Hello everyone! I'm was recently newly diagnosed with exercise induced asthma. Apparently, I've probably had this problem most of my life. It took them until my 30s to find this out. Oh well, I guess it does explain somethings I've experienced in my life.... Anyway, I'm a VERY active person, so it's a challenge for me almost daily.

Anyway, I've been on Advair Diskus and Flonase now for about a month. The asthma has been better, but.... Besides having little to no appetite (I've lost over 5 lbs - 4% of my overall bodyweight - so this is a significant amount), I also have this most annoying cotton mouth problem. Is this due to the Advair? Or is it a combination of the Advair and Flonase? Is there anything I can do to alleviate it?

I drink about a half -gallon of water a day as it is... sipping contantly to keep my mouth wet. This problem is also affecting my love life - kinda hard to kiss with a nasty dry mouth!

Any thoughts you all have would be most appreciated!

--Eve

Eve,

When I went to the dentist recently I was diagnosed with dry mouth. It's not that I don't produce saliva. it's just do to my asthma medicines this occurs. Contact your dentist maybe they can advise you what you can do.(mine is not that bothersome) In the mean time try to keep your mouth moist(with liquids water, gaterade etc.)

Good Luck!

[This message has been edited by Susiek415 (edited 10-06-2003).]

Eve,

Dry mouth is a problem with most asthma meds. I am also on Advair 250 and have had off and on problems with dry mouth.

Are you rinsing your mouth really, really, really well after each use. And, are you using it properly? Make sure you hold the inhaler absolutely leve when you use it--this will force you to hold your mouth nice and level to inhale it and less will fall on your tongue. I also often brush my teeth after rinsing. Twice I have gotten thrush from not rinsing enough.

The thing I found has helped the most with this annoyance is cutting out all refined sugar in my diet. Stumbled upon that discovery accidentally when I started the Atkins diet and a week later my mouth was no longer dry. Must have something to do with yeast overgrowth and sugar feeding it, without causing a full-blown case of thrush. Also, I recently started using Advair only once a day because two doses were making me sleepless and jumpy.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your insight guys... I think I do use the inhaler correctly - at least the Dr. said I did everything fine. I do rinse my mouth out after and/or take a drink of water after. Do you think this is sufficient? When you say "really really well" what exactly do you mean - I read somewhere that someone used baking soda. This seems like overkill. I've been using the Advair for over a month (and used a higher dose for several weeks a few months prior but NEVER rinsed b/c the Dr. failed to mention that to me) - and I've never had any problems with thrush. I only noticed the dry mouth problem this time with the lower dose of Advair. This time I'm also on Flonase...

Anyway... thanks for your help. Any thoughts on this are appreciated. I'm curious about you feeling jumpy. I've been VERY tired lately and have had a little bit of insomnia the last few weeks.... the timing correlates to taking the Advair (but it also correlates to a lot of new stress in my life - so it could be a coincidence).

Eve

Oh my, you are definitely not rinsing well enough. And just because you didn't get thrush by now doesn't mean you won't - many people use Advair for several months before they get it. And simply taking a drink of water afterwards is really a big no-no, you shouldn't be swallowing the water because you can cause yourself to get thrush farther down on your vocal cords or your esophagus, which is much harder to treat and causes some nasty problems you really don't want. Many of us on here have found that simply rinsing a few times with water isn't enough. What I myself have found to work very well - as have others on here - is to rinse and gargle with a glass of water (and spit it out, DON'T swallow any of it), then brush my teeth, then rinse and gargle again with another glass of water. Rinsing helps to clear it out of your mouth, and gargling gets it off your throat. I also use Advair only once a day, which definitely helps too. Most of us on here either weren't told by our doctors to rinse, or were just told to 'rinse with water' afterwards. I used Advair for 6 months before I got it, and my doctor was the one who saw it when I went in for a check-up, I didn't even know I had it. So you may be ok for awhile but eventually you'll get it if you don't rinse better, and once you do, it can take several months to get rid of as it will keep coming back. You're better off rinsing better so you don't get it in the first place.

Good luck.

Okay - I'll start rinsing better. I really don't want to get thrush - it sounds nasty... I've had yeast infections elsewhere, and if it's anything similar, UGH!!

So rinse/gargle - brush teeth - rinse/gargle again... got it!

Thanks! (Maybe this will even help with the dry mouth problem!)

Eve