Albuterol vs. fluticasone for managing your asthma

Key takeaways

• Albuterol is a rescue medication that relaxes airway muscles to quickly relieve asthma symptoms like wheezing and shortness of breath. It works within minutes but wears off after about 4 hours.
• Fluticasone is a controller medication that reduces chronic airway inflammation when taken daily. It helps prevent asthma symptoms over the long term and may help your lungs work normally again.
• Most people with asthma need both medications: fluticasone daily to prevent symptoms and albuterol as needed for quick relief. Talk with a healthcare professional if you’re taking albuterol more than twice a week, as this may mean your asthma isn’t well managed.

Overview

If you’ve had an asthma attack, you know how scary it can feel. Your chest gets tight. You can’t get enough air, no matter how hard you breathe. You start to wheeze and cough.

Asthma medications do a great job of managing those unpleasant symptoms. The medications fall into two types: rescue medications and controller medications.

Albuterol and fluticasone are two effective medications for treating asthma symptoms. Each can play a specific role in helping you breathe better. Let’s take a look at how these medications compare and which one may be right for you.

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What are they?

Albuterol is what’s known as a rescue medication. Rescue medications offer quick relief so that you can breathe easier. They’re for short-term relief.

Fluticasone, on the other hand, is a controller medication. Typically, you take a controller asthma medication daily and use it long term to keep your air passages healthy and open. Fluticasone is so effective that your lungs may actually start to work normally again.

Chances are your doctor will recommend that you use both albuterol and fluticasone to control your asthma symptoms.

How do they work to manage asthma symptoms?

Albuterol and fluticasone belong to different drug classes, which means they work differently to manage your symptoms.

Albuterol

Albuterol (Ventolin HFA) is a bronchodilator, meaning it relaxes your airways. It comes in a powder or liquid form inside an inhaler.

Once you breathe in the medication, it relaxes the muscles surrounding the air passages to your lungs. The best time to use albuterol is when you start coughing, wheezing, or feeling short of breath. After 1 or 2 puffs, your symptoms should improve within minutes.

You’re not typically supposed to use albuterol every day. People generally use it before or after they come into contact with an allergy trigger that sets off their symptoms. You can also take albuterol 15 to 20 minutes before exercising to avoid difficulty in breathing.

Note: Albuterol also exists as an inhalation solution that requires the use of a nebulizer, but this article only focuses on the inhaler form.

Fluticasone

Fluticasone (Flovent) is in a class of medications called corticosteroids. These anti-inflammatory steroids reduce inflammation brought about by asthma, which prevents the airways from getting tight, so you’re more likely to feel better day to day.

Fluticasone also comes in an aerosol form that you breathe in through an inhaler. It’s meant to be used every day, up to twice per day. You need fluticasone to manage your asthma over the long term.

Note: Fluticasone is also available as a nasal spray for allergies, but this article only focuses on the inhaler form.

Comparing side effects

The most common side effect of albuterol is feeling jittery. Other common side effects include:

• racing heart
• shaky hands
• tremors
• feeling hyper

It’s also important to note that if you use albuterol too long or too often, eventually, it won’t work as well on your asthma symptoms.

The side effects typically don’t last long. If you can’t tolerate the side effects of albuterol, there are other bronchodilators that can work, too. Discuss this with your doctor.

The most common side effects of fluticasone, which are rare, include:

• sore throat
• hoarseness
• headache
• oral thrush (a fungal infection in the mouth)

To prevent a sore throat or thrush, rinse out your mouth after inhaling fluticasone, these doctors suggest.

Rarer side effects include thinning hair or weight gain. Usually, that happens to people who take high doses of fluticasone for a long time. What’s more, children who use fluticasone inhalers may grow more slowly.

Which one is right for you?

Whether albuterol or fluticasone is right for you depends on how severe your asthma is.

If your asthma just acts up occasionally, you may need to use albuterol only when you feel symptoms coming on. If you have asthma attacks regularly, you’ll need fluticasone every day to prevent symptoms, plus albuterol as needed.

Combining treatments is very common in asthma treatment. Different medications work in different ways, so combining them can treat different aspects of asthma.

Medical perspective

How will a doctor determine which asthma medication may be right for me?

“A doctor will assess how often you have asthma symptoms and triggers that cause those symptoms, and they may conduct tests to assess lung function in order to determine the correct medication for you.”

— Philip Ngo, PharmD

Note: Quotes represent the opinions of our medical experts. All content is strictly informational and should not be considered medical advice.

Next steps

If you’ve received an asthma diagnosis, your doctor will likely discuss different treatments with you. Albuterol and fluticasone are both very common, safe, and effective treatments for asthma that work in different ways.

Make sure to discuss the benefits and risks of each with your doctor.

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Related articles

• How to use an albuterol inhaler
• Albuterol side effects
• Fluticasone side effects

Disclaimer: While Optum Perks strives for factual, comprehensive, and current information, this article is not a substitute for a licensed healthcare professional’s expertise. Always consult a doctor before taking or discontinuing any medication. Drug information is subject to change and may not cover all uses, directions, precautions, warnings, interactions, reactions, or adverse effects. The lack of a warning does not guarantee a drug’s safety, effectiveness, or appropriateness for all patients or specific uses.