Drugs to prevent or treat exercise-induced asthma

There are three types of medications to prevent or treat the symptoms of exercise-induced asthma. Your doctor can help determine the best treatment for you according to your asthma condition and type of activity or exercise you do.
The first drug is short acting beta2 agonist , also called bronchodilators . This drug can prevent symptoms and should be taken between 10 and 15 minutes before exercise . This drug prevents symptoms for up to 4 hours and can also be used to treat and reverse the symptoms of exercise-induced asthma.
The second drug is a long-acting bronchodilator . Currently available only one type of this drug, salmeterol . It is necessary to take between 30 and 60 minutes before physical activity and only once every 12 hours . Salmeterol can prevent asthma symptoms for about 10 or 12 hours. This medicine should only be used to prevent symptoms and to alleviate never happen because once does not provide any quick relief .
The third type of drug is cromolyn sodium or nedocromil . You should also take a 15 or 20 minutes before exercise . There is evidence that taking these drugs prevents the slow response of exercise-induced asthma that some people have. Furthermore, these drugs should only be used as a preventive measure because they do not relieve symptoms once they start. Some people use one of these drugs in combination with a short-term bronchodilator.