What studies show that Advair "gives you" shortness of breath? In my experience it has been exactly the opposite. I had another friend tell me Advair is dangerous because you become dependent upon it. Of COURSE you become dependent upon it. Asthma is a disease just like Diabetes, you don't warn a Diabetic not to take insulin shots because they might become dependent on them. Your asthma (just like your diabetes) may be more (or less) controlled but it does not "get better". It is always there and always will be. Any asthmatic who forgets this is taking their life in their hands. I know an otherwise perfectly healthy 22 yr old guy who normally had good control of his asthma but who still died from an asthma attack only a few months ago.
For the record, Advair does NOT make my shortness of breath that comes from Asthma worse, but when I forget to take my medication my awareness of the shortness of breath is stronger then it was prior to being on Advair because I had gotten used to the feeling of being out of breath since I was a child. The reason I am happy to be "addicted" to my Advair is because it actually allows me to breath like a normal person and to do things that I couldn't do before.
Wow, someone is pmsing.
I'm glad advair doesn't affect you adversely. And I never said anything about "being addicted" to advair. If you had bothered to read my post, I said that advair has some potentially dangerous (and sometimes LETHAL) side effects. Do some research before you try to call people out.
And if you didn't realize, I actually recommended two separate courses of action with milder medications. Perhaps you don't realize the dangers of a lifetime of corticosteroid use, but that is your fault and not mine. For most cases of asthma, especially exercise induced asthma, a single puff of albuterol or the like before a workout will prevent asthma symptoms from arising.
The difference between advair and insulin is that insulin is something that is otherwise naturally produced in the body. Advair introduces two very powerful foreign agents into your body, and especially salmeterol is very dangerous. Do you realize that advair for that reason has the "black box" warning? If you don't believe me about advair causing shortness of breath (not wheezing, but shortness of breath, a side effect which I have in fact experienced), then check out these links:
"If we got these drugs off the market, we could prevent 4,000 deaths a year," argues Shelley Salpeter, a clinical professor of medicine at Stanford University who says both Advair and Serevent should be recalled. She pored over the results of 19 previous trials of Serevent-style drugs and found that patients have twice the rate of asthma hospitalizations, twice the rate of life-threatening asthma and four times as many deaths as patients who aren't on those drugs. She believes Advair and Serevent cause four of every five asthma-related deaths each year. "These drugs make asthma worse," she says. By some estimates, asthma kills roughly 5,000 Americans a year.
Trouble Breathing - Forbes.com
Advair Safety and Side Effects - Advair Safety and Black Box Warning
ADVAIR DISKUS 100/50: Side effects, ratings, and patient comments
There is plenty more info. If you care about your health you should stop taking the medication as well. Look for Qvar, a milder inhaled corticosteroid, or simply examine your diet and search for triggers and use your albuterol inhaler when necessary. When the asthma gets bad, get back on Qvar for a month or two and then get off it.
If you are trying to convince ANYONE that being on a steroid for the majority of your life is a good idea, then I kindly ask you to stop spreading disinformation.
I'm sorry for your friend that died - did he happen to be taking advair at the time? There are thousands of advair related deaths every year. Read up on it.
