Besides weight loss, other symptoms of reduced blood flow to your stomach or intestine can include:. See your doctor right away if you have unexplained weight loss or any of these other symptoms after taking Imitrex. Taking medication to treat headaches too often can lead to medication overuse headache, also called rebound headache.
This occurs when you have migraine attacks or cluster headaches every day, or more often than usual. Taking pain relievers of any kind on 10 or more days per month can lead to medication overuse headache. And taking too much Imitrex, or taking it too often, can also cause this problem. Record when you have migraine or cluster headaches, how you treat them, and if the treatment worked.
If your migraine or cluster headaches get worse, or happen more often than usual, talk with your doctor about ways to prevent them.
You may feel pain, pressure, tightness, or heaviness in your chest, neck, or jaw after taking a dose of Imitrex.
These sensations can feel intense, but they typically improve quickly. Talk with your doctor if you have pain, pressure, tightness, or heaviness in your chest, neck, or jaw after taking Imitrex.
They can suggest ways to help you feel better, such as lowering your dosage or switching medications. On rare occasions, these sensations could be symptoms of heart problems, such as a heart attack. Nausea is a common symptom of migraine. Some people find that taking Imitrex helps reduce the nausea that they have with their migraine, as well relieving the headache.
But some people may have nausea as a side effect of taking Imitrex. In clinical studies , people who used the Imitrex nasal spray had slightly more nausea than those who used a placebo a treatment containing no active drug. This could be because the Imitrex nasal spray can cause an unpleasant taste in your mouth. If you have nausea with Imitrex, talk with your doctor. They may be able to suggest ways to relieve this side effect.
Typically, your doctor will start you on a low dosage. Your doctor will ultimately prescribe the smallest dosage that provides the desired effect. The following information describes dosages that are commonly used or recommended. However, be sure to take the dosage your doctor prescribes for you.
Your doctor will determine the best dosage to fit your needs. You should only take it if you get a migraine or cluster headache. Imitrex tablets are available in strengths of 25 milligrams mg , 50 mg, and mg. The tablets are taken by mouth. The Imitrex nasal spray comes in strengths of 5 mg and 20 mg. The nasal spray device contains a single dose that you spray into one nostril only. Cartridges for the pen come in strengths of 4 mg and 6 mg. The Imitrex vial is available in a strength of 6 mg.
It contains a single dose of liquid solution for use with a syringe. To treat migraine with Imitrex tablets taken by mouth, your doctor may prescribe a dose of 25 mg, 50 mg, or mg. The second dose should be taken at least 2 hours after your first dose. Imitrex tablets may also be used if your migraine returns after an initial Imitrex injection. To treat migraine with Imitrex nasal spray, your doctor may prescribe a dose of 5 mg, 10 mg, or 20 mg.
To treat a migraine attack, your doctor may prescribe a dose of 1 mg to 6 mg of Imitrex given by subcutaneous injection. This is an injection under the skin. Other doses will need to be given by syringe using liquid solution from a vial. The second dose should be taken at least 1 hour after your first dose. Only the Imitrex injection is used to treat cluster headaches. The recommended dosage for this use is 6 mg, given by subcutaneous injection. You can take Imitrex to treat up to four migraine or cluster headaches a month.
This could mean taking Imitrex 4 days in a row or spread out throughout the month. Taking medication to treat headaches too often can actually make your headaches worse. It can lead to medication overuse headache, which is also called rebound headache. This occurs when you get headaches more often than usual from taking your medication too often. If you have frequent migraine attacks or cluster headaches, talk with your doctor about ways to prevent them. If you have migraine attacks or cluster headaches more than four times a month, talk with your doctor about ways to prevent them.
Imitrex is FDA-approved to treat migraine. The Imitrex injection is also FDA-approved to treat cluster headaches. Migraine causes a severe, throbbing headache that can last several hours or even days. Cluster headaches happen over a few days, weeks or months, and are usually followed by periods without headaches.
Migraine and cluster headaches are more than just severe headaches. They are neurological conditions that affect certain blood vessels and nerves in the brain. However, with both conditions, headaches happen due to widening or swelling of blood vessels in the brain. Triptans like Imitrex work by stimulating serotonin receptors docking stations found on blood vessels in the brain.
This causes these blood vessels to narrow, which helps relieve the migraine or cluster headache. Imitrex may also block activity in the trigeminal nerve. This is the nerve that allows you to feel sensation in your head and face. Imitrex also relieves symptoms associated with migraine, such as nausea and sensitivity to light and sound.
How long it takes Imitrex to start working depends on the form you take. However, most people find their migraine or cluster headache is much improved within 2 hours of taking a dose. Imitrex tablets typically start to work within 30 minutes, while the nasal spray can start to work in about 15 minutes. Both forms can take up to 2 hours to have their full effect. The Imitrex injection can start working within 5 to 10 minutes. It usually reaches its full effect within 1 hour.
Imitrex will work for a few hours after you take a dose. However, its effect will gradually lessen as the drug is broken down by your body. It can take about 10 to 12 hours before Imitrex is fully out of your system. Narcotics are strong, opioid-based pain relievers, such as morphine.
NSAIDs are pain relievers, such as ibuprofen , that reduce inflammation swelling. Imitrex is a type of drug called a triptan. It narrows swollen blood vessels in the brain. Unlike narcotics and NSAIDs, it only relieves the pain associated with migraine or cluster headaches. Controlled substances are drugs that have a high potential for being misused. They also have a high risk for people becoming dependent on the drug. This means your body needs the drug to feel normal.
