Diagnosed with Asthma-hate using Advair! On going medicine battle - Allergies Message Board

rush_rulz · 04-24-2008, 09:15 AM

This may just be me wishing to vent-however, I want to see if anyone else has had any luck with asthma just going away if you try to exercise/eat right and NOT use any inhaled steroids?? Just a thought.

I have a long history with an allergist (saw an ENT years ago but he said it was allergies and I needed to be tested). Got tested/bloodwork, whole 9 yards. I had not had any of this done and had suffered for about 5-6 years with it. I found I was allergic to some things, and got on Zyrtec- and later, Cyproheptadine and Singulair and also various nasal sprays-all of which cause my nose to bleed and get sore. Plus, raw throat. I just can't do the nasal sprays. So, I tried with my allergist for about 2 years however- since beginning allergy immunization treatment in summer of 2006 I have constantly got sick nearly every 3 months with "sinus infection". Treat with antibiotics and steroids (horrible prednisone that I am convinced is the Devil's own spawn) and repeat repeat....nearly every 2-3 months. I almost got worse on the shots. However, Dr kept saying my levels were improving. But I felt worse.

Now, I am seeing a Nurse Practitioner....I realize this is not the same thing as a specialist but there is an Allergist there available. I went to see the NP for the first time and she diagnosed me w/ asthma. My old allergist kept saying I had "re-current symptoms" of asthma but not exactly full blown however he would put me on Advair for a little while and I feel I got WORSE after ceasing that medicine....it was just too expensive even w/ health insurance to take! I did not find it to help, however the NP thinks it will over time long term. I am just concerned with being on an inhaled steroid like that. Yuck!

She has also began to treat me w/ a course of antibiotics (Biaxin which I have taken once before when I was near death sick-it helps but its such a nasty one that my stomach does not react well to it). I'm trying to stick it out with it as I am getting better w/ the stomach problems on day 2 already. I also worry that being on all these antibiotics has made me immune (already) and that may be why I never seem to get better! I feel like i'd sound like a hypo if I tell the NP this though. She seems very thorough and has done 2 nose cultures on me, plus had me inhale albutrol to see if it helped w/ the lung functioning and it did, but I only improved by 17% but still.

So, I guess I just wonder...has anyone else gone through the ringer with all of this and decided to just STOP the meds? Any luck at all? I would like to hear others' stories. Note: I did get bronchitis a lot as a child, was around all of the allergens I'm allergic to right now though never was tested as a child, but allergies runs in my family.

gcsjr · 04-24-2008, 02:16 PM

I would strongly recommend against stopping the medication and trying to manage your asthma with diet and exercise - asthma kills more than 4,000 people every year in the U.S. - it is not something you want to mess with.

As for the meds, is there a particular reason (other than price) that you're concerned about the inhaled steroids - they're very safe and get the medication to the place where it's needed most with very few side effects - nothing like the oral kind (which nobody really likes taking).

rush_rulz · 04-24-2008, 03:12 PM

Well, gcsmithjr,

It is mainly two reasons I don't want to stay on Advair at least for the rest of my life...

1. Concerned about the long term effects and also side effects listed in the brochure. I pretty much got all of them from Singulair and was first placed on both Singulair and Advair even though I was told-by that Dr. anyway-whose to say another would not have agreed, that I did NOT have asthma.

and...

2. I seemed to have got worse rather than better, after I began the Advair for a few months! I told my allergist this, but he said to keep using it, yet when I took myself off of it and told him it was too pricey and I also felt worse rather than better, he said, ok, no big deal, then don't take it-that my lungs had improved and I would hopefully only need Advair if I got bad bronchial infections (which I do fairly frequently, at least now more so than ever before in my life since trying to actually be treated for all this).

Maybe a different type of inhaler is needed, but it just seems to me that while I know prednisone is much worse on your body than the inhaled kind of steroid, it just seems that if you stay on something like that "indefinately" as the docs want me to do, that it would harm you eventually.

Also, I might note I have never had an asthma attack and rarely if ever get "breathless" although I DO when exercising! But, the only symptoms of it that I do have-if this makes any difference in diagnosing it- is the constant coughing/gagging/tickling in throat and sometimes a feeling like throat is closing up/I can't get enough air.

gcsjr · 04-24-2008, 04:40 PM

Based on that, I wonder why the NP diagnosed you with asthma at all. It actually sounds like you could have acid reflux - which can cause all of the symptoms you mention, is often misdiagnosed as asthma and which wouldn't be helped by Advair (steroids would actually tend to make it worse).

For most people with asthma the potential side effects of inhaled steroids - whether they're in Advair, Flovent or one of the other inhalers are nothing compared to the potential deadly repercussions of an asthma attack. As for long-term harm, inhaled steroids have been available since 1971 so they have a 47 year track record that's very good.

If you're wondering about the long-term benefit vs. reward, the best thing you can do is get a more definitive diagnosis that you really feel comfortable with. If you rule out the things like acid reflux that can mimic asthma and find you only have mild asthma that doesn't progress, you may be fine with a rescue inhaler that you only use once in a while (but you should definitely have one), but it's pretty common for people with mild asthma to have occasional flare ups when their asthma can't be controlled by a rescue inhaler alone.

rush_rulz · 04-25-2008, 10:30 AM

Yes-she did ask questions, the NP, about acid reflux. I get that way (throat all gaggy and nasty and stuff "coming up" immediatly after eating!) Would it happen immediately, like that?

I think that she may suspect it because I told her that sometimes Rolaids when I do take them minimize it.

I will have to get a more detailed diganosis- to give you some #s, as you may know more about the Speromitry than I, I was breathing at 69% and then improved by 17% with the albutrol in the nebulizer (but it does seem to me that ANYone would improve if they inhaled that!)