Advair HFA and fda

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 58 with COPD and the Dr. put me on Advair for breathing. I have been having severe join pain the last two weeks and believe it may be from the rx. also, have reccurring pneumonia, thrush, and sleep disturbances. Sound familiar? let me know if you have the joint pain.

Scary drug. After only 11 doses i suffered hoarseness, thrush (very unpleasant) extreme pain in chest, neck and shoulders in particular. Though i was having a heart attack!! My digestion seems totally screwed up as does my sense of taste. Also, it seemed that when dosage wore off breathing was much worse than before; forcing you to take it again. Bad side effects lasted long after i stopped taking 50/250, and stilll continue. How did this make it thru FDA?

I've had the same side effects as everyone else. I started with a terrible burning in my mouth, stomach. I told the Dr. and he took me off the Advair and prescribed Nystatin for 10 days. At that time I was using 250/50. Later when I couldn't breathe, I ask him to let me go back on it. I have leg cramps, problems sleeping and I too have gained a lot of weight. I feel very "full", it seems to be pressing on my sides and lungs preventing me from breathing well. I went back on 100/50. I have discussed all the side effects with my Dr., and I even called the
company. They were very nice, ask for my permission to contact my Dr. about it, and of course I said, "Sure". They did contact him, because I ask, so yes, they are aware of all the things. as the previous person who posted said, it seems to get worse every year and I would have to stop and use an
inhaler before making it 1 block. However, I was told by my previous Dr. some years ago that as the disease progresses there would be pressure on my sides, which in turn would put a strain on my heart which would eventually cause heart problems. So I was expecting that before Advair came along.
Even though Advair does help the breathing, I feel sure that
the complaints most of us have (since they are all about the same problems) that Advair is the cause. I was told that if you rinse your mouth well the burning would not happen. Not true! I rinse and gargle each time and I STILL have that problem.The cramps in my feet and legs are another problem that has been very bad for me. I suppose it would be helpful if everyone reported the problems. I was told by the Company that each complaint they receive is put on record at FDA. They keep a record of all complaints that are reported (so I was told). I can tell you that they are very understanding and make every effort to be helpful.

Report your side effects to fda.gov/ People reporting symptoms is very important to help others

Last Sunday, I had to go to the emergency room because I couldn't breathe. At times, it felt like my body didn't WANT to take a breath. Scary doesn't even begin to cover what I felt. Until that day, I had NEVER been hopsitalized for my asthma. It turned out to be a severe asthma attack. I am convinced that the only thing that saved me was that I am a classical singer and am used to controlling my breath. Had I panicked, I am not sure I would be here to write this. However, it wasn't until last night that I realized this was all from the Advair. Yesterday, I had a really good day. I only used my rescue inhaler a couple of times (since I still have a few residual breathing issues from the severe attack a week ago.) As I went to bed, I took my Advair, as usual, and within 30 minutes I was having trouble breathing again. Nothing as severe as before, but enough that I found this website and others and all of the comments about the side effects,as well as, the FDA warning about this "product". I immediately threw my diskus away. Thank you all for your posts!

I took Advair for almost 5 years and just recently decided the side effects just weren't worth it. With each year on Advair I developed more side effects. I knew I had to try some other medication and as the FDA put more and more warnings on Advair, I decided it was time to make my move.
Within the first 3 months of taking Advair I began having terrible muscle cramps in my calves which bothered me at rest, so it started taking longer and longer for me to fall asleep due to this pain. Serevent can deplete your body's level of potassium which these cramps are the result. What my doctor told me. I lived with these cramps b/c I thought the benefits of Advair outweighed this side effect. I was wrong. As the yrs went by these cramps got worse and worse and then the other side effects started showing up.
Advair had always made me hyper and increased my anxiety but the problem just started getting worse and worse. By last fall, I had horrible overbreathing like panting from any exertion even climbing a flight of stairs. My asthma was never that bad before.
I also developed a fast and irregular heartbeat, seemed to skip a beat and had hand tremors.
I recently started taking Asmanex and haven't ever felt better. My muscle cramps went away after 3 days off Advair and slowly the other symptoms went away as well.

Wow, I didn't read the new FDA warning and didn't know about it! I was online looking for the reason that although I've been on a 1200 calorie diet for months and go to the gym 4 times a week that I can't loose any of the 40 pounds I've gained since starting advair a few years ago.

I finaly suspected the Advair was doing it and it seems that I'm right on the mark.

