Advair HFA and high blood pressure

I recently went into an asthma attack that admitted me into the hospital on Sept 3rd. I was given albuterol treatments which I also use at home and have for 3 + years via nebulizer when needed. They also prescribed ADVAIR on Sept 4th or 5th and released me from the hospital. Once home my breathing started to decline despite using my nebulizer on time. By Monday night my breathing was shallow and my Cramps had severe pain onset. I began walking stiffly. I went to bed that night and my breathing continued to decline. In the morning I could hardly walk because of the pain in my calves. I could however sit and they "seemed " fine but turned in a bit. I took my children to school and at 8am dropped them off to the teacher at the curb check in. (Meaning I did not have to get out) I pulled aside to get out and see a friend and as I stepped out of the car my calves seized again. At the advice of my friend I decided to right away drive around the corner to the Medical Center where I go. I had an appt later that morning for follow up from Hospital, but decided I better not wait.
BY 8:10 I was in a red zone with my asthma Chest in FULL SEIZE (225 peak flow from over 375 an hour earlier using the peak flow meter I had in my car)
I got out of the car to go into the medical center and IMMEDIATELY Dropped DOWN a Foot and my Feet FLIPPED over my Knees Bowed out and I was walking like a Monkey. I scrambled to get into the medical center where I yelled for assistance and was given breathing treatment with no relief and sent to the Hospital via Ambulance. Breathing 3 breathing treatments in 3 hours no relief of Seizing in Chest. Xrays Clear. .I stayed there until Sept 16th where I have now been released, I am still walking monkey like , I have numbness in my face, a severe headache and I have not slept since Sept 14th at 5 am . I am not tossing and turning, I am wide awake.Today is Thursday Sept 18th. It took at least 3 days of before I was taken off ADVAIR. I had been on ADVAIR for at least 7-8 days 150/50 twice a day. I noticed a difference in my Chest muscle within 12 hours. My legs started to soften and not be so stiff within 1 or 2 days, however my feet drag sideways as I take a step. I have to swing my legs forward for each step. I directly link this to the ADVAIR.

I have been on Advair 250/50 for 5 years for asthma. I'm a 48 year old female. I have experienced severe hoarsness and my voice is rough sounding. Some days I am so hoarse that others have a hard time understanding me. I have had 5 kidney stones in the last 5 years, never had one before taking Advair. I had the last one a month ago and it was so large I had to have surgery. I experience nausea about once a day. I seem to always have a headache. I feel tired all of the time. Over the last year I have developed high blood pressure. I have gained 20 pounds. I have rashes on my upper arms that comes and goes. I experience mood swings. The Advair does control my asthma, but these side effects are too much anymore, especially the hoarseness. I am going to ask my doctor for other solutions.

DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, SWEATING, NAUSEA

My husband was given a sample of this for a month-long bout of bronchitis and we are now thinking it has done permanent damage to his vocal chords. He only used it 5 times, got thrush (yeast infection) in his throat and is still hoarse after a week of being off of it. Does anyone know the history of this drug and has the word "class action lawsuit" crossed anyone's mind besides mine? I am amazed at the way pharmaceutical companies run the healthcare business in this country!

I don't want to go off on a rant here, but are people aware that a large portion of the FDA's operating budget is provided by pharmaceutical manufacturers? This isn't our first experience with this type of thing and I'm about to launch a grassroots campaign to educate the public. Maybe they'll stop believing all the marketing hype.

I'm thinking that the pharmaceutical companies ought to heed the Hippocratic oath - FIRST, DO NO HARM. Wouldn't it be a remarkably different world if they would take all the money they're spending on marketing and use it to lower the price of orphan and AIDS drugs? They keep saying that research is expensive - and advertising on every possible television show, radio and magazines is cheap? Hello? Are we going to be sheep or are we going to be citizens and hold these companies responsible for what they're doing. Thanks for letting me vent. Please contact me if you want to do something about this. And no, I'm not an attorney, but I'm a writer and I think I just found out what my first book is going to be about...

I have experienced rapid heart beat and high blood pressure from using Advair. I have never had these health problems before using this medicine.

i have been on and off advair since 2002. it is very effective for its intended purpose;the relief from asthmatic symptoms.however i always got a hoarse voice(even with thorough rinsing) and shortly after, my speech would become slurred. I cant be sure,but headaches,dizziness and high blood pressure also seem to be side effects. all the side effects quickkly go away (a few days) when i discontinue its use. at this point i prefer to live with the asthma.

This is pathetic. Yes advair has helped with my life-long asthma but since I started on Advair two years ago I have suffered high Blood Pressure, 20lb weight gain, muscle join pain in my legs, fatigue from hell, and terrible anxiety. I'm getting off this nighmare drug.

weight gain,extreme tiredness,insommia,high blood pressure and constantly thirsty and always hungry. when i first took advair ..my dr prescriped it without doing any breathing tests just heard me cough. asked if i had asthma as a kid. said no just bronchitis( sorry typo queen here).i had pnuemonia twice. anyway i quit the advair after seeing the side effects but still can't lose the weight. how long does that stuff stay in your system? will i ever be able to walk distances again without having to stop and lean against something ? any input would be helpful..thanks

I was on Advair for a few years. Everytime I would use the diskus I would start to cough and choke. Finally, I just stopped using it. I know I should have weaned myself off but I got tired of feeling bad.

