Question on long term effects of steroidal asthma inhalers

Side effects of oral corticosteroids

Because oral corticosteroids affect your entire body instead of just a particular area, this form is the most likely to cause significant side effects. Side effects depend on the dose of medication you receive and may include:

Elevated pressure in the eyes (glaucoma)

Fluid retention, causing swelling in your lower legs

Increased blood pressure

Mood swings

Weight gain, with fat deposits in your abdomen, face and the back of your neck

When taking oral corticosteroids longer term, you may experience:

Clouding of the lens in one or both eyes (cataracts)

High blood sugar, which can trigger or worsen diabetes

Increased risk of infections

Thinning bones (osteoporosis) and fractures

Suppressed adrenal gland hormone production

Thin skin, easy bruising and slower wound healing

Side effects of inhaled corticosteroids

When using inhaled corticosteroids, some of the drug may deposit in your mouth and throat instead of making it to your lungs. This can cause:

Fungal infection in the mouth (oral thrush)

Hoarseness

If you gargle and rinse your mouth with water — don't swallow — after each puff on your corticosteroid inhaler, you may be able to avoid mouth and throat irritation.

Cheers, but it doesn't really give any info on how long it takes the body to return to normality after stopping.

Any other thoughts/info?

courtesy mayo clinic wrote:

Elevated pressure in the eyes (glaucoma)

Fluid retention, causing swelling in your lower legs

Increased blood pressure

Mood swings

Weight gain, with fat deposits in your abdomen, face and the back of your neck

When taking oral corticosteroids longer term, you may experience:

Clouding of the lens in one or both eyes (cataracts)

High blood sugar, which can trigger or worsen diabetes

Increased risk of infections

Thinning bones (osteoporosis) and fractures

Suppressed adrenal gland hormone production

Thin skin, easy bruising and slower wound healing

Fungal infection in the mouth (oral thrush)

Hoarseness

There a few possible permanent side effects:

Eyesight problems resulting from high intraocular pressure

Clouding of the lens in one or both eyes (cataracts)

osteoporosis

As for the other side effects, it may take you up to 1 yr or more to return to normal especially if you were on high dose corticosteriods. They can affect your HPA axis and throw your entire endocrine system off kilter. You can ask your doctor to perform an endocrine panel on you, including ACTH secretion, in a few months after ceasing treatment.

Excellent. Thank you for that. Much appreciated!

The Mayo clinic info posted was for oral (I m i. Swallowed) corticosteroids, not inhaled. In the inhaled form, much less of the drug reaches your bloodstream for transport to the rest of your body.

There could still be side effects like you said, but they are probably rare, and this is why they weren't listed on the med info. Here's one interesting link I found about tendon problems:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755001708000912

I had a special shoe need for my mom's diabetic feet. I was able to remove the innersoles and replace them with the ones from the podiatrist. Orthofeet the only shoes I could find that would provide support and allow for the straps to still wrap around over the thicker innersole. I still had to take them to the shoe repairman to have the Velcro moved, but he was able to customize them for a more secure fit. Great shoe for this particular need.

My brother has asthma. His doc prescribed him to buy advair diskus . We were trying to find out about side effects, but found nothing unbiased, apart from this website https://www.canadadrugsdirect.com/products/advair-diskus. It seems to provide decent info, including possible side effects.

i have a normal inhale dose of Flovent going for the last few years, 110 mcg 1x/day. I used to take Advair but not anymore.

I haven't noticed any side effects except horseness of the voice.

My doc wants to wean me off the stuff now, and since my latest target race is out of the way, i think i will start trying to do so.

I agree with the other poster who pointed to the fact that you shouldn't confuse the effects of oral with those for inhaled. That was the whole point of putting patients like us on the oral, so i understand.

I do have a bit of the endema of the lower legs, but that comes with age, too.

I have no reduced tolerance to exercise volume, no weight gain, no muscle loss, etc.

Hope this helps.

I don’t have time to explain but look on Pubmed if you must: get your vitamin D levels checked.