Has anyone gotten off of Advair, or been able to quit asthma medication?

[IluvKingLouis]

I've been on Advair for several years, and finally decided to see if some of what I've been feeling lately could be related as a side effect.

Turns out I am experiencing several side effects, my hoarseness and change in voice (itchy scratchy throat) is something I must change if I go back into the workforce. Most of my past jobs have required a lot of phone work, or talking to clients.

I need to lose weight, and I'm down about 8 pounds in 2.5 weeks, and feel like I have my head in the diet game this time. Can a big weight loss mean I can get off this drug?

TIA for any information you have.

 

[Mermaid02]

Advair has been a lifesaver for me. If I forget a few days I'm right back to sucking on my inhaler several times a day (waking up at night etc.) Talk with your doctor about it. For me, the benefits outweigh any of the side effects.

 

[golfgal]

My kids all were able to go off Advair. Only DS15 needs it every once in a while if he gets a bad cold or pneumonia. DS17 has/had pretty severe asthma but as he has gotten older it has gotten better and hasn't needed meds for about 5 years now.

 

[GSDRescuer]

As I type, I am on day three of stopping Advair. The hoarseness was getting worse, so the Dr told me to stop for 5-7 days. Then go back on it with a spacer. So far the hoarseness is much better. Haven't started back on it yet. I wonder if the spacer will prevent the hoarseness this time.
I thought that the minute I stop the Advair, I would have an asthma attack, but that did not happen. I am on Singulair, Nasonex and added Zyrtec as I went off the Advair.
Another side effect was leg cramping. That is gone now, too.

 

[wdwfan16]

I've been on Advair for several years, and finally decided to see if some of what I've been feeling lately could be related as a side effect.

Turns out I am experiencing several side effects, my hoarseness and change in voice (itchy scratchy throat) is something I must change if I go back into the workforce. Most of my past jobs have required a lot of phone work, or talking to clients.

I need to lose weight, and I'm down about 8 pounds in 2.5 weeks, and feel like I have my head in the diet game this time. Can a big weight loss mean I can get off this drug?

TIA for any information you have.

Advair is a very dangerous drug. It is made up of two components Serevent and Flovent. Serevent was pulled from the market due to deaths. They thought that mixing it solved the problem. So Advair was created. They are now talking about pulling Advair from the market.

Try taking just Flovent and see if that helps.

They found out the problem with Serevent was it was masking a problem more than relieving the problem.

If you take Advair do some research and talk to your Dr.

I would quess that somebody who uses a steroid daily to control their asthma would never be able to go off all meds. A lesser dose or a different med, yes.

 

[Jennasis]

My asthma sort of resolved itself after a few years on advair. I keep an Albuterol inhaler for emergencies but I haven't needed it in years.

 

[NikitaZee]

Advair is the best thing that has happened to me in treating my asthma. I take it 2x a day - and if I miss a couple of doses I'm wheezing again and headed back to my albuterol inhaler several times a day. I haven't had any side effects from taking it; I've been on it for 6 years now and can't imagine not having it. Good luck to you - hope you're able to control your asthma without it if that's what's best for you.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

My ds20 has been on advair for years. He decided himself when he is going or not going to take it lately.

This is not with the approval of the md or us. He does have a rescue inhaler.

Lets just say in the past he has had a lot of endocrine issues etc. I see now that at least he is able to lose weight where he could not in the past. If you read the advair info package inside you will see I dont think that it has been tested on enough kids etc.

Also is it not true that if you open the pack and use the inhaler its only suppose to be good for 30 days? I think this is 30 consecutive days, so if you decide when to use it sporadically, I dont know how much it decreases the effectiveness.

 

[pisco]

I went off Advair a couple of months ago in favor of QVar (steroid inhaler). Turns out that for some patients, Advair can actually make your asthma worse. This was the case for me and I feel much better now that I am off of it.

I have lost 55+ pounds over the last 6 months and have become a regular exerciser. I can't say that I noticed any difference in my asthma with the weight loss or the exercise.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Pomlover2586]

Serevent was pulled from the market due to deaths.

Serevent has NOT been pulled from the market......because i just ordered my Rx from my Doctor.......

Get your facts straight before speaking........

 

[bumbershoot]

I developed exercise induced asthma while in college.

I developed full blown allergic and high-emotions (seriously, when I would argue with DH it would happen...just like when I was a teen and had an argument with my mom I would have a massive sneezing allergy attack) asthma while pregnant.

The asthma lasted awhile, and it shows up when I'm around a cat that has more dander than others (I can deal with many cats, but some cats "get" me).

When it was diagnosed when I was pregnant (I never used medication for the exercise induced...I just took measures so I wasn't in cold air for exercise, or had a scarf to breathe through while running, etc), the doctor took half an hour to find the least frightful steroid and rescue drugs for me. So I never saw a point of taking something with more side-effects.

