Advair HFA and heart palpitations

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.

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

March 9, 2008
I posted my reactions re: Advair HFA which I had tried as well as Advair Discus over the past 3 years in Feb. of this year. At that time I said I was going off Advair HFA and relying on Spring Forest Qigong for stabilizing my breathing. I also was pretty disgusted with my Allergist because I felt I was always getting the 'standard answer' from her.
About a week later I realized this plan wasn't working. So, I reread the Advair directions carefully on using the inhaler and started using it again.
Almost immediately my breathing stabilized w/use of Advair, and I use the SFQigong in tandem with it. The SFQ also helps w/calming me down since meditation is part of it; therefore, it calms down heart palpitations as well. I'm guessing any form of prayer, meditation, deep breathing techniques, 'time to slow down' during the day would do the same thing especially if done on a consistent, daily basis. This would help depression, anxiety, maintaining a state of well-being and probably other things I haven't thought about.
While I do not like meds of any sort, I will stay on Advair HFA until something tells me I should try getting off it again. In the meantime I will do more detective work on other symptoms I have that may/may not be caused by Advair.
Chronic problems such as asthma are so tough to work with; they change with the seasons, our personal make up, and also change as we get older.
I would like to hear from others who are finding natural solutions to these problems that many of us seem to be experiencing.
Good luck and better health to all of you who read this!
Pat, the wife, mother, grandma, teacher, and other hats I wear.

WOW! I guess I will consider myself one of the lucky ones after reading all of these side effects posted here. Let me first say that I have tried many inhalers -- serevent, flovent, ventolin etc etc -- and the asthma kept getting worse. Then my doctor suggested Advair. I've been taking it for several years now. I knew that all medications have side effects and I read through the list carefully. The medicine was a Godsend! It helped me so much that I would have recommended it to most anyone. Recently, however, I've started having the occasional heart palpitations and recurring sinus infections. I'm beginning to wonder if it is time to move on to another drug. I'm in my early 30s and have been trying to conceive for a few years to no avail. I recently read that Advair can cause irregular cycles and now wonder if it is playing a part in my fertility struggles. Only other symptoms I have are tooth sensitivity and occasional leg cramps -- however, these existed prior to starting Advair; they might have become more prevalent but I don't believe Advair caused them.
I'd like to hear from anyone who is currently trying Asmanex...that might be my next drug.

So nice to see that I'm not just imagining the adverse reactions. I've been taking Advair 250/50 for about 3 weeks now after being diagnosed with asthma/chronic bronchitis. I went back to my doctor the following week because I was still having chest pain, back pain, felt as if I still wasn't getting enough oxygen and mentioned that I was having a lot of difficulty with being jittery. He evaluated my breathing with a peak flow meter and since that seemed to be OK, he wanted to do an EKG - which he did and seemed to see something that warranted a referral to a cardiologist. So far the cardiologist has not seen anything out of the ordinary.
I'm thinking more and more that there is nothing wrong with my heart and that this is all being caused by the Advair. Has anyone else been referred to a cardiologist and found out nothing was wrong?

February 18, 2008 9:46pm
Hi, I too just ran across your website. I had a doctor's appointment today to find out why I have numbness in the right leg, achiness in the joints, lower back pain, problems walking where sometimes I have to walk with a cane, restless leg syndrome, and terrible leg cramps. I am a 56 yr old female. I quit using Advair about one year ago after using it every fall, winter and early spring for about six years. While using it I too had heart palpitations that woke me up in the middle of the night. They disappeared after I stopped using it. But the joint pain and walking problems still persist. Does anyone know if they will disappear in time? The doctor is sending me for tests for Arthritis and Neuropathy.
-- By leegc

Thanks to everyone for sharing with the Advair thread. I too have had the heart palpitations, *severe* muscle cramps, join pain, back pain and insomnia since I started Advair. I talked to my doctor and he told me that their were no side effects for Advair and intimated that it was "just in my head."

Thanks to everyone for posting their symptoms and experiences. It really helps to know that it's not, in fact, "in my head."

I am experiencing heart palpitations in the middle of the night and it makes me feel as if i am dying. i believe that it is the Advair as well. The only thing, it is not consistent. Only when I start a new pack or miss a few dosages. The palpitations can last from any where up to a week.

I am so glad I found this site. I thought I was going crazy!

I have been an Advair user for about four years now and have gained 45lbs. The weight gain is solidly in my mid section and is bearing down on my lungs, stomach and intestines. I am only 5'3" and I am pretty miserable.

