Advair HFA and miracle drug

I have been taking the advair diskus 100/50 for two years, and I also thought it was my miracle drug. I can breath great , and only take my inhaler a lot less. I also have hoarseness, due to the advair, but recently was told by my doctor I have a mild heart murmur. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do, maybe talk with them on what else I could take instead of Advair. It's hard only because my breathing has been so good, but my heart is also very important. I have not had any leg problems, I have had some problems sleeping, not to bad.

I am a 37 year old female who took Advair for 2 1/2 years. When I first started Advair I called everyone I knew with Asthma and told them it was a miracle drug that they should ask doctors about.

My first negative symptoms were severe leg and foot cramps and numbness in legs. I did not associate them with Advair for a long time. These side effects were never listed in the drug info sheets I read. I then began to feel tired all of the time. And, I developed an awful rash all over my body, especially on the arms and legs (behind knees). I saw many doctors who could not tell me why I was sick. Finally, one doctor suggested stopping all meds, one at a time. We found at that I was allergic to Advair, the thing I thought was saving me. I was switched to Asmanex which is great--for now.

I am reporting these side effects of Advair to affirm those who are suffering and who may be getting crazy looks from doctors, like I did. They did not believe that I was in the kind of pain I was in. They did not make the association of Advair with rashes, though more and more users seem to be reporting this.

At the same time that I have had bad reactions, I have to say that my 9 year old is on Advair and it has been a GREAT drug for her. So far, I have seen no side effects, but we'll keep watching. I still think its a great drug for certain populations, but people need to wary of its possible negative impacts.

May God Bless All of us Asthma Sufferers!

I have been on Advair 250/50 for 2 years now and it has been a MIRACLE drug for me. I have moderate/severe asthma, diagnosed at 11 and now I'm 43. I was constantly taking puffs from my albuterol inhaler and now I rarely use it. I was initially prescribed Advair 2x/day but reduced to once a day because I felt "jittery" on 2x/day. Occasionally, I get some hoarseness but it's the Kathleen Turner sexy kind of hoarseness, so I don't mind. I have never had any adverse side effects from this drug other than the jitters but that was gone once I went to 1 dose a day. I also take Singulair for asthma.

I have been on Advair since 2001 and it has been the miracle drug. I used to have to do nebs twice a day and was using my rescue inhaler constantly. When I would get a cold for flu I would end up in the hospital and would have to take steriods for a couple of weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, I began having heart palpatations. I went to my internal medicine doctor and she ran many tests to exclude any underlying heart problem. All tests came back normal except for the fact that I was running PVCs. At first, the doctor didn't want me to go off the Advair. I mentioned getting off of it and taking Singulair and she was fine with it, but wanted me to consult with my pulmonoloigst. After speaking with him, he decided that we could try taking me off the Advair.

It has been a week and I feel pretty good. I have used my rescue inhaler, but not excessively and I have not had to do any breathing treatments.

There are a couple things that I have noticed the most since I have stopped Advair - my knees are not hurting going up and down stairs and I am starting to feel as if I am not so swollen. I have also gained about 20 pounds since I started taking Advair.

Hopefully everything will work out.

I would be interested to know if anyone that has gone off Advair has actually lost weight?

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.

I have had asthma for over 20 years. I am now 25 and have been on Advair for over 2and 1/2 yrs. Advair definitely has helped, I can breath enough to run again, no wheezing or struggling for breath no hospital visits since I started the med....BUT I have also gained over 40 pounds (and still gaining), get chronic migraines, and have definite Cushing's like symptoms. Plus I get thrush in my mouth every couple of months. And don't forget the insomnia, jittery feelings, tremor and rapid heartbeat. All of these symptoms started since I began taking Advair and continue to worsen. And to top it off, my Pulomonlogist insists the Advair cannot be causing all of these problems. I thought I was losing my mind until I found this forum. Advair is no miracle drug and should be taken with extreme caution.

How many of you have a strange feeling every time you swallow? And if so, do you think it could be because of a fungal growth that is not visible in the throat but growth in the stomach and behind the throat? This has caused thyroid problems, joint pain, muscle pain, hormone problems, body temperature problems, etc. Yet Doctors and allergists can not find a problem. IT IS A FUNGAL PROBLEM. THIS MEDICATION SHOULD NOT HAVE EVER BEEN APPROVED. It seem that even after taking an anti-fungal med., this still may not correct the problem. It destroyed my system so bad that malnutrition set in. No matter what I eat, it's not helping. I can't tolerate dairy, it gives me a rash. I don't have much acids in my stomach so food don't break down as well (time for food to ferment and destroy)
If anyone know someone who was either prescribed this drug or is thinking about taking this drug and you feel the same as I do, PLEASE DO NOT LET THEM TAKE IT. My father was just prescribed this so called miracle drug and I WILL DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO MAKE SURE HE DOES NOT TAKE IT.
If people don't believe you, give them this website and let them read it themselves.

Best of luck.

84-year-old mother with severe breathing problems on Advair for 36 days. We took her off of it. She had:
- SEVERE joint pain and swollen limbs : especially left leg and foot and hands
- painful, sore tongue
- bloody noses
- blurred vision; swollen eyes
- dizziness (more than usual)
- itching, especially face and neck
- general sense that something not right in her head (she "could feel something is going on"); started having memory problems (she's a double PhD; no Alzheimer's)
- hair loss (a lot)
- shaking; tremors in arms and legs

Now back to Albuterol nebullizer 3x per day and Singulair. Might try Flovent with the above.

Doctor put her on Advair to get her off of prednisone (5mg/day). The Advair was like a 'miracle' drug - she had easier breathing within a day, and the breathing benefit lasted throughout the time she took Advair. She generally has very labored breathing and lots of air whistling in and out of her mouth as she walks. She is also on oxygen most of the time. She had tried Combivent inhaler (no longer effective) and Serevent inhaler (still will use this in emergencies). Also have emergency supply of prednisone but haven't had to use it.

Advair was GREAT with facilitating the breathing. Wish the side effects weren't so numerous and so serious.