During the course of my asthma development, I have been diagnosed with allergies, asthma, high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and accelerating arthritis.

Have been off Advair since last August. Have used Albuterol daily until 26 days ago. Been on water and sea salt that was recommended by a friend by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj. It has helped me tremendously, even though I have had a couple of days that I thought I would have to break down and use my inhaler. Yesterday was one. Wheezed and coughed for several hours, but finally subsided that afternoon and I'm fine today. Each time I get through an episode without meds, I feel I'm getting stronger. I use the sea salt liberally--it does cut the phlemgh.
I haven't seen a doctor since last May when he diagnosed my with high blood pressure (which I never had before) He prescribed Norvasc but I never had it filled. I was on Advair for at least 2 years. He took care of the asthma, but I gained 25 lbs., developed high blood pressure, couldn't sleep at night, my friends said I was jittery, skin thinned and bruised like I had aged 15 years in just 2.
You won't find a doctor who believes in the sea salt - especially after being diagnosed w/high blood pressure. But Campbell's Soup is coming out with new soups w/sea salt that are supposed to lower the sodium.
I figure this doctor has little to gain. He doesn't even recommend bottled water or any brand of sea salt. I guess he would profit from the book - but it is inexpensive and you can pretty much find his info on the internet.
If anyone tries this and has luck or no luck, please post it.

I have been on advair for about 3-4 months. I can hear my heart beat in my ear on my right side. Has this happened to anyone else. I do have high blood pressure. I am just trying to find an answer to the problem.

Thank goodness for this site !

I am a 36 male living in Australia and was prescribed Advair(Seretide) 4 weeks ago to treat a asthma induced cough.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and have scheduled visits to a cardiologist, the next one in a few weeks for an echocardiogram and follow up.

About 2 weeks after starting Advair I started having the following side effects:

Racing heart beart, dizziness & feeling faint,waking up with tingling in my hands at night, inability to sleep at night, anxiety/ nervousness.

Further side effects developed over the last few weeks:
hoarse, need to swallow, extreme anxiety and feelimg panicky.

Initially I put the symptoms down to stress and concern over the impending cardiologist visits.
But the situation worsened to the extent that last week I felt extreme distress at going to work.
I went to my GP who put it down to stress and referred to a pyschologist.
This site has been such a relief - thanks

I am a 55 yr old female that has battled with asthma my whole life. In the more recent years, it seems to be more related to allergies, than the earlier years when I was more affected by temp changes and activity. I have used a form of albuterol in inhalers for years to control it. About 5 years ago my doctor put me on Serevent and Flovent. Last year he changed me to Advair saying it was the combo of the two of them. I have gained a lot of upper body weight in the last 5 years. I have never had a weight problem until now and can't seem to lose it. I have also developed high blood pressure and have to take meds for that and for "water weight", and joint pain and have to take meds for that. I stumbled onto this forum and it has been a real eye opener. I realize that some of this is due to my age and body changes but I now wonder how much has to do with the medications, particularly Advair. I wonder if I can drop the weight - and therefore lower my blood pressure and cholesterol and maybe lessen my joint pain if I stop the Advair? Has anyone experienced anything like this. My asthma was pretty controllable prior to Advair - Thanks for any info you may have.

Hi,

I'm glad I found this board! My doctor was real adament about me not going off of Advair, which was a total change in the normal doctor she has been. I told her I didn't have a problem when I was on Flovent and Serevent, which another doctor had prescribed years earlier. I thought the stressful situation I was going through caused my high blood pressure, but after hearing Advair could cause this I began to question whether or not it was for me. My doctor's attitude has me wondering if they get some kind of kickback for putting patients on it.

Does anyone know if the side-effects can be reversed? I've had the raspy throat, bumps in my mouth that she said were stress related and to avoid acidy food to help get rid of it, my blood pressure is up and I've gained weight where my weight was stabalizing for awhile. Again, I attributed it to stress. Now...I'm wondering!

I tried Asthmacort years ago and it didn't work for me. I'm going to ask her to try Pulmacort next. Singulair helped until I went around a stray we'd taken in for a week and it has gotten my asthma out of control now. I took the Advair again, but want to go to the doctors with info to take her to back my reasoning for changing meds. If she continues to have an attitude...I may change doctors. I'm not going to stay on something not good for me. As is, I have to go to a sleep doctor next week. Now I'm wondering if some of those problems are Advair too and I do have the frequent urination.

Thanks to all of you for posting your problems! It helps others know they're not alone and we can tell our doctors just that!!!

Susette

My 48-year-old husband began using Advair December 2003 and was amazed at how it helped his asthma. But then he started having other problems: high blood pressure, weight gain, muscle aches and weakness (he struggled getting up after just sitting down), and the blisters/bleeding/inflamed gums throughout his mouth. After a couple of months, I found this site and he discontinued using Advair. His blood pressure went back to normal in three days, the muscle aches disappeared, but we are still fighting with his mouth problems. He has been to the dentist; who referred him to a specialist. The specialist has given him numerous mouth washes, and two prescriptions. Nothing is working. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.