So the dizziness, heartburn, heart palpitations, hoarse throat, coughing, etc that everyone else is experiencing - me too. Thought it was the weight gain. I have dieted, exercised every day - sometimes twice a day, adjusted my eating routine, anything and everything to get my weight down but to no avail.

Each winter I am slighly worse than the last - and after four years, I can't walk more than 2 blocks without use of an inhaler. I thought it was me - the weight gain - and my work schedule. The ability to walk less and less was really starting to scare me. I can't do stairs without stopping halfway to catch a breath. I wasn't like this 4 years ago! I PRACTICALLY RAN UP AND DOWN TWO - THREE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS each day of work! and could walk a hiking trail for hours without worrying about my breathing.

Swimming is the only exercise that seems to help, takes the heavy feeling away from the mid-section so I can breathe again.

It seems alot of people are experiencing problems. Shouldn't the makers of Advair be told and the doctors informed?

I HAVE BEEN TAKING ADVAIR 100/50 FOR 6 MONTHS NOW.
AND UNTIL READING THIS WEBSITE I THOUGHT SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH ME. I FEEL NERVOUS AND HAVE BAD ANXIETY,FREQUENT HEADACHES,HEART PALPITATIONS,RACING HEART,EXCITMENT. AND I CAN'T DRINK OR EAT ANYTHING WITH CAFFIENE OR ALOT OF SUGAR BECAUSE THE SIDE EFFECTS GET WORSE. I'M THINKING ABOUT STOPPING MY ADVAIR.

28 y/o male. I have used advair on and off for three years. I started on 100/50 twice a day and eventually reduced to once a day. Right now I am trying to wean myself off it completely; I haven't had a dose in 48 hours. I have been on some kind of inhaled corticosteroids for asthma since early childhood. I never had any issue with weight gain. The side effects I noticed with Advair have occasional heart palpitations and dizzyness, and loosing my voice. Since I have to speak publicly because of my job, the voice loss has been the worst. I wouldn't describe it as horseness, but rather a sort of vocal weakness or wateryness. I normally have a fairly deep, loud voice, and it comes back within 48 hours of discontinuing the advair. I tried every method of rinsing out my throat and mouth to avoid the voice loss, to no avial. As I said above, I have been 48 hours without a dose, and I feel fine. Wish me luck. I'm interested to see if I can make it without the steroids...its been over 20 years.

I was writing to report one side effect, but after reading through some of the others...i may have two. After much urging from me, my husband stopped taking Advair a month ago and now takes Flovent...he has good control of his asthma now. After a week of being off Advair my husband noticed that he has stopped having heart palpitations that he had EVERY time he exerted himself while on Advair. Now, from reading other, my husband had developed an aversion to meat a couple of months ago, but now since being on Flovent he's been eating meat as usual...kinda weird,huh?!
I had been given Advair for bronchitis about a year ago...after one dose I had a horrible panic attack and heart palpitations....i didn't take anymore.

I have been on advair for at least three or four years and now have been dependant on it. I have gained 55 pounds and I never had a weight problem. I started getting very stiff knees and elbows with leg cramps but shrugged it off as part of the weight gain. Occasionally i get heart palpitations and dizziness and I also have developed serious heartburn or reflux at night. I never thought all these symptoms were related until I came across this website. I am amazed that other people are going through this also.

I have suffered with aAsthma all my life. My brothers we all were premature and have bronchial issues. I have had allergies and shot along with acute asthma attacks that sent me to the hospital. One of my siblings almost died from his bronchial spasms. My mother was a smoker and she continued smoking while she was pregnant. We are living proof that smoking is devastating to your unborn child. Well, moving on foward I have taken Advair for about approxiamately three years. I was reluctant at first but my constant bronchial infections and asthma led my doctor to send me to an asthma specialist. I had taken steroid injections and steriod pills in the past when needed. Now this time it was different I had to follow the "program" according to my physcian.Now every day I would inhale into the purple disk my dosage was 500mg. and so started the drug induced trip of a lifetime ! The side effects for me were small at first but gradually they grew and even gained momentum! There was the hoarseness, weight gain, nervouseness, heart palpitations, depression, extreme bruising, asthma attacks, growths, complex endometrial cysts on my ovaries ( I attribute to the steriods my periods became irregular and light when I was taking the disk) . I also, developed sebacious cysts on my back and face. Three yars and it took a trip to Vegas over the summer to make me realize the connection!! I was leaving through photographs from the trip. I did not recognize my self. My face was round, my legs swollen and bruised. I am a health nut and even with the astma continued a regular routine to this day of runniong and weight training. I was irritable all the time, I had boughts of insomnia and woke up sometimes in a cold sweats. The steriod inhanced the hormonal changes. I am in my forties and expected some degree of flucuations but not to this degree. NONE of the woman in my family had ever experinced this before. I truley beleive the steriods interuppted my monthly cycle which effected the hormonal balance to a far higher degree than what should of happened to me. I stopped taking Advair approxiamtely 3 1/2 months ago. Since then my periods are back to normal ( I have not missed one yet ). Since, I stopped in August by October no more bruising, normal menstural flow, my face has go down, no more nervouseness..ect. I am currently taking Spivera with very few side affects..sometimes I develop a rash on face... big deal ( I will be closely watching side effects from now on) It still beats the harmful side effects of Advair. I will never take the purple disk again !!!

