Can the advair suppress my cough with asthma?

Posted on Wed, 5 Mar 2014

Question: Last week I switched over to Advair 500/50 for my asthma. Last night I had tight chest and shortness of breath, but not with my usual symptom (for when my asthma is acting up) of coughing. Can the Advair suppress my cough even though I was having an asthma attack?

Answered by Dr. Saumya Mittal (2 hours later)

Brief Answer: explaining asthma Detailed Answer: Hi XXXXXXX I think you need to understand that the asthma need not always be associated with cough. In fact very frequently, cough is impaired in asthma. What happens is that in asthma the airways are narrowed. So the air is not easily taken into lungs, and similarly there is a difficulty in letting out the inspired air. So overall the lung's air volume is low functionally. Now when you cough, try to do it now, you always take a sharp breath in to allow sufficient air which can be coughed out. If we associate the two, if the lung volume is low, like in an attack, the cough might be impaired. And to answer your question directly, no Advair has no antitussive properties. I will also suggest you meet your physician for a prescription of a hand held device like an MDI for sos purposes when you are having an attack. Salbutamol is a better drug compared to Advair. Hope that answers you Any further questions are invited Dr Saumya Mittal, MD

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad