Food and Drug Administration ordered new labels

The government is issuing new restrictions on some widely used long-acting asthma drugs, saying they should never be used without other asthma controllers to prevent a lifethreatening risk.

Four medications Foradil, Serevent, Advair and Symbicort contain an ingredient that relaxes muscles in the lung's airways.

While they're very helpful for some patients, the way they work also may mask symptoms that can trigger serious asthma attacks.

It's a particular concern for children.

The Food and Drug Administration ordered new labels saying the drugs should be used for the shortest possible duration and only together with other medications such as inhaled steroids that work differently, by relieving airway inflammation.

[Tammy2009]

I have another comment on the post FDA and advair which explains why long-acting bronchodilators shouldn't be used without anti-inflammatories in some manner.  

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Asthma/FDA-and-Advair/show/1176751

This is a very important point that not all doctors follow or know.  

Make sure you know your drugs, work each one works and if their is any interactions between them you need to be aware of (like lowered potassium levels from almost all asthma medications and the more you take the greater the risk).