Since June 2004, I took Advair after a very bad asthma attack when I was hospitalized.
Last month, I stopped taking Advair during a week vacation when I inadvertently forgot it at home. Since my asthma didn't return, I decided to try living without it. That's when I started having stomach cramps. I made the connection to Advair last night when I realized that my problems started after I stopped taking Advair. Thanks to this website, I realized that the side-effects, which I thought was just life, was coming from Advair:
- weight gain despite working out 5 days a week. Even though I did my regular leg stretches, my joints felt very tight. Sometimes after working out, I felt dizzy or close to vomiting. I thought this was due to excessive training so I cut down the days and switched my workout. But it didn't matter, I am now unable to workout regularly because of the daily stomach cramps.
- severe leg cramps after biking and kayaking
- if I sat down too long, my feet got bloated like I had been riding an airplane
- Insomnia
- heart palpitations
- dry and flaky skin
- an open wound from a slight burn that is taking a long time to heal
- joint pains at night that are only relieved by lying in a hot tub for half the night
I'm hoping that these side effects will go away eventually as the Advair drug gets out of my system.

I am new to asthma drugs, diagnosed with asthma in November at 44 years old. I hope that this helps someone else. I was put on Advair a few weeks ago. Along with Zithromax antibiotic to clear up the URI. Also was given Albuterol was severe breathing problems. The Albuterol helped of course (no sleeping though) and the antiobioitc as well as Advair seemed to get the problem under control in about a week. A few days after the anitibiotic was done, symptoms returned, but not as bad. Dr. put me on prednisone (the sterioid), and Advair. That was a hard week, but as before the symptoms improved. however, a few days after the prednisone course symptoms returned. The Dr. then decided to continue with the Advair, another longer course of prednisone and added Singulair to the mix. Within 3 days of taking the Singulair with the Advair, I could not sleep, had severe heart palpitations, wheezing, and the heartburn was so bad I felt like I had a huge stone in my chest and throat and several moderate asthmas incidents where I had to use the Albuterol. I had a headache, dizziness, and could not sleep. The Singulair MADE MY BREATHING PROBLEMS WORSE. And if you read the side effects of Singulair they actually can make worse the very asthma symptoms they are supposed to improve. It was a real eye opener. READ YOUR PATIENT INSERT FROM THE PACKAGE. I felt like I was going to die and each day felt worse. I discontinued the Singular after 4 days and within 24 hours felt much better and in 48 hourss had none of these syjmptoms. My doctor was just incredulous that this MIRACLE drug THAT MOST PEOPLE NEVER, EVER HAVE problems with could bother me. Drs try but you know your body better than anyone else, dont' be shy and stand your ground, they are wrong sometimes!!So listen to your head and heart, and body and read the labels. I had to figure this out for myself. On to the next part of the story, I am on Advair now for about 8 weeks, and notice in the past week, I am light headed, dizzy sometimes, am not sleeping a sound sleep, waking every hour or so, am NERVOUS AND JUMPY, my legs and arms are so weak, I can barely walk, so so tired, I feel like I am just slipping away. It is hard to type this because my fingers are so shakey and weak. Thank goodness I found this web site. I am discontinuing the Advair, I know in my gut that after reading this and listening to that little voice in my head that I am sensitve to a lot of drugs anjd Advair is on of them. It might be 1-3% of the people tested that have these awful side effects, but it doewsn't seem such a small group if you are one of them. And if you look at the studies, they only test around 400 people!!! So my journey continues. I am not totally convinced I even have asthma..............Please email if you would like.

More common side effects may include:
Bronchitis, cough, diarrhea, difficulty speaking, fungal infection of the mouth, gastrointestinal discomfort and pain, headaches, hoarseness, muscle pain, nausea, sinus problems, sore throat, upper respiratory infection or inflammation, vomiting

I am suffering with sinus pressure everyday and it hurts.
I feel like my ears are going to pop because of the pressure in my head. Is anyone else suffer with this also. My email is darryljarod@yahoo.com. Please email me and let me know because I am tired and I just want pressure to stop.

