Advair Diskus Allergy Induced Asthma, Allergy Season, Spring and Fall, Respiratory Problems, Proactive
Posted over a year ago
I have been dealing with allergy-induced asthma for twenty years. I can go for months at a time without any problems and be hit with severe respiratory problems within minutes if I'm in the wrong environment (mold, pollen, etc.). I started using Advair ... more »
I have been dealing with allergy-induced asthma for twenty years. I can go for months at a time without any problems and be hit with severe respiratory problems within minutes if I'm in the wrong environment (mold, pollen, etc.). I started using Advair four years ago--and would only use it when I knew allergy season was about to hit in the spring and fall. I didn't notice any problematic side effects. However, this summer, with the H1N1 scare, I decided to to be proactive and started taking my Advair twice daily. I've been doing so for the past six months and I have gained 10 lbs. I workout 6 to 7 days per week--1 to 1.5 hours cardio plus weight training. My eating habits have not changed. I've had the H1N1 vaccination and will be going off the Advair to see if my weight goes back down.
Blc - I took Advair for asthma for 10 years. I just stopped this medication after having read about the long term side effects.
I feel so much better - not as spacey, wacky-silly, emotional, tired, ...
The first 2-3 days off the med were hellish - rebound not being able to breathe at all. Used Albuterol constantly, headaches, felt terrible BUT after the 3rd day I noticed I was breathing bettter. Then the 4th again, better. I also noticed I felt like my old self before the darn Advair.
Advair helped me breathe, yes, and I didn't know I could ever stop it. I was told by doctors I had to take this for life.
From 1999 until 2005 I took the 500/50 dose 2 x a day until a doctor asked me if I was always so talkative and hyper. I began having seizures in 2003 which continued until 2006. At the time I thought these were from stopping taking another medication Paxil that I regret ever trying for what I thought was PMS. Paxil put me in a total brain fog. No anxiety whatsoever. But you cannot function in life this way very well.
Anyhow, now I can't help but wonder if the 500/50 Advair 2 x daily is what was causing all my problems. Including what I thought was PMS or from peri menopause.
I stopped taking Advair 500/50 in 2005 and used the 250/50 dose 2 x a day instead. The seizures also happened to decrease in severity and didn't happen every single month. By Jan 2006 I only had one seizure very brief and then June 2006 also and those were the last ones I know of that I had.
I thought this was from taking and stopping Paxil honestly. I thought the longer it was since I stopped the Paxil the better.
But who knows...
In 2008 I tried taking the Advair 250/50 only once a day. This worked fine.
Then last November I read an article in the NY Times in Jane Brody's Personal Health section about inhaled steroids and long term side effects - someone she discussed faced going blind if he continued to take these meds. She also mentioned a new breathing technique and clinic in Woodstock, NY that trained in this for people with asthma who don't or cannot take medications. Buteyko.
I thought to myself, I should learn more about this. So I have. 8 days ago I decided to stop taking Advair. The first 2-3 days off it were hellish. Not fun not being able to breathe. But by the 4th day it wasn't so bad. I was using my albuterol rescue inhaler too often. But as each day passed this became less necessary. I went on line to check out the Buteyko Clinic, downloaded the an online text for $15, have been practicing it and guess what, it helps!!! Seriously. I panic when I wheeze normally and reach for the albuterol but I've taught myself to do the shallow breathing they recommend instead. I noticed that I stopped wheezing.
So today I hardly needed the albuterol. I am psyched to learn more. There's a seminar in March I can afford to attend there for $325.
They not only work with people who have asthma but also those with COPD and other breathing problems.
An alternative to medications? Possibly. I am hoping to just be able to reduce my dependence on the medications, especially albuterol. I am hoping to prevent an attack that might make me want to try prednisone or an inhaled steroid again.
I hope taking Advair for ten years hasn't hurt me irreparably. When I've been to the eye doctor the past two years I keep hearing how my eyes are not getting enough oxygen and how there are too many broken blood vessels so I stopped wearing contacts. From last April till recently I only wore contacts now and then. I have an appointment with the eye doctor next Wednesday and will be interested to see if this has gotten worse, stayed the same, or maybe improved I hope.
I don't know if this eye problem I've been experiencing is the same as the ones listed for others who use inhaled steroids for a long time but I do wonder if it's a result of having used Advair for 10 years.
So there's hope. After I turned 35 I used to have to take prednisone in the fall when my allergies were acting up from Sept - Nov but then Advair made that unnecessary. I was so happy with it at first even though I went through a scary time with a hoarse voice. Doctors thought I had vocal polyps but then realized it was from Advair. I went for second and third opinions. Found out I didn't even have vocal polyps but that Advair was causing voice hoarseness in many patients.
Doctors prescribed a medication called Prevacid for ARD to stop the hoarseness so I took that until a year ago October 2008 (again, stopped this after reading an article in the NY Times about the troubling side effects caused by stomach acid blockers after long term use).
Now I wonder if the Advair might have caused me to have to take Prevacid unnecessarily? Though doctors told me if I didn't take it I might end up with cancer.
So now I am off both Prevacid and Advair and I have to wonder were either of these necessary for as long as I took them? Doctors thought I had to take them. Doctors told me I might have to "forever" and why not I was told, there weren't any bad side effects. Inhaled steroids were supposedly risk free. Advair isn't even being prescribed for people with asthma any longer because it caused too many deaths. The salmeterol apparently.
So now it's being pushed to COPD patients instead.
I say check out the Buteyko Clinic in Woodstock. There are various ways for them to help.
Check out the article in the NY TImes November 2009 by Jane Brody. I will post a link to this and to the clinic after this.
Blc - http://www.buteykocenterusa.com/Media_buteyko.html#NYT
http://www.buteykocenterusa.com/Disease_asthma_COPD.html
Good luck. What out for medications I say! Always ask if there are alternatives and expect that doctors will tell you there aren't but then if you persist the doctors might offer alternatives. A doctor I went to last Tuesday prescribed Asmanex. I can't wait to tell him it's not open and still in the foil wrap pouch. I can't wait to tell him about the breathing technique I am learning and how I feel so much better day 8 now without the Advair or any inhaled steroids!
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