, no longer dropping things, was running again and was just back to his old self. We went ahead and did the MRI, just for a piece of mind, and everything came back fine. It is late March now and you would never of knew what he had went through. But it did take almost 2 months before the Advair was completely out of his system and all the side effects had stopped.

I would never recommend anyone taking Advair, if I would have left my son on that who knows what kind of permanent damage it could have caused. I am glad he was old enough to tell me that he was not feeling right and I went with my mother's intuition and took him of Advair then. I know have my bright, happy and physically fit son back. Stay away from Advair..

I wrote into this forum on February , 2008 about my son who was taking Advair hfa 115/21 . On Thursday, February 14, 2008 I called his asthma allergist in Forth Worth, Texas after reading all the side effects here and seeing similar and more symptoms in my son with the use of Advair .Needless to say, I talked with my sons asthma doctor that day for at least 40 minutes and told him I was not comfortable with the Advair and told him that my son was having such bad tremors all over his body at night that he was shaking uncontrollably in his sleep and I also told him that my son was having such bad fevers and was super hyper and was very irritable after his medicine( Advair) . The doctor convinced me that this was not from the Advair and continued to tell me that he was convinced the medicine was safe. I was not after my son experienced these symptoms. Well, after talking with my sons doctor, I told him I wanted my son to be put on Asmanex twisthaler. He finally called in the prescription to my pharmacist here in town , but it was hard to convince him the medicine isn't good for anyone especially for all the bad and terrible symptoms that accompany the medicine. The doctor said I could switch my son right over to the Asmanex from the Advair . The pharmacist had to order the medicine cause they didn't have it . I didn't give my son his Advair in the following morning cause I was switching him over to Asmanex . Anyhow, to make a long story short, I took my son to the doctors in the morning without having given hin his Advair and let me tell you what happened. It was like watching someone coming off of a bad drug addiction. He was uncontrollably hyper and more irritable than before and he couldn't sit still for a second and my son is normally a calm and well-behaved child. We took him to the store and he was screaming at me and my husband like he couldnt control his emotions and he was really really really angry for on reason at all like hitting angry and I really was so surprised he was acting this way . I knew it was the downside from Advair cause my son has never acted like this ever before . When we got home , about 8 o clock that evening I gave him his new prescription of Asmanex 220 mcg twisthaler and in one hour he was calm. his breathing had returned to normal, and in two hours he was in bed sleeping so deep and peaceful with no tremors at all, no muscle spasms , no rapid heart beats , no skipped heart beats. I believe this is the first night in four weeks that my son has slept so well without having his whole body shake. I am so glad I did the research I needed to save my son from all the horrible symptoms on Advair the doctors refuse to admit to . I had stayed up all night researching many many many pages on the internet for safe medicines for my son . And at 4:30 am I went to bed after I had found out bout Asmanex and was assured I was finally doing something I knew was good for my son in order for him to fell better and to be safe . While in my search, I came across a website which I would love to share here about a natural medicine I will be adding to my sons asthma treatment to also try and alleviate asthma symptoms as best as possible.***
While researching the internet I also read about new asthma drugs approved by the FDA for kids ages 4- 11 and found out that Asmanex is trying to get regulated for children in a dosage for 110 mcg to come out later in the month of February this year, 2008. My son is finally sleeping all night for a change and breathing so so so well . yeah!!!!!!!!!

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.

On Advair for about 4 years, at first I was fine with only minor throat irritations. About a year later I started having the Leg cramps / Muscle tightness. I've been to many Doctors who couldn't explain my leg pain. I tried to stop using my Advair many times, but felt so horrible that I had to start using it again. Last week my allergy doctor put my on Prednisone for pleurisy and I decided on my own to GET OFF ADVAIR. I have felt like a new woman this week. My leg pain is almost gone, my eyesight seems to be improving, and my random joint pain is slowing down. I didn't realize until I found this site tonight, that SO MANY people have had the same experiences. Like you others, my DOCTOR assured me there weren't ANY side effects. I'll gladly use my inhaler a couple times a week to manage my asthma. DON'T listen to your DR, there are other ways!!!!! By the way, I'm a 38 year old female. I feel like I'm finally getting my life back.

HI I am 61 and took one puff of Advair and the joint pains that night were bad. I took it for three days. Three weeks later it is still very bad. about a 8 or 9 on the pain scale. I am weak in the joints and stiff. I would like to know if anyone had it like this and if it went away and how long did it last. Excedrin works the best, have a prescription for the night time but it does nothing so am using aspirin also.I called the company and they contact the fda also. The mornings are the worse because nothing lasts at night and I don't know why. I can hardly walk and get ready for the day and around 7 at night I get so cold and shaky. Has anyone had it this bad and does it stop. I don't know if the doctors even believe me. I do have a appoint for a arthritis doctor, but not until feb and the blood test I have had so far say there is nothing wrong.

I'm a 38 year old female who was prescribed Advair after a severe bout of bronchitis one year ago. While at first I thought that it was helping my lungs my family members noticed that I was getting more headaches, mood swings and I went from a soprano singer to sounding like Harry Belafonte. I have stopped and now I have cramping pains in my chest and upper back. I call it my traveling pain as it is not always in the same spot. I would much rather have tried a homeopathic remedy than subject myself to Advair every again. I have learned through a nutritionist and chiropractor how to manage the pain in my lungs that this crap has left behind. Please research this carefully before you start sucking in that dust!!

I just heard that Advair causes weight gain. Is this true?