Have you put on weight recently? Was it around the time you started a steroid based asthma inhaler? Your medicine may be the culprit.
I developed adult-onset asthma at nineteen, and was put on Vanceril (which is now off the market), an asthma inhaler designed to prevent asthma attacks from happening in the first place. Like most of these “maintenance” inhalers, the active ingredient in Vanceril was a steroid, like cortisone. At the time I put on about five pounds – a surprising amount for my “I can eat anything and not gain weight” 19 year old body. And it didn’t really look like I had gained weight – my face, stomach, and hips just looked kind of “puffy. This was swelling due to the inhaler. But it was a fair sacrifice in order for my lungs to be protected.
After the manufacturer stopped making Vanceril, my doctor put me on Flovent 44 – the lowest dose of Flovent. Flovent has more steroids than the dose of Vanceril that I was on, so again, I put on a few pounds, but it was still tolerable. As time went by, I started having a few asthma flare-ups, and my doctor increased my dose to Flovent 110, the middle strength dose.
Last year I had a severe flu and still was having really bad attacks a few months later, so my doctor put me on Flovent 220. Within a period of weeks I packed on 20 pounds. I was ravenously hungry, especially at night. This is a side-effect of high-dose steroids. I tried controlling the weight with diet and exercise, to no avail. When I tried to go back to the lower dose of the inhaler, my asthma flared up again, even months later. I started experiencing other health problems – my joints hurt because of the extra weight, my blood pressure went up, my adrenal gland was straining, and my blood tests were abnormal on various readings – all due to either the weight or the Flovent itself.
Because of this my doctor put me on another medication which helped to control my asthma, and I was able to cut my dose of the inhaler in half, which led to an immediate drop of five pounds, and with diet and exercise, I’m taking the weight off slowly but surely. What concerned me the most is that the steroids changed the shape of my body – I didn’t look like me but bigger, my body looked completely different. If you gain weight simply because you hit the French Fries too hard you still keep the shape of your body, because the fat cells are distributed in the same places. It takes something being medically wrong for your body to change shapes – e.g., if you were always an hourglass shape, you shouldn’t change to an apple-shape without something being amiss. If this happens to you, see your doctor as soon as you can to evaluate if your inhaler needs to be changed, or if you have another medical condition entirely.
Maintenance inhalers for asthma save lives every day – I’m sure it’s saved mine. However, if you have gained weight because of your inhaler, talk to your doctor about changing doses or type of medication. The food cravings and weight gain stop relatively fast after lowering your dosage. Also consider starting Singulair if you are not already on it – it has done wonders for me and a lot of people I know, and I haven’t had any adverse side effects from it. You may be able to either decrease the amount of steroid inhaler you have to take to control your symptoms, or you may be able to discontinue your inhaler completely. However, don’t attempt any of this without consulting your doctor – asthma is far too serious a medical issue to try to control on your own. Be patient, and make sure you aren’t sacrificing your lung health for your appearance. But weight gain can lead to other health problems, so make sure to work with your doctor until you find a maintenance program that is right for you.
