Advair HFA and prednisone

About 2 and 1/2 months ago I went to an urgent care facility since I felt like I was suffocating. I am a long time smoker (30 years) and have not had any problems with breathing accept for the occasional morning cough. Long story short, the doctor after hearing my breathing and taking 2 xrays said "you have a pocket of infection in your lung and COPD". I didn't realize it was that quick and easy to diagnose COPD and thought there were more extensive tests to prove that, but I went along with the doctor. The doctor prescribed Advair, an antibiotic, ProAir HFA (albuterol pump rescue inhaler), a decongestant and prednisone. I thought that was an extreme amount of medication but the doctor said she was being proactive. After a couple albuterol breathing treatments and a shot of steroids at the urgent care center I was on my way.

I finished the treatments of antibiotics and steroids as prescribed, but I never took the decongestant (did not want to over-medicate myself). Immediately after starting Advair my joints ached and I felt over all like I had the flu. With my 1 weeks checkup with the doc I mentioned this and she just smiled. About a week after that the achy joints starting easing up, but I started cramping in different muscles. For instance one week I would have a dull cramping in my leg that was persistent during the day and worsened at night. Then the leg stopped cramping, then the lower part of my back started in to a point it was hard to get out of bed, walk or bend over. Then when that stopped something else started up. Then during the last two weeks that I was on Advair I was having periodic chest pains, tightness in my chest, (once again) difficulty breathing, and my vision started to go (blurring)...that with the lower back pain. I am almost 50 years old and have been in excellent health my whole life, and honestly I have never felt as bad as I did while on Advair.

I stopped taking Advair 6 days ago. No, I did not call and ask the doctor's advice because I knew what the doc would say. The first day after quitting Advair I had restricted breathing so I used the rescue inhaler once. The breathing issue became better during the remainder of the day. Slowly the cramping in my body and chest eased up. Today (6 days later) my vision is back to what it was, no chest pains, occasional restricted breathing and will use the rescue inhaler during those times.

I think it's too early to know the long lasting affects of Advair, but at this stage in my life (unless I am worse off with my breathing than I am right now) I don't care to use the medication.

Wow!!! I can't believe it! I just found this site. I've actually been on Advair 500/50 for years now, about 7 years at least. Just as a bit of a background, I'm 24 years old, used to be extremely active, played water polo, was on the swim team, and was just overall very active in high school. I've had severe chronic asthma since I was 8 years old, so in order to help me stabilize my asthma, my critical care pulmonologist put me on Advair. It was a "miracle drug"! However, while my asthma was under control, I was experiencing all these other symptoms that everyone else has been talking about.
Anyway, to make things worse, I just talked to my (new) doctor and she told me that the Advair makes it so that some organ (I'm sorry, I don't remember the name) actually stops producing prednisone (or the same stuff that your body naturally produces itself to keep your lungs working correctly) if on it for long enough. It makes sense because for the first few years it was prescribed to me, I really only filled the prescription as I was getting sick as a backup, but other then that I was generally under control. For the last I'd say about a year, I've been consistent and used it regularly as the doctor actually prescribed, every day, twice a day, whether I was sick or not. Now, I can't go even a week without it, otherwise I'm in the hospital.
During the last year or so that I've been consistent with taking the medication, I've had major depression, gained 45 lbs, fatigue, anxiety, dizziness, nausea, heart palpitations, heartburn, leg pains, sore throat, sinus infections (we just finally decided I was just allergic to our animals and I've been on decongestants for pretty much the whole year, doing sinus flushes, etc and I'm still all stuffy!), unexplained bruising, crazy mood swings, muscle pains, headaches, heartburn, etc. I thought I was just completely crazy, I kept believing it was all in my head!!!
I'm going to my doctor today and asking her to prescribe me something else. The funny thing was, I was just on my way to the hospital b/c my doctor's been treating me for the last 3 weeks for vertigo accompanied by the heart palpitations and the nausea, she finally is giving up and is sending me to the emergency room. I figured before I went that route, I'd look into it myself. Go figure!

