My 9yr old son has been on the 250/50 for aprox 1 year.  He has gained 32 pounds since he started taking this medicine.  His asthma medication consists of the Advair, Singulair, and Zyrtec.  So far - I can only link the weight gain to the Advair.  There has been no change in diet.  He is still and active child.  Due to this increase - he is now being teased for the increase in his size.  I do not believe that any 9 year old should be talking about how he wants to have plastic surgery. I have discussed this with his pediatrician who looked at me like I was crazy for even suggesting that this medicine could be the source of this change.  Even the pharmacist thought I was crazy!  The pediatrician did reduce the strength.  I will now wait to see if this will help.  Are there any suggestions as to what the next step should be? 

Jaime

12/ 2/11 11:54am

It is such a relief to hear someone else experiencing the same symptoms AND response from your medical practitioners.  My daughter started advair when she was 8 years old on a low dosage.  Her dosage was raised when she was 9 and within 2 months she gained 15 pounds.  Her pediatrician told me there was no correlation.  She is now 12, her weight gain continues and her self esteem goes down.  At 8 years old she was rated in the 20th percentile for weight and now at 12 she is ranked in the 70th percentile for weight.  Her weight gain is not water gain, it is fatty tissue in her abdomen, arms, legs, and face.  She recently showed me stretch marks on her bottom, although she has hardly grown in height.  I have 2 other children who remain in the 15th to 20th percentile in weight (indicating family heredity of slim stature) and they are not on inhalers.  Where do we go as parents to help our children with their asthma symptoms, but at the same time not reduce their health and quality of life.  I continue to bring this up to her pediatrician and other healthcare specialist, but I feel we are still getting nowhere.  The most common answer I get is that it is sometimes typical of girls to gain weight in adolosence, but at 8, 9 and 10 years old ( when the primary weight gain occurred) she was just a little girl, and not even a preteen yet. 

I think there is really something to this. Recently, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol. I am a 28 year old female who is overweight. I feel that I do have some issues to work on for diet and exercise, but I really felt like my cholesterol was just so high, that it was really surprising. I went online and started looking at the side effects of the meds I'm on. Through research, I found out that corticosteroids (Advair being one) can cause high cholesterol. After stumbling upon the facts that they may also increase appetite/weight gain I started to do the math. During my teens and early twenties I never had serious weight issues, the year I started taking Advair also happens to correspond with the year I gained 30 lbs. It was a terrible year. 30 lbs is a lot of weight to gain in 12 months. I never even thought it may have had to do with the starting of Advair. No I see that there could be a connection. Please, talk to your doctor about this, keep a mental note of the weight you are now, the weight you were when you started taking it. If you do see a difference, TELL YOUR DOCTOR. The medical industry really needs to re-examine these side effects. If we are able to breath, we shouldn't have to sacrifice other aspects of our health.