Because of these risks, there are special rules around how controlled substances are prescribed and dispensed. However, if you take Imitrex too often, it can lead to medication overuse headache. This is also called a rebound headache. A medication overuse headache occurs when taking too much Imitrex causes you to get migraine or cluster headaches every day, or more often than usual.
It can lead to a cycle of taking extra Imitrex to relieve these headaches, which in turn causes more headaches. Talk with your doctor if you find you need to take it more often than that. Your doctor can help you break the cycle of medication overuse. They may also recommend ways to help prevent migraine. Some people may find that blood thinners such as warfarin Coumadin help relieve their migraines.
However, taking too much Imitrex or taking it too often could make your headaches worse. This can lead to medication overuse rebound headaches. When this occurs, you get migraine or cluster headaches every day, or more often than usual. In rare cases, taking Imitrex can cause serious side effects that could seem like your migraine or cluster headache is getting worse.
These serious side effects include bleeding in your brain and very high blood pressure. If your headache gets worse after taking a dose of Imitrex, call your doctor right away. You should check with your doctor about taking Imitrex before surgery.
Imitrex works by narrowing your blood vessels, and it can sometimes cause changes to your blood pressure. This could be dangerous during surgery. Talk with your doctor if you have a surgery scheduled. They can tell you if you should stop taking Imitrex in the days before the surgery.
You may take Imitrex with certain other drugs to treat or prevent migraine or cluster headaches. However, you should only take Imitrex with other drugs if your doctor recommends it.
These may include:. Taking pain relievers of any kind too often can lead to medication overuse headache. This occurs when you have migraines or cluster headaches every day, or more often than usual. If you use pain relievers to treat migraine or cluster headaches 10 or more days a month, talk with your doctor.
If you have nausea with your migraine, your doctor may recommend taking nausea medications, such as:. If you get frequent migraine or cluster headaches, your doctor may prescribe medication that you take on a regular basis to help prevent headaches. Examples of medications you may take to prevent migraine or cluster headaches include:.
Other drugs are available that can treat your condition. Some may be a better fit for you than others. They can tell you about other medications that may work well for you.
Note: Some of the drugs listed here are used off-label to treat these specific conditions. You may wonder how Imitrex compares with other medications that are prescribed for similar uses. Here we look at how Imitrex and Maxalt are alike and different.
Imitrex and Maxalt are both FDA-approved to treat migraine with or without aura in adults. Maxalt can also be used in children ages 6 to 17 years. The Imitrex injection is also approved to treat cluster headaches in adults. Neither drug should be used to prevent migraine or cluster headaches. Maxalt comes as a tablet that you swallow.
It also comes as a tablet that dissolves on your tongue, called Maxalt-MLT. With both Imitrex and Maxalt, you take a dose when you have migraine. For adults, if you take one dose and still have migraine symptoms 2 hours later, you can take a second dose.
Imitrex and Maxalt have some similar side effects and others that vary. Imitrex, Maxalt vs. Relpax, Zomig vs. Imitrex, Frova vs. Amerge, Imitrex vs. Maxalt vs. Axert vs. These are the triptans for migraine. There are 8 triptan types within the triptans medication class and include Imitrex Sumatriptan vs.
Maxalt Rizatriptan vs. Relpax Eletriptan vs. Zomig Zolmitriptan vs. Frova Frovatriptan vs. Amerge Naratriptan vs. Axert Almotriptan vs.
So what are the best triptans to use? However, they often have many side effects for patients and eventually the migraine specific triptans were developed for aborting migraine. Since when Sumatriptan first became available , the triptans have been the first and only migraine specific abortive medications available up until when two new classes of migraine specific abortive medications have FINALLY become available with the gepants Ubrelvy, Nurtec and ditans Reyvow.
These new migraine abortive medications can be read about in more detail here. The first triptan developed was sumatriptan in and since that time there have been a total of 8 triptan options to choose from. So how do the triptans work? They work by activating agonist the serotonin sub-receptor 5-HT1B. The result of activating this receptor is that it helps to constrict narrow the dilated inflamed pain-producing meningeal blood vessels which occurs during a migraine attack.
The 5-HT1B receptors are also present in the brainstem, and likely play a role in modulating the electrical event of a migraine. Triptans also work by activating agonist the serotonin sub-receptor 5-HT1D. The result of activating this receptor is that they stop the trigeminal nerves from releasing a variety of inflammatory proteins around the brain and blood vessels which normally leads to pain during a migraine attack.
This also interferes with normal pain processing between the brainstem and the brain helps to block this electrical transmission , and it helps to block the nausea and vomiting centers in the brainstem.
Triptans help to normalize levels of and decrease the release of a very inflammatory protein released during a migraine called CGRP calcitonin gene related protein. Pain relief is typically faster with Rizatriptan than Sumatriptan. When taken in tablet form, a 10mg Rizatriptan dosage can be expected to take effect in as little as 30 minutes.
The Sumatriptan dosage is significantly higher at mg, typically taking nearer to an hour to offer effective relief from migraine symptoms. Sumatriptan results peak between two and four hours after ingestion. Both Sumatriptan and Rizatriptan should only be taken once the symptoms of migraine appear, and should not be used as a preventative measure against migraines. Both Sumatriptan and Rizatriptan can cause similar side effects. The most commonly reported Sumatriptan side effects and Rizatriptan side effects are:.
Should a migraine sufferer experience any other side effects after taking either of these medications, such as swelling of the face or lips, tightness of the chest or any blue tinges to the skin, it is important to stop taking the tablets and seek medical attention immediately.
Patient reviews state that both drugs are effective at relieving the symptoms of migraine. However, Rizatriptan is regarded as a faster-acting drug that achieves longer-lasting results. For those who find no relief from traditional painkillers such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, there are other treatments out there that are very effective.
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