I am a part-time professional singer and attorney. I developed an odd cough-variant asthma this winter at age 42 -- it had scary breath shortness and wheezing plus lots of phlegm coughed up. I had never before had the shortness/wheezing/asthma, though I have always had allergies and occasional bronchitis following a cold. The asthma/allergy specialists put me on Advair 500 twice a day with each attack, plus an oral prednisone burst/short taper, nebulized (not just rescue inhaler) albuterol (beta 2 agonist), and antibiotics (a different one each time). I also take Claritin, Rhinocort and Astelin for my allergies. I had four attacks of asthma this winter that were treated this way; after the fourth, they put me on Advair 250 maintenance for a month. With each attack, I would get hoarse, have trouble sleeping, and get odd muscle cramps I never had had. The hoarseness was worse each time, but I was able to sing through it at my regular gigs. I attributed the side effects to the prednisone. With my fifth attack, they told me to ramp up the Advair to 500 and do all else the same, but as an experiment to see how this would alter those side effects, I decided to treat it with everything but the prednisone. The hoarseness, sleep trouble, and muscle cramps were all much worse. I found this site, noted the recommendation of several other singers to try Asmanex instead of Advair, and asked the docs about it. They agreed that all these symptoms could be related to the Advair and gave me Asmanex 250 twice/day instead instead of the Advair, plus all the other meds for the attack. The symptoms went away within a week, although it took a little longer for me to get over the asthma attack this time. I am extremely grateful to this site and all the users posting comments. I can sing again, sleep again, and exist without weird muscle cramps during treatment of my asthma. Thank you very much.

Hi All, I am here for the first time in desperation trying to ascertain if my problems are Advair related. I have been on it for over 20 years (started as a study patient). I probably would be dead if it hadn't come along - seriously - and I had been on prednisone a lot. But, to add a voice to what others are saying, I can't sleep, and always wake with the most terrible headache, along with other general aches and fatigue. I was coping so so until I was rear-ended and developed some neck issues. Now I live with never ending headaches and fatigue and a tendency towards depression. Pain killers and sleeping pills get me through the winter months and then in the summer with lots of activity outside I rebound so that I can go through another yearly slide downward. What is really a killer is that I can't get going in the early mornings and have been hassled by my employer who has determined by a psychologist that I am a malingerer because there is little proof of physical illness! If I didn't have a history of having been, and still being, a very hardworking and persistent individual I would think I was going nuts (I'm 60). If anyone has a similar story, please comment further. Thanks

My son (9) was on advair off and on for a while for severe asthma. I noticed depression, anxiety, fatigue and fibromyalgia type pains all over his body. I had him checked for lupus and other diseases and all negative. He also developed a severe rash between his legs causing much pain and discomfort as he had to walk like a bull-legged horse-riding cowboy. Showering often never helped. I assume he has candidis yeast infection(systemic). He was finally put on Prozac and I took him off Advair against my doctors advice. i took him off slowly and your body may need to make it's own steriods and not go into shock. He takes as much albuterol as needed to get him better and then i give him prednisone for 3 days when things become an emergency. tTe prednisone leads my son to anger and suicide but it goes away after he finishes his course, but it saves his life. He is now 13 and much happier and his face and body has thinned out by half. I will never give my son Advair again.

Has anyone gone off of Advair and a) noticed any side effects; and b) switched to Alvesco? I tried the switch a few weeks ago and gave into going back on Advair (hate the drug though) and am currently on Prednisone again and hoping to just switch, again, back onto Alvesco.

My 12 year old has asthma and has good and bad years. Her asthma seems to be linked with the amount of flu/cold/viral infections she gets in any given year. This past year she has had strep, viral infection, sinusitis, and several viral infections consecutively. She has been hospitalized for masks and has taken 3 course of antibiotics, Prednisone, ventolin puffers, nasonex, and has recently been switched from flovent to advair. Since taking advair, she can't sleep, she has severe headaches every day, her vision is blurred, her asthma doesn't seem to be better, it seems worse, she loses her voice regularly and is up in the night crying because of pain in her throat.

I'm at my wits end as to what to do for her. This has disrupted our lives and she has missed a significant amount of school. She has currently no quality of life to speak of as she is always at home not feeling well.

I'm looking for some help.

