What Is Fluticasone and Salmeterol Used For?

What Is Fluticasone and Salmeterol Used For?

Fluticasone and salmeterol (Advair^®) is a prescription medication used to prevent airway spasms (called bronchospasms) caused by asthma. The medicine is also used to treat these spasms in people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Fluticasone and salmeterol comes in two forms, the Advair Diskus^® and the Advair^® HFA inhaler. The Diskus is approved for treating both asthma and COPD, while the inhaler is approved only for treating asthma.

 

Fluticasone and Salmeterol for Asthma or COPD

Asthma is a chronic disease that affects your airways, which are the tubes that carry air into and out of your lungs. When you have asthma, the inside walls of your airways are inflamed (swollen). The inflammation makes the airways very sensitive, and they tend to react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating. When the airways react, they narrow and constrict the airflow to your lungs. This is called bronchospasm. It causes asthma symptoms like wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), coughing, tightness in the chest, and trouble breathing.

 

While there is no asthma cure, asthma can be controlled. There are many different asthma treatments, including fast-acting "rescue medications" for treating an asthma attack and longer-acting "controller medications" used to prevent asthma attacks. Fluticasone and salmeterol is a controller medication, used to help prevent asthma attacks (but not to treat an attack). Everyone who takes fluticasone and salmeterol should also have a rescue medication available (such as an albuterol inhaler) for emergency situations.

 

Asthma is not the only cause of bronchospasms. The Advair Diskus (but not the inhaler) is approved to treat bronchospasms due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) associated with chronic bronchitis.