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Pronounced: (sue-muh-TRIP-tan)
Imitrex Oral Uses
Table of Contents
- >>Uses and How to Use
- Dosage and Storage
- Precautions and Side Effects
- Drug Interactions
- Drug Images
Sumatriptan is used to treat migraines. It helps to relieve headaches, pain and other symptoms of migraines, including sensitivity to light/sound, nausea, and vomiting. Prompt treatment allows you to get back to your normal routine and may decrease your need for other pain medications. Sumatriptan does not prevent future migraines or reduce how often you may get a headache.
Sumatriptan belongs to a group of drugs called triptans. It affects a certain natural chemical (serotonin) that constricts blood vessels in the brain. It may also block other pain pathways in the brain.
How To Use Imitrex Oral
Read the Patient Information Leaflet available from your pharmacist before you start using sumatriptan and each time you get a refill. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions.
Take this medication by mouth, with or without food, at the first sign of a migraine. If there is no improvement in your symptoms, do not take any more doses of this medication before talking to your doctor. If your symptoms are only partly relieved, or if your headache comes back, you may take a second dose after two hours or as directed by your doctor. Do not take more than 200 milligrams in a 24-hour period.
This medication may also be used as a backup for sumatriptan injections. If your headache returns or your symptoms are only partly relieved after an injection of sumatriptan, you may take a sumatriptan tablet by mouth after waiting at least 2 hours after the injection. Do not take more than 200 milligrams of this medication by mouth, or a maximum of 3 doses (2 by mouth and 1 injection), in a 24-hour period.
If you have never taken this medication before and you have risk factors for heart disease (see Precautions), you may need to be monitored for rare but serious side effects (e.g., chest pain) when you take the first dose. Your doctor may ask you to take the first dose in the office.
Your dosage is based on your medical condition and response to therapy. Tell your doctor if your condition does not improve or if it worsens.