On Advair for about 4 years, at first I was fine with only minor throat irritations. About a year later I started having the Leg cramps / Muscle tightness. I've been to many Doctors who couldn't explain my leg pain. I tried to stop using my Advair many times, but felt so horrible that I had to start using it again. Last week my allergy doctor put my on Prednisone for pleurisy and I decided on my own to GET OFF ADVAIR. I have felt like a new woman this week. My leg pain is almost gone, my eyesight seems to be improving, and my random joint pain is slowing down. I didn't realize until I found this site tonight, that SO MANY people have had the same experiences. Like you others, my DOCTOR assured me there weren't ANY side effects. I'll gladly use my inhaler a couple times a week to manage my asthma. DON'T listen to your DR, there are other ways!!!!! By the way, I'm a 38 year old female. I feel like I'm finally getting my life back.

I've had a case of Asthmatic Bronchitis for the last two months. Doctor prescribed the Z-pack (2 Rounds) and a ProAir inhaler (Albuterol). After 1 month of this I felt better...but still not 100%.

Then he gave me the wretched Advair. I took one puff...and 15 minutes later was in the emergency room. I completely couldn't breathe...lost all color in my face...heart was racing...nervousness...tremors...chills...etc. I took a couple puffs off the Albuterol and that helped open the airways so the ambulance ride wasn't necessary. But the ER visit was still necessary.

They gave me a nebulizer treatment and 60mg of Prednisone and after an about 2 hours I was released. Now today...exactly 12 hours later I have the dry mouth, hoarseness, and leg cramps others have mentioned. Hoping this will clear up soon...I mean common I only took 1 puff!

Long and short...stay away from this medication at all costs! Something must be wrong if so many people are having these types of effects.

My husband has been on Advair first for bronchitis, now they say he has asthma. He was better after taking Prednisone, with the Advair, but during that time he became extremely irritable. I thought it was from the steroids, but now he's been off Prednisone for 2 weeks, and the rage continues. The tiniest things make him so mad, and he used to be so mild and easy going. It is starting to really scare my daughter, and it makes me so sad to see the change in her. I can't see living like this forever. Aside from that, the coughing and excessive mucus in his throat continue. Has anyone else had these extreme personality changes?
Thanks.

I've had asthma since I was a teenager, and about 9 years ago I went to an allergy and asthma specialist and had the whole gamet of tests run to find out why my allergies and asthma were worsening. I was prescribed Advair, Albuterol, Prednisone, & Servient. At the time, these were the only medications I was taking and never experienced any severe side effects. My asthma was much better and by my one year check up, I had almost completely stopped using the Albuterol for sudden attacks. Due to my graduation from college, I was no longer covered under my parents insurance and due to the cost of the medications, discontinued my treatments. I felt fine, hadn't had any attacks or breathing episodes, so I felt I could do this without any problems.

Fast forward to this summer. My asthma symptoms had returned and my PCP put me back on the Albuterol. It helped the sudden attacks, but I was blowing through an inhaler in a month. Last week I found myself in my local urgent care center, barely able to breathe, gasping for breath. I'm 31 years old with an almost one year old. They gave my 3 breathing treatments and prescribed Prednisone (only 5 days worth), Albuterol, and the Advair. After a week on the Advair, I feel so strange. I haven't had to use my fast acting inhaler since last week, but I feel like my heart is going to jump right out of my chest. I have a constant headache, a weird ache in my right arm, can't sleep even though I am exhausted, and my mind is constantly racing. It's like I can't slow down. After reading all these crazy side effects and comparing them with my own, I'm stopping the Advair. I have an apt. with my asthma specialist in 2 weeks and I will be sure that he doesn't put me back on this med. It's awful...can't imagine taking any drug with a side effect of death.

My daughter took advair. She was an asthmatic for years. Last April she had bronchitis, and went on prednisone, I don't believe they took her off the advair. She developed a severe septic pnuemonia, went to the hosp. on a Monday with body shutting down, kidneys involved etc. Wed. seemed to pass the crises, Sat, developed a staph, and died on April22. Ask your doctors and pharmicists, about this combination. I will always believe it was a contributing factor to her death.

After starting Advair last Nov. I suddenly had so much pain in legs and arms. Difficult to walk or lift anything. This pain continued until spring when I demanded a diagnosis. It was diagnosed as polymyalgia rheumatica. They do not know what causes it. I already had fibromyalgia. After prednisone for one day ALL pain and stiffness disappeared and I need to take prednisone for one year. I noticed others with fibromyalgia had much increased pain after Advair