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Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there?
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Good morning ladies!

My doctor recently started me on singulair and advair for my asthma. Today was my first day with Advair. I'm really nervous about it. I've heard great things and not so great things. All over the internet you can read how advair makes you gain weight and makes your voice deepen. Is this true?

Also singulair has been in the news a lot linked to depression and anxiety. Has anyone experienced these things?

I would love to just hear your basic take on these two drugs as 1) a women and 2) an athlete.

If you'd like you can PM me about it!

Thank you so much! I really value your opinions!

Swimmingly,
Kate
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [katemdonald] [ In reply to ]
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I have been using both medications for over three years and have never had any problems with either. As an athlete, I can tell you that forgetting my Advair tends to lead to a noticeable decrease in my ability to push myself towards my upper limits due to a significant inability to suck in enough air. As a women, for me the biggest issue with Advair is the link of all inhaled corticosteroids to decreased bone density. In fact, I stopped using it for a while because of that. But, after several months of wheezing and struggling for air during my workouts, or even going up the stairs, and as the allergy season fully kicked in, I decided that dropping dead from lack of air probably isn't a good idea either. I do try to stay at the lowest dose possible (100/50 for the Advair), which can be tough when my allergies are at their worst. From my experience (N=1), if you need the medicine, the benefits outweigh the risks.
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [katemdonald] [ In reply to ]
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I take Singulair and took Advair in the past. No issues with Singulair and my doc took me off Advair after a couple of years since he doesn't like people to be on it long term. No issues when I was on it though.

clm

clm
Nashville, TN
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [ironclm] [ In reply to ]
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Thank you for responding. I really don't ever take medication so this was a HUGE step for me.

I realized it was probably time to get serious when I was out going for a run and I was wheezing so loud that I sounded like an angry goose!

Thanks!
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [katemdonald] [ In reply to ]
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not a womens, but..

I was on Singulair for a while, heard the same things about it, but could not find any reputable documentation. Lots of anecdote though. The Advair gave me unexplained chest pains, so stopped that ;-)
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [katemdonald] [ In reply to ]
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Five years ago, my doctor put me on Advair to treat my asthma. It worked amazingly well - I was able to run without any problems even on an extremely hot humid day. However, soon after, I developed really bad cramping, first starting with my hands. Then it eventually spread to my legs, arms and basically all over my body, particularly after a hard workout. Spasms would last 5-10 minutes with cramping moving from one muscle group to another. It was horrible. I stopped the medication, and the worst of cramping did go away. At the time, my doctor doubted that Advair was causing these spasms, but now you can find many articles that link severe muscle cramps with Advair.
I did get some chemical analysis on my muscle cells, and apparently I had significant calcium and magnesium deficiency. I am convined that Advair caused this.
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [Undertrained] [ In reply to ]
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Thank you for all the input!

I really appreciate it.

When you were experiencing these cramps/spasms were you taking any multivitamin to offseit the calcium and magnesium depletion caused by the Advair? Another user posted regarding the affects of advair on bone mass. Obviously you were doing your "30 minutes of weight bearing activity" during use.

I am currently taking the lowest dosage available and it's only been for a few days. I opted to try it for one month and reevaluate.

Thank you for posting!
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [katemdonald] [ In reply to ]
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Unfortunately, my doctor told me that types of magnesium and calcium in daily multivitamins are pretty useless as your body is unlikely to absorb them. Most multivitamins have calcium carbonate - calcium needs to be bound to acid for your body to absorb them well, and calcium carbonate is hard for your body to digest. This is apparently the reason why calcium in milk is good - it is calcium lactate (acid). Calcium citrate and calcium maleate are two other combinations that are easily absorbed by your body. In addition, I was told that you have to take calcium pills throughout the day in order to maximize absorption (with food). I also could not take magnesium with calcium - so when I was taking these pills, I had to remind myself four times a day to take different calcium / magnesium pills. I don't even like taking daily multivitamin, so this was really annoying.

My cramps were really awful (unable to move, could not stand hen I had them on my legs, etc.). Continuing Advair was not an option for me as it really impaired my daily life. Good news is that cramps stopped pretty soon after I stopped taking Advair. To this day, I avoid taking any asthma medication with corticosteriods in them (sadly they are the ones that work the best against asthma).
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [HeidiC] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
which can be tough when my allergies are at their worst.[/quote]
if you have allergies this bad you should also be on an antihistamine. There is a large corelation between allergies and asthma.

on a side note, I can't believe I posted in the WF.

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [katemdonald] [ In reply to ]
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I took Advair and Singulair for a few years while racing (stopped now with the pregnancy) and the only thing I noticed with the Advair was a bout of easily bruising when I first started. We then reduced dosage and the problem went away. I don't recall noticing anything attributable to the Singulair. The Advair certainly helped with the asthma and reduced the severity of EIA attacks during races.

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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [desert dude] [ In reply to ]
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<<on a side note, I can't believe I posted in the WF. >>

I greatly appreciate that you would make this type of sacrifice in an attempt to save my life ;-). I do add Astelin to the mix when my allergies are bad. It's the only antihistamine that's effective for me. Claritin stopped working, Zyrtec never helped, Benadryl makes me sleep, and Singulair (not an antihistamine, I know) alone isn't always enough--all of which makes me sound fairly pathetic, which perhaps I am.
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [katemdonald] [ In reply to ]
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I'm only on Advair if I have a cold,short time only.Make sure you rinse out your mouth after inhaling,since it can cause a yeast infection in your mouth.
Singulair can cause some more bleeding during your period.

CA 70.3 '08 WILDFLOWER HIM '08


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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [imhooked] [ In reply to ]
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I'm on Singulair and have no problems, but Advair did make me gain weight. Granted, I have pre-existing hormone issues unrelated to allergies/asthma, so my doctor figured it was because of the combination of medicine and my already crappy body! I would suggest just watching your body more closely so you can pick up on any changes. Another note about my experience is that I was started on the highest dose (and still have no idea why the dr. would do that) so a lesser dose may not have the same side effects.
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Re: Any Advair and/or Singulair users out there? [katemdonald] [ In reply to ]
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I recently found out through allergy testing that I am allergic to: dust, horses, dogs, cats, pollen.....basically the world around me. I also have asthma. My doctor perscribed Advair and singulair. The Advair never helped me that much, mostly the powder just stuck to the back of my throat. So we changed over to Symbicort inhaler and still used singulair. The amount of steriods inhaled from Symbicort don't go systemic so I didn't have any weight gain or anything like that, I also experienced fewer cold like symptoms this winter than ever. The trick is to remember to use your inhaled steriod everyday so that the inflamation and constriction is kept consistantly at bay. After I was on these two drugs combined consistantly for about three weeks I was able to give my rescue inhaler a serious brake. I am training as comfortably now as I ever have (at the ripe old age of 36). And I don't have the classic weezing and coughing that I use to.
Good Luck - oh ... Symbicort 80/4.5 and Singulair 5mg.
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