Advair HFA and job

I am a 47 year old female that has had asthma all of my life. I was wanting to stop taking Advair and looked up this website, boy am I glad I did. I have all of these side effects. I have been taking Advair 500/50 twice daily for 7 yrs. I have all of the side affects and more. I have experienced hair lose, depression ( I also take Wellburtin XL) since I have started the Advair, I have pain in my legs that make me feel older than I am. I have gain 40 lbs in the past 7 yrs. I now wear reading glasses because my vision is blurry. People always say my face looks rounder. I hate the drug. My doctor said the none of the side effects are caused for the Advair. As of yesterday I stopped taking the Advair. I have cut down my does slowly for the past 2 months. Can someone who has stopped the Adavir tell me what to expect now that I have stopped. Advair is a crazy drug and I refuse to keep taking it.

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.

I have been on Advair for a couple of years now with resulting excellent control of my asthma. I have struggled with this control since childhood using my rescue inhalers frequently. I don't need them at all anymore. However, I have severe hoarseness of the voice, now need to see a special voice doctor, and it has even affected my job. The hoarsness is so severe at times that it is complete laryngitis with no voice at all. What do you chose, control over your asthma, or being able to communicate with others using your voice? It's a tough choice.

I have been on Advair for three months now after the Albuterol inhaler didn't seem to be working. Since then, I have noticed I am gaining weight. I have an active job and my diet is healthy (vegetarian). In six years my weight has hardly fluctuated. Aside from weight gain, the most disturbing side effect has by insomnia. I am simply not tired and when I do sleep, not matter for how long, I always feel tired. I did a search when it dawned on me that the only thing I have changed in the last three months has been the Advair.

I started on Advair in June 2005. I am a public speaker and this past fall started having a lot of trouble with losing my voice. Went to the Dr. in Dec. and had a nasty yeast infection in my throat. Went on an antibiotic for 15 days and did not clear it up. Got a refill in Feb. and finally got rid of the infection. Decided I couldn't do my job on Advair, so went off of it last week. Didn't realize I might have side effects going off of it.....I am feeling very anxious, hard to concentrate and am having tingling in my arms, hands, and feet. Should I be concerned, or will these symptoms subside? Thinking I should have seen the Dr. before discontinuing - any thoughts?

On the one hand, I've had the yeast infection and now I have the hoarseness - the loss of voice.

On the other hand, Advair does a great job of controlling my asthma.

So there is no such thing as a free lunch. The question is: is the cure worse than the disease?
The jury is still out.

Lost my voice in August 2004, currently seeing ENT and next to a speech pathologist. Also have trouble sleeping, joint problems, blurry vision, weight gain. Advair works great to help me breathe, but there has to be something else out there that doesn't have all the side effects. I can't do my job without my voice!