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Kristina's Story

I have been on Flovent for asthma for 10 years now. I am 34 and have lost the best years of my life due to Flovent.

I started having problems with my weight not too long after the steroids; I have always been fit and I watched my weight slowly climb up and up. My moods began to change for the worse and I became aggressive and hostile, anxious and depressed. I used to think maybe I was bipolar. My doctor did not do anything but put me on Paxil, Prozac and other unhelpful drugs that kept me addicted.

Years later, my entire endocrine system is freaked up. I have Hashimoto's and newly dxed this May. I have put on 75 pounds, all fluid. My back is breaking most of the time; I have bruises that rarely heal, can never sleep without the help of allergy medication; I look like a beached whale and have stretch marks on my belly.

I emailed a Johns Hopkins doctor and he thinks I was exposed to a high level of steroids for too long and I have underactive adrenals. He doesn't take out-of-state Medicaid, so I can't see him. I have been to a handful of doctors in my area, none of them have any answers and they just write me off as a young woman with mental problems.

Finally, last week, I went to the emergency room for the 3rd time as the swelling was just unbearable. Different hospital this time because the last 2 times I went to the hospital, I was dxed with having anxiety. No treatment for the high blood pressure, the edema or the low potassium there.

The new doctor that saw me last week actually called an endo and made an appointment for me. I go next week and I am also seeing an internalist next week.

Am I on Flovent still, you ask? No freaking way. I took myself off that junk 6 weeks ago and I am just taking off inches by the week. My clothes are getting so big for me, I have to wear a belt to keep them from falling down. Have not lost a pound, though. The edema is so bad, I am afraid I will end up on bedrest.

I am looking into getting a lawyer and filing a lawsuit against my primary. She still doesn't think the Flovent did all this to me. So who did it, the Easter Bunny? Finding a new primary is on my agenda, too.

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