Less common side effects may include:
Allergic reactions, appendicitis, blood in nasal mucus, bone problems, burns, constipation, dental discomfort and pain, dry and scaly skin, ear problems, eye infection, fractures, heart palpitations, hives, joint pain, lower respiratory infections, mouth ulcers or rash, mouth discomfort or pain, muscle injuries, muscle stiffness, nasal irritation, nerve problems, red eyes, runny nose, pneumonia, skin infections, sleep disorders, sleepiness, sneezing, sweating, tremors, wounds

Side Effects from Advair: Guest #4309

So far, according to both myself and my alternative med. Dr. it has damaged/destroyed/harmed/ nervous system, thyroid, hormones, hydrochloric acid, digestive enzymes, ability for my body to intake supplements, joint pains, muscle pains, inability to sleep comfortably, chills, introduced my leaky gut syndrome, etc. My Doctor did a test on me for digestive enzymes. Apparently I don't have hardly anything to break down food from my mouth all the way to my stomach.Nor is there hydrochloric acid. I'm really in bad shape and I've been since I have taken advair. First it started with weight gain due to constipation, heart palpitations, then weight loss because of the fungal problems, etc.

Advair works wonders for asthma but may DESTROY the rest of your body and mind (because of what your body goes through). Advair seems to work well because I believe advair takes mucus away so your lungs can function better But I think it also takes mucus out of your stomach lining which is to lubricate food so it can go thru your digestive tract more easily. It also may damage the production of hydrochloric acid which is important for chemical digestion. From there foods do not start to digest properly and sits in your stomach longer to FERMENT!!! It starts its process of destroying cells/tissues/organs, etc. Leaky gut systems assists in this process. The food allergy rashes don't help whatsoever. From reading the complaints on this website, there really doesn't seem to be much of a cure or help after the advair is taken, even months, years later.

I still wish my asthma was back and in bad shape vs. what I've been and am still going through.

Side effects I've experienced: weight gain in stomach and breasts, pains in chest and joints, palpitations in heart and brain, depression, tiredness and weakness, dificulty concentrating esp. when reading, and a change in voice that everyone notices

MY STORY
I have been taking advair for two years under the belief that it did not have the sideaffects associated with an oral steroid.
About six months ago I started having chest pains so severe at night I thought I was having a heart attack. I went to my GP the next day and we concluded that perhaps I had exercised to vigorously the day before (I had joined a club to lose the weight I had gained, in the stomach and chest area, since taking advair and to build up my muscles because I thought I was losing strenth due to my age, 47. My legs, arms and butt are fit, but my stomach and breasts look like I'm having a baby). In the last three months I have also experienced hip pain that would wake me up one or two nights a week. I made another appt with my GP and he thought it was time for me to see a specialist. Last week, after one Xray, the specialist told me I have lost half of the cartilage around my hip bones. He had me go for blood tests to figure out why and what we can do. Two nights later, I couldn't fall asleep because of the heart palpitations and, after finally falling asleep, I woke up with what sounded and felt like a "PING" in my brain (It felt as though a nerve or vessel had exploded at its end). That morning it dawned on me that it could be the advair, so I got on line to google and typed in ADVAIR SIDE EFFECTS and found this website (it is only fifth in the list....it should be number one!) I just called the specialist to find out that I have no bone disease in my blood, so tomorrow when I see my allergist I'm going to have him wean me off this nasty drug and get my life back.

I never would have taken advair, if I thought that it was so dangerous. If anyone else is having joint pain, you really should see a specialist and have an xray to see if there is a problem....as the person below has said repeatedly in her messages, "listen to your body" and do something about it.
If there is a class action, count me in....I feel as though I've been duped into being a tester for this drug. I wish I had known!

Heart Palpitations, which makes me think Im having a heart attack. Headache. Just overall Unrelaxed.

Thrush, heart palpitations, my doctor sent me to a cardiologist. Had all kinds of test run to find no cause. I asked if it could be the advair and she said NO! I have been trying to lose weight and every pound that I lose is gained right back. Headaches almost everyday and I don't usually get headaches. I had an ear infection for the first time since childhood. took a month to clear up. I noticed to minor cuts take over a week to heal. Joint pain that doesn't respond to my normal care.
All this time, I thought that it was me. I am so glad I found this site. We print out and take to my doctor.