Expert: Kevin Smith - 7/29/2009

Question
I ran out of advair. and was told i couldnt see my doctor for an appt until mid august. if you know how advair works, you know that is indeed too long for me to wait. so i went to the er. got a script for advair. took it to walgreesn. few seconds later i was called back to the counter and was told that my insurance didn't cover it. the alternative was flovent. now i have been taking advair since late 2006. how effective will flovent be for me. is it the same as taking advair. is it like a low grade advair. will my lungs take to it being that it is new. is this something i should even worry about?

Answer
While Advair is sometimes, perhaps even commonly substituted with Flovent, they're not quite the same drug, obviously.

Advair, as you likely know, is fluticasone ( a steroid ) and salmeterol ( a long-acting broncodilator )as a combined inhaler. Flovent is only fluticasone. The basic difference is, with Flovent, you are getting only an inhaled corticosteroid, while with Advair, you're getting both the corticosteroid and a bronchodilator.

While Flovent is going to give you basically the same drug, steroid-wise, as the Advair, you are going to be losing out on the bronchodilator - that may, or may not, have quite an affect on you.

Personally, I find the bronchodilator to be quite important to me. If you have any doubt, once-so-ever about the medication you're being given, I would consult a doctor. Do you have a walk-in clinic in your area? You may wish to consult with a doctor about taking extra salbutamol/albuterol ( or other bronchodilator ) in addition to your Flovent. While they are considered 'fast-acting', they still may be useful as a supplement therapy. Ideally, however, you need a long-acting bronchodilator to append your Flovent in order to come close to your Advair. Examples of these would include: Formoterol (sold as Oxeze® or Foradil®) or Salmeterol (sold as Serevent®) - these, in addition to your Flovent, would give you a much closer estimate to your Advair.

Good luck - please try to check-in with a doctor of some sort to see if you need the long-acting broncodilator as well as the steroid until your next regular visit!