I am very confused I have had sinus issues my whole life, and have had sinusitis sugery for them, I still have horrible Post Nasal Drip and Stuffy noses, with these problems I also feel very short of breath at times and get indigestion very easily. I have been to a gastro doctor who did a endoscopy and found no damage but put me on prevacid to see if it would help, then I had seen a Pulmonoligist who said I have a small amount of Lung Damage from when I was younger he believes and said that I have a case of asthma, but the wierd thing was he said that I have the choice to either Take the Advair,(which I have tried in the past for over a year with no results from it,) or just choose to deal with the symptoms but that he doesnt thing that it was an urgent issue, and that I could choose but either way I should be ok. Has anyone every had this type of a situation, and had a doctor tell you that if you can handle your symptoms then its ok not to take the medicine?

In the past I have had broncitis, 1 1/2 years ago I was diagnosed with asthmatic broncitis and found something on my lungs in the xrays. They reccommended going to a pulmo. for a lung biopsy so I went, he said that it was scare tissue from the broncitis and that I had same thing "asthmatic broncitis". Gave me QVAR, Combevent and DuoNEB for my nebulizer. Charged me 500.00 (thats with insurance) and sent me on my way.
November 4, 2005 I thought I was having a bad case of broncitis. WRONG I had a full blown asthma attack and died. The Dr. said that 5 more minutes and they would not have been able to save me. Needless to say I am going to a different pulmo. today for a check up and to learn more on controling asthma. FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR.

did you have an inhaler on you when this attack happened?

My case sounds SO much like yours. I also have had horrible sinus problems my whole life. I can remember being around 10 years old and actually almost gagging on the postnasal drip. I mainly had the sinus drip problem but then it seemed to kind of go away during my teens. When I was in my 30's I developed a bad case of bronchitis that left me with a terrible lingering cough. After that I seemed go get bronchitis very easy, about twice a year. I went to an allergist who tested me for allergies. I am allergic to several grasses, trees, dust mites and animal dander. I was put on allergy shots once a week for 4 years. At the end of the 4 years I was retested with basically no change in my allergies! I then found out that I also had asthma! I went to two different allergist and got the same diagnosis. I have been on Advair 250/50 for about 2 years and my lung function has gotten a LITTLE better, but is still not normal. I guess I have lung damage also from all the postnasal drip and bronchitis from before. My allergist doesn't seem that concerned with me as long as my lung function stays at the current level it is. But she did tell me to always take the Advair. So our cases do sound similar. When she told me I had some irreversable damage, I freaked out!! This has worried me so much since, I am always trying to find someone with a case of asthma like mine. My symptoms are chest tightness at times, but never wheezing or asthma attacks. I currently just use Advair once a day and sometimes I skip a day if I have no symptoms. My allergist is really good about dosing my medicine according to my symptoms. She basically told me to decrease the dosage until my cough returned. I used to have a morning cough also. But now I only cough when I am sick. And I try very hard not to get sick. Sometimes a sinus infection can result in bronchitis and so I take very good care not to let it develop into that.
Cindy

this does sound a lot like my situation, the only question I have with advair is have you had any of this side effects that I keep reading about on these boards, such as anxiety or weight gain?

When I was using a higher dose (Advair 250/50) twice a day, I did seem to have more aches and pains. I also gained a little weight. I'm not saying the Advair was totally to blame. I am going through menopause also!! But since I decreased my dose to once a day, I noticed my asthma symptoms still ok without any side affects from the Advair. So I plan to stay at this dose if my asthma stays the same.

Advair has singulair in it and that's a long-acting bronchildialator that does cause you to feel jittery, just like the way it feels when you take the albuterol. good luck!

I think it depends on how severe your case is and how well managed it is without prevenatives. I think there is an American Asthma foundation or something similar where there is an online questionair about how your syptoms affect you and how often to help determine if there is a need for a daily inhailer/prevenative. There are many prevenative medications so if you are using advair faithfully without results you may eitehr need a stronger dosage of advair or something different.

good luck,
Amanda