I was put on Advair about three years ago after I had an asthma attack - I'm allergic to my new wife's house pets ( Dog and 2 Cats) Until then I had never had an asthma problem. I have not experienced any attacks since, I'm 51 years old now and the only side affect I have noticed from taking Advair 500/50 is that if I cut myself or bruise myself it takes much longer to heal. A razor cut will stay for weeks, it will continue to look like a small bruise or a small cut - I have an appt with my Doctor after reading about the new FDA warning "increased risk of death associated with their ingredients"

For information to the previous posts:

I have been off Advair now for 10 days (last post was on March 2). I switched to Qvar and it is working great. It took a week to get rid of the after affects of Advair - legs cramps, palpitations, nervousness, not sleeping at night.

For the last year and a half I wondered what the leg cramps were about; why I wasn't sleeping soundly at night (I thought it was pre menopause); all these different palpitations at various times; waking up in the morning feeling a "heavy" feeling. I also developed diabetes during this time. I really believe the Serevent in the Advair was doing a number on me.

I wrote to the FDA regarding this. On March 6, 2006 the FDA put out a new warning regarding Advair and Serevent (it's on the internet).

I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE TO TAKING ADVAIR OR SEREVENT. BUT SEE YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE STOPPING SO THAT HE CAN PUT YOU ON ANOTHER TYPE OF ASTHMA MED. AND CHECK THE PRESCRIBING INFORMATION!!!

Been on advair for 1 1/2 years always had muscle cramps especially in feet and legs - leaped out of bed at night because they were sooooo bad. On each leg they were so bad the cramp indented my calf muscle and tore blood vessels and my legs were purple for about two weeks. I did not know it was Advair until.... February 28th sitting at my desk at work my heart went out of whack 160 beats a minutes...ambulance called...hospital ER doctor told me I had SVT (supraventricular tacycardia) told me to get off the Advair...scary situation...I reported it to the FDA (it is the serevent aspect of the medication that does this). Am now on Qvar.

My sister has also been taken off of Advair. I would recommend to anyone taking Advair to stop.

This past November I got the flu, as did my husband and daugther. The day after Thanksgiving I started to have some difficulty breathing. I went to the doctor and they prescribed an inhaler for me, which did nothing. I went back to the dr. again and she prescribed an anxiety medication and combivent and told me that it was just anxiety. Why would she prescribed combivent (which is strictly used for COPD) if I supposedly just had anxiety? I went to another doctor and he informed me that I had pneumonia and broken ribs. He prescribed prednisone and Advair. Since taking Advair the quality of my life has gone downhill tremendously. I have gained upwards of 30 pounds, have a swollen (and painful) stomach, have lost my voice (I cannot speak above a whisper), I'm having excruciating pain in my right hip joint, it hurts if I put any weight on the heels of my feel, and my back is killing me. Advair has not helped me in ANY way. It has not helped my breathing, in fact, it's made it worse.

When I informed my doctor of this he acted like I was crazy. He said it was completely safe and that I had nothing to worry about. So, I went to a pulmonologist...and he told me to stay on the Advair also! Even though they're aware of the fact that it hasn't helped me! I found it ironic that someone stated on here that they thought the dr.'s might be getting a kickback for prescribing it, because I thought the exact same thing!

I have been off of Advair for 4 days now and there has been no improvment. I called the company that makes Advair and the woman I spoke with said she was "in shock" that the dr.'s kept me on that medication with the side effects I'm having. According to her, 5% of people using Advair will experience "hoarsness," which is a grand understatement...it's more like loss of voice. She said she was filing a report with the FDA and we would receive a copy of it. When I asked her if this could have caused permanent damage, she was honest with me. According to her there is now a study for people who have been on Advair for 2 years, then off of it for a year, and they still have their symptoms. She also said that the study stated that there was no difference between long-term use and short-term use. Which basically means that it doesn't matter if you've been on it for 2 months or 2 years, if you're going to have a reaction...you'll have it.

I'm praying this isn't permanent. I'm only 37 and this is miserable to have to deal with while running my business and taking care of my family.

I'm in London, Ky taking Advair on & off for almost 12 months..(I'm reluctant to take anything) Recently though I started taking it twice a day for the last few weeks because doctor says it's so great & I should follow prescription, I've noticed 5-10lb weight gain, and itching all over, sleeplessness, and a small rash on my left arm. I was also recently trying to figure out why I was gaining weight especially in stomach area, I'm 35 & never ever had a weight gain since high school, & have not changed diet. After reading this site, it goes in the trash. And things are adding up. I had no idea Advair had only been approved since 2000 by the FDA, and it's my understanding it's not approved by them for children under 12. I also have a friend who has a 6 year old child who had tonsuls removed, after surgery he went from a very skinny child to chubby.. parents said it was the surgery that gave him the bigger appetite.. after reading this site.. I'm thinking Advair is the culprit and will be showing them what I've found here so they can take their child off this drug immediately.