Do you take Advair? Here's the side effects

This week's doctor's column tells about a woman who experienced thinning skin from the use of Advair for her asthma. Her lung specialist had insisted that the Advair wasn't responsible for her bruising, and deep gashes resulting from just a bump.

The newspaper doctor was surprised that a specialist could be unaware that Advair contains steroids and that steriods can affect the skin. The official prescribing information lists bruising and wounds as potential adverse reactions. Other dangers are higher risks of cataracts, glaucoma and penumonia.

But do doctors read that information? With all the new medications coming on the market, do they have the time to read all that information?

We know they could, if they considered research a part of their duties. But do they? Or are they so anxious to run the next patient through and collect the fee that research gets shoved aside?

I keep harping on this - but we really do all have responsibility for our own bodies. It's our duty to ourselves to really read those package inserts, or to go on line and look for the side effects.

Not all people experience the side effects, because we each have a different body. But if we know what they are, then we know to stop taking the medication if we begin to experience them.

Leaving your health in someone else's hands is just plain goofy.

So I say it again: read.