For those of you who use Imitrex, what dosage are you at? Hubby is on that and the last two times he's taken it it's taken much longer (though the headaches were much worse than usual, too). Wondering if he can take more than just one pill. We're on vacation right now (figures, eh?) so we can't get in to the dr. to talk about new treatments (trying O2 next) until we get back. :( Just trying to figure out what we can do while out of town, and increasing the 'trex seems like one of our few options. (Tried the water thing, made him throw up; just saw something about melatonin, haven't tried that yet, but all his headaches come at night, so maybe that will help, will get some in the morning to try tomorrow night; he downs an Amp or Monster drink when it hits but we don't know how helpful it really is.)

Hi Alison,

Have his Dr perscribe injections.  Pills take too damn long to work.  There is no reason to be in that kind of pain that long.

There is a downside to too much Trex.  While they aren't technically rebound headaches like you get with over the counter meds, too much Trex can lead to more and stronger attacks.  

Eventually the Trex can stop working or loose its effectivness.  That's why I encourage you to find out if O2 will work for him.  Save the Trex for the big ones that O2 can't fix.

-Dennis-

I agree with Dennis' suggestions and ask you to consider one other alternative.

I use O2 and Trex as primary and secondary abortives.  I've also used DHE nasal spray, called by the trade name Migranol.  You cannot take triptans (like Imitrex) and DHE within 24 hours of each other.  When I use Migranol, I am headache free for at least 24 hours.  Your milage may vary (YMMV).

Good luck,

Ray

I don't know if he could handle giving himself injections, but if they keep getting worse, then maybe he'd be willing to try. He had Zomig sprays that work much more quickly, but he used them all up and only had the pills left. I'm calling our pharmacy back home to see where we stand on refills, and hopefully we have one left and I can get it transferred out here. We're only here until Tuesday, but I'm guessing he'll have an attack every night we're here, so it would be worth it to have them if we can get them.

Ray--is the DHE nasal spray the same kind of thing as Zomig? I know he's not supposed to take Zomig and Imitrex at the same time (though he did the other night--it's been over a year since he had a cluster, and I think he forgot from last year, when we learned that, that he couldn't do that), so I'm wondering if DHE and Zomig are different enough to justify giving it a try.

DHE is not the same class of medication as Zomig or any other triptan.

They can not be mixed either as they are both serious vasoconstrictor.

You don't even feel the injections as they are subcutaneous.

good luck

6mg in the statdose form works best for me and the statdose pen makes it much easier.  The 6mg is a sure bet, especially if awoke during the night with little warning.  There are some times that the 4mg stat will work during the day and there is less chest/muscle constriction for me at least.  However, as with any of these meds, they never seem to alot enough for us.  I know my insurance only allows 5 packs (10 shots) per month, so I end up stocking up when not in remission.  And I agree with the others, the pill form is useless...

I took more of the pills because it was all I had, it does take to long and correct me if I'm wrong you shouldn't take more than 4 in a 24 hours???  The shots 6mg is what I use now.  I don't have insurance and the shots are not cheap. As for giving the shot, my hubby helps me if I'm freakin out.
llreed

Stat-dose pens are not like regular shots. You hold the pen to a point on your body and push the button. It's a lot like doing a finger stick on a larger scale. They cpome in 4 ml and 6 ml doses.

the pills take too long to work, so I use the nasal spray which are a bit cheaper to buy but not as fast acting as the injections.  I use the q tip trick to push only about half or a third of a vil of the drug in my arm and it seems to work ok for me, but everyone seems to have different needs..  I use melatonin and it really helped me to get better sleep and it did curb the attack down to a tollerable 2 for a shorter time period...  I also got a CPAP sleep apnea machine and that too help a bunch because it seems that my attacks are caused more from the lack of oxygen due to sleep apnea and the off rythm sleep patturns that were casued by the constant waking up from snoring and apnea.

Also, I did try the water thing but it did not work, although having some of those small Red Bull drinks really helpd as well did strong coffee and very hot shower...  but good luck.

Quote:

he downs an Amp

Just a small thing, I know...but AMP doesn't have Taurine in it.  To get the full effect of the energy drinks it should contain 1000mg. of Taurine as well as caffeine.

alisonjmorrow wrote on Jan 16^th, 2009 at 6:15am:

For those of you who use Imitrex, what dosage are you at? Hubby is on that and the last two times he's taken it it's taken much longer (though the headaches were much worse than usual, too). Wondering if he can take more than just one pill. We're on vacation right now (figures, eh?) so we can't get in to the dr. to talk about new treatments (trying O2 next) until we get back. :( Just trying to figure out what we can do while out of town, and increasing the 'trex seems like one of our few options. (Tried the water thing, made him throw up; just saw something about melatonin, haven't tried that yet, but all his headaches come at night, so maybe that will help, will get some in the morning to try tomorrow night; he downs an Amp or Monster drink when it hits but we don't know how helpful it really is.)

Alison,

The dosage for imitrex is one dose, be it a tablet, auto-inject (stat-dose), nasal spray, or a vial administered by syringe. After one hour, if it doesn't work, it may be repeated ONCE. To a max of two doses in 24 hours.

The pills just don't work fast enough, as Dennis said, get the injections (after you get home), there is no need to be in that kind of pain that long.

You can go to the ER, and ask for O2 at 15 liters per minute by non-rebreather mask. Ask for an injection of trex. Ask the ER doc for a prescription of nasal spray imitrex, to get you through your vacation.

In the mean time, get energy drinks that have at least 1000mg of taurine, in addition to the caffeine. Red Bull and Rock Star have this. Get some melatonin for sleeping. The dosage a lot of us take is between 3mg to 15 mg at night. This is a supplement, and in the vitamin section. This helps with the night hits, allows you to get some needed sleep. However, for some, it takes a few days to start working. For others it starts working right away.

Using an ice pack helps some, or a hot shower. There are tips posted in a thread at the top of this page that you can read.

When you get home, go see your doc, and get the trex changed to a faster acting version... not the pills. It just came out in generic, so it will be slightly cheaper to buy.

Good luck.