Advair (fluticasone and salmeterol) is a prescription medication used to prevent airway spasms (called bronchospasms) caused by asthma and to treat these spasms in people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Advair comes in two forms, the Advair DiskusR and the Advair HFA inhaler. The Advair Diskus is approved for both asthma and COPD, while the Advair HFA inhaler is approved only for treating asthma.
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 a bronchospasm. It causes asthma symptoms like wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), coughing, tightness in the chest, and trouble breathing.
Advair contains two different medications -- fluticasone and salmeterol. Salmeterol is part of a class of drugs called beta-adrenergic receptor agonists, or beta agonists for short. Beta agonists stimulate beta receptors in the body, including those on the muscles around the airways. This stimulation causes the muscles to relax, which opens up the airways and allows more air to get into and through the lungs. Salmeterol is a long-acting beta agonist that is used to prevent asthma attacks (rather than to treat them).