Here's a question I hope one of you guys can answer for me. How often can you take a triptan before you get a rebound? Just got a Rx for frovatriptan. Yes it's a pill, and yes it takes a while to work, but it also gives me 12- 24 hours without a fullblown ch. So anybody know?

During my cycle I had treximent tablets (80mg) and imitrex nasal snorts. I found that a half of the trex tab was all I needed and worked quicker too. I'm not suggesting you do that with the frova. I just felt 80 mg was a lot of sumatriptan, especially after I discovered a half would do. But in answer to your question I ran into rebounds if I took more than 2 doses in a 12 hr period. Not everytime but enough that I really tried to keep it under 2 x 12 hrs. Most of the triptan directions state 2 doses per 24 hr period. I often exceeded that during cycle peak but not by much. For me a rebound was way less painful but lasted way longer than I liked. Anyway, 2 per 12 hrs helped me avoid a rebound. Hope that helps and good luck. Scott

There is no info in the medical literture on this question which I've seen.

It's too easy to confuse "rebound" with "recurrence" when using an abortive and individual experiences are barely suggestive that there is a problem.
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Rebound headaches. "Rebound Headaches--A Review", Au. John S. Warner, M.D., in HEADACHE QUARTERLY, 10:3(1999). (There is some confusion on the board about the meaning of "rebound". There appears to be an emerging consensus in the medical literature to define "rebound" as a headache which is caused by the overuse of any medication used to abort a headache or relieve pain. "Recurrence" [of a headache] is being used to refer to the redevelopment of an attack when its "normal" duration is longer than the useful life of the medication which has been taken. That is, the medication effectiveness is reducing before the headache has come to an end; the pain redevelops.)
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Sumatriptan has a hard initial punch and relatively short effective life--a combination which works well for most Cluster attacks. However, some people, whose Clusters have a longer life, find that the med is wearing down even as the pain continues. One can understand how this sequence comes into play: Attack, Imitrex injection, pain continues, it's a rebound cluster which has developed from the Imitrex.

This is one of the reasons that several other triptans were developed having less initial punch but longer effective life. While aimed at the migraine crowd, at first, a number of cluster users have found this characteristic of value to them.
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You may find the PDF file, below, will help you to understand the complexity of this issue.

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Thanks for the info Bob, you are a font of knowledge. Hope you're around forever!