asthma is NOT reversible it is a lung dsease. you can strengthen up your lungs and you can improve symptoms of it like if allergies,exercise,extreme cold/heat cause flare ups then you can control those to lessen the severity of asthma but asthma is something that is not reversible you can go years without symptoms and then one day have a full blown asthma attack.there is No such thing as outgrowing asthma as recent studies show.as for COPD it can be mistaken for asthma or vice versa COPD is a breathing/lung problem like asthma

Jerry,

I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter.  This is truly tragic, since the dangers of Advair have been known for a number of years now, as you probably have discovered.   

I took Advair for a couple of weeks (free sample), a few years ago, and thought my lungs felt "twitchy," as if I were always on the verge of having an asthma attack -- so I stopped it.  It was only later (2004) that I found out about the dangers of Advair -- really, Serevent, the LABA (long-acting beta agonist) component of Advair -- via the testimony of Dr. David Graham of the FDA (one who believes LABAs should be taken off the market), before a Senate committee, which I viewed on C-SPAN (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/07/health/main659529.shtml). 

Indeed, more recently (2010), the FDA has questioned whether clinical trials should be performed to determine whether there is a safety risk with Advair and similar combination drugs containing a LABA.  Dr. Graham and another colleague have shown that there already is enough evidence to conclude that Advair and similar drugs pose a safety risk, including death.  I wrote about this in these posts: 

http://www.healthcentral.com/asthma/c/962/113137/comments?desc=asthma-effectiveness#c246153

http://www.healthcentral.com/asthma/c/962/113137/comments?desc=asthma-effectiveness#c246416

Also, from http://www.naturalnews.com/020107.html

Adding an anti-inflammatory drug to a long-acting beta-agonist adds little benefit, report the Salpeters [two of the authors of a meta analysis (statistical analysis of a number of clinical trials)] . Advair [my emphasis], for example, (the fourth bestselling drug in the world with $5.6 billion in annual sales [in 2005]), combines salmeterol with an anti-inflammatory drug to provide some protection against bronchial inflammation associated with beta-agonists. But hospitalizations still doubled for patients inhaling a long-acting beta-agonist combined with an anti-inflammatory drug compared with asthma patients taking a placebo and an anti-inflammatory drug by itself.

[I should add that deaths were reported with the use of Advair, as well.]

As to your claim, Jerry, that powder is to blame for the dangers of Advair, I should point out that Advair is also available in a "traditional" medicated-dose inhaler (MDI) (http://www.advair.com/asthma/if-you-are-taking-advair/using-the-advair-hfa-inhaler.html), so I don't believe the powder is to blame, but rather the LABA component of Advair.  I'm sure this is cold comfort to you, however.  Relovair, in fact, scares me even more (my opinion only), since it is designed to be used once a day, not twice a day, like Advair, and thus, the drugs (most alarmingly, the LABA component) should stay in your system longer.

Jerry,

Thank you for your kind words.  I only wish (of course) there were some way to bring your daughter back.  Your account truly shook me, as I figured it could have been me.  While I can sympathize with those like Rick, who apparently have been helped immensely by Advair and similar combination drugs, I feel the drug companies have done everything in their power to suppress the "bad news" about these drugs -- even fighting tooth and nail to keep the "black box" warnings from being issued -- just to protect their profits, of course. 

I can only thank those like the Salpeters, and Dr. Graham, who have helped illuminate the dangers posed by Advair and similar drugs (I would thank them in person, if I could -- and thank you for telling me of Dr. Edwin Salpeter's passing; he truly performed a service to humanity) -- because while statistically, the risk posed by these drugs may be small, they are real -- and no one should take these drugs even once, without knowing the risk they are taking.  I, myself, took -- and my doctor prescribed -- Advair, without knowing these risks, since they hadn't been brought to the attention, yet, of the general public, since at that time, Advair didn't have its "black box" warning.

Even now with the black box warnings, it is evident right here on these boards, how willing people are to "sweep under rug" any dangers posed by Advair and similar drugs, given how many people have taken them, apparently with great success.  If you just happen to be one of the "unlucky" ones, though, too bad -- as any risks are clearly downplayed, and almost pooh-poohed -- induced by the groupthink, I believe -- promulgated by the drug companies determined to protect their profits. 

As an aside, it appears that clicking on the links I have provided in my post above doesn't work; copying and pasting them to your browser, though, should work, as they are not (as of this writing) dead links.