The problem is that the albuterol he prescribed caused dreadful side-effects...every time I took it I seriously wondered if it truly was better than being scared I couldn't breathe, it was THAT bad. I would become nearly homicidal, though the shaking I endured after it would have made it hard to shoot accurately, stab someone, or have the strength to strangle someone....I HATED albuterol, but after asking, there was no other medication that was safe enough.

I even went down to half a spray (2 sprays were prescribed), where I would halfway inhale, then spray fast, and not take a huge deep breath. Still effective, still homicidal with near spasms in my limbs from it.

Obviously I was desperate to get off of it.

Now my medication is either black coffee (an incredible medicine, if you don't have a caffeine addiction I've found) and/or nettle tea. If I can get one (or sometimes both) of them inside of 20 minutes of a reaction, I am golden. They are really incredible for me! I've got to get more nettle tea, speaking of all of this...the only problem with nettle is that it tastes DISGUSTING. Like fish, actually. Gah. But it's medicine, and most medicines do taste awful (like black coffee).

 

[RainbowBrite]

I developed exercise induced asthma while in college.

I developed full blown allergic and high-emotions (seriously, when I would argue with DH it would happen...just like when I was a teen and had an argument with my mom I would have a massive sneezing allergy attack) asthma while pregnant.

The asthma lasted awhile, and it shows up when I'm around a cat that has more dander than others (I can deal with many cats, but some cats "get" me).

When it was diagnosed when I was pregnant (I never used medication for the exercise induced...I just took measures so I wasn't in cold air for exercise, or had a scarf to breathe through while running, etc), the doctor took half an hour to find the least frightful steroid and rescue drugs for me. So I never saw a point of taking something with more side-effects.

The problem is that the albuterol he prescribed caused dreadful side-effects...every time I took it I seriously wondered if it truly was better than being scared I couldn't breathe, it was THAT bad. I would become nearly homicidal, though the shaking I endured after it would have made it hard to shoot accurately, stab someone, or have the strength to strangle someone....I HATED albuterol, but after asking, there was no other medication that was safe enough.

I even went down to half a spray (2 sprays were prescribed), where I would halfway inhale, then spray fast, and not take a huge deep breath. Still effective, still homicidal with near spasms in my limbs from it.

Obviously I was desperate to get off of it.

Now my medication is either black coffee (an incredible medicine, if you don't have a caffeine addiction I've found) and/or nettle tea. If I can get one (or sometimes both) of them inside of 20 minutes of a reaction, I am golden. They are really incredible for me! I've got to get more nettle tea, speaking of all of this...the only problem with nettle is that it tastes DISGUSTING. Like fish, actually. Gah. But it's medicine, and most medicines do taste awful (like black coffee).

I cannot even imagine tossing my inhaler aside and drinking coffee or tea in place of that. I would rather have spasms and be homicidal than have an asthma attack like the one that sent me to the Emergency Room at 3 AM this past September. The feeling of your chest feeling so tight, feeling like you can't take a breath is scarier than anything else.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I was diagnosed as having Adult Onset Asthma. First attack came out of nowhere. Had two hospitalizations in 9 mos. I have had excellent results with Symbicort, Accolate (its a pill), occassional Ventolin Inhaler. It was really, really, hard to come off of the prednisone. Inhalers are nothing!! The reason black coffee makes some feel better is that it has a bronchodialating affect (from xanthine) that's in the coffee. It is no substitute for medication!!!!!! I thought that shortness of breath feeling would never go away, but it has. Be patient, stay under a doctor's care!!!!

 

[RitaZ.]

I've been on Advair for several years, and finally decided to see if some of what I've been feeling lately could be related as a side effect.

Turns out I am experiencing several side effects, my hoarseness and change in voice (itchy scratchy throat) is something I must change if I go back into the workforce. Most of my past jobs have required a lot of phone work, or talking to clients.

I need to lose weight, and I'm down about 8 pounds in 2.5 weeks, and feel like I have my head in the diet game this time. Can a big weight loss mean I can get off this drug?

TIA for any information you have.

DH experienced the same symptom when he was on Advair. He was on it for several years. One of the last symptoms he experienced was muscle weakness. That was it for him. He told his doctor that he wanted to stop Advair and try something else. He went back to using Ventolin and Flovent, which have kept the asthma under control. He continued to use Nasonex nasal spray.

As for weight gain, it's not something that I noticed in DH. Who knows though? Every person reacts differently.

If DH had drank coffee or tea to control his asthma , he would have died years ago.

DH sees his pulmonologist every year. Going to see a specialist was the best thing that ever happened to him. It totally changed his quality of life.

 

[RitaZ.]

I just wanted to add... Getting off asthma drugs may not be an option for you. It depends on your type of asthma, what triggers it. For DH, it's not an option. He will always have to take asthma meds. The only person that can answer your specific question is your doctor. :