Advair HFA and vocal chords

I have been on Advair for approximately 8 years and have recently gone off of it. I posted a message earlier detailing the side effects that I experienced from going off of it, as I must have gotten used to living with the side effect so much that I didn't notice.

Anyway, one of the major reasons for going off of Advair was a constant problem with oral thrush. I took liquid medication for it for about two months, however, soon realized that I had a slight allergy to the medication I was prescribed. I found that by rinsing my mouth and gargalling (sp?) thoroughly I was able to finally get rid of the thrush, which also cleared up the hoarseness in my voice. My family doctor told me that sometimes the thrush is so deep in your throat that it will begin to grow on your vocal chords. Other specialists told me that the hoarseness wouldn't go away until I stopped taking Advair, however I found otherwise.

I was prescribed Advair a little over 3 months ago to treat my asthma. It was great for the first six days. No asthma symptoms whatsoever, even after jogging, and I felt great! I woke up the seventh day feeling as though my vocal cords were encased in an incredible amount of flem and my voice went from a baritone to a tenor; I'm a guy so this was disconcerting. During the second week I began experiencing nasal drippage, uncontrollable trembling, extreme physical weakness, memory loss, an unnerving lack of mental clarity and trouble maintaining my temper. The third week of using Advair I began struggling with overwelming thoughts of suicide. All of these things are completely out of character for me. I don't take any other medicine, prescribed or not, have always been healthy and am rarely sick so it was a no-brainer as to what was causing me to experience these things. I stopped taking Advair at that time (after the third week) and promptly developed a headache and other withdrawel type feelings in my throat and chest that took about a week to go away. I also promptly developed a cold that I could not get rid of for a month and a half as well as the flu which I hadn't had in years; I also had asthma related difficulties that were worse than before I started Advair but powered thru those episodes using Primatine Mist. In the month following discarding my Advair disk I noticed a gradual improvement in all the before mentioned Advair affected areas and thankfully the most immediate area of improvement was emotional (i.e., no longer suicidal). One of my vocal chords is still painful but at least I no longer sound prepubescent.

I started researching the side effects of Advair after the second week I was on it and found a reference to it possibly causing an overgrowth of Candidas Albicans. After researching that I'm convinced ultimately that is what I experienced.

After being on Servent for years with no side effects that I was aware of, the doctor changed me to Advair. He mentioned that I would need to gargle every time I used it as it could inflame my vocal chords. I have been on it for about 3 weeks and I just can't talk at work. I gargle every time, but it does not help. After reading these responses I am going to stop tonight and go back to my Servent. Keep the comments coming!

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...

After I had a bout with bronchitis, then pheumonia and finally congestion that would not go away advair was prescribed. I started out taking 250mg then 500mg was prescribed. I am having problems with the roof of my mouth being sore and I have horseness. I feel like it is damaging my vocal chords but I am not sure. I will go to a pulmonary specialist this week to determine what I have for sure. My primary doctor seems to think that I do have asthma.

I have been on Advair 250/50 for the past few months. It stopped the chronic short coughs and helped my asthma but I started having more problems with my throat. I am a professional vocalist and lost my voice. Went to my ENT and they found that I had an infection on my vocal chords. I stopped Advair yesterday and am going to check for something different. I am amazed at how little my GP knew re: Advair. I asked him this question two months ago and he said I could keep taking Advair without any problems indefinitely. A few minutes on the internet told me different. He must not have internet access or maybe he is using dial-up.

* Hoarseness (continuous)
* Phlegm in throat causing me to clear my throat frequently (my spouse is a speech therapist and she said frequent throat clearing will irritate the vocal chords and cause hoarseness)
* Canker sores occur more frequently and take longer to heal
* Two occasions of thrush (Oral candidiasis) over past year

I have always rinsed after using Advair. This medication has effectively controlled my asthma symptoms.