stopping Advair

[ccctalks]

Hello - I was diagnosed with asthma for the first time in my life a year ago, age 50.  No allergies, no reason for the sudden 'asthma'.  My doctor has never been 100% sure it was true asthma but put me on Advair while I was sick.  Advair is the only thing I use - 100/50 - and have had no symptoms whatsoever for several months now.  I should also mention that the rescue inhalers I was given never really worked for me.

I went to a new internist a couple of months ago and he too was a little skeptical of the asthma diagnosis, especially since there is no family history and my age.  He went on to tell me that he has had patients who were treated for asthma when what they really had was a bronchospasm, that these people would be put on Advair for awhile, taken off the Advair when they were better, and never had another problem and were fine.  Now, both this doctor and my pulmonologist have suggested eventually taking me off the Advair to see how I do but up until now I've been a little scared to so that, for obvious reasons.  Well, after seeing this internist, I decided to go ahead and try as I decided I would never know if I could go without it until I actually do.

I have now gone without it for a week with no problems.  Would it be safe to assume that this is not asthma then?  If it was, would I have experienced a return of symptoms before now?

Thank-you so much....

[wendy3812]

hi! ive used advair diskus off and on for about 3 yrs. what iam going to tell you is VERY IMPORTANT. i stopped taking advair (250) because i ran out and couldnt pay for it. i thought id be alright, but i got a cold. a week later i could barely talk because i hd to breathe every second i could.. so i went to the ER and was hospitalized for 5 days. they didnt know what was wrong with me, they didnt know if i was going to make it. it took my body 5 days to go from an O2 stat of 75 to 97. dont be an idiot and do what i did. i almost killed myself and had no idea. if you dont have your health, youve got almost nothing. listen to your body! advair was wonderful for me, but beware of steroids and suddenly stopping them

[National Jewish]

Asthma can start at any age even when there is no family history of asthma.  Not everyone with asthma has allergies.  Asthma is an ongoing lung problem with

[starion]

Hi!  There are folks who tend to only have asthma when they're run down--my kids are among them.  When they have a cold or their resistance is down, the asthma kicks up.  Folks have been diagnosed with "sudden asthma" at many different ages.  If you're fine between episodes and you & your docs agree that you don't need any medication between doses, that's great.
If you want a more definitive diagnosis as to whether or not you have asthma, you might ask your docs about a methacholine test; this would help establish whether or not you have asthma.
Starion