Posted by john on March 13, 1999 at 17:29:04:
In Reply to: Imitrex dosage frequency posted by pinksharkmark on March 11, 1999 at 15:18:26:
To pinksharkmark:
great posting and thank you. I just discovered this site yesterday - like you I am an episodic CH sufferer - this bout started 21/1 and for the last week it has unusually involved 3 attacks per day - 8am, 7pm and 2am - I have also been suffering for 15 yrs, but with breaks of 2 - 3 yrs inbetween.
On the dosage of Imitrex - this medication is called Imigran in the Southeren Hemishere (sumatriptan) - I started on 100mg but also find that 50 works the same - takes 20 - 30 mins to kick in irrespective - usually with an asprin/codein over the counter chaser.
Importantly the literature in the rest of the world outside the US put out by the manufacturere(GlaxoWellcome) says no more that 300mg every 24hrs - i.e. 3x 100 tabs or 6x 50 tabs - for the 50mg tabs the instructions allow you to drop another on the first one not working as needed - for a 100mg it recommends a 6hr interval between tabs - I enjoyed what Doc Greg had to say and I dont wish to counsel other than caution but, like the doc says, when the pain is still there, whatever it takes within reason. The restriction to 2 hits every 24hrs appears to come from the FDA.
I have taken 2x50 with an hr separation, altho usually 1x50 does the job. I agree with the 2hr separation rule (for the 100mg tabs)limited to 300mg per day.
Nasal spray (at the higher 20mg doseage) was useless.
I live in a remote area and sumatriptan is hard to get when you need it - that is why I alternate between 50 and 100 tabs - after reading your comments I have put in an order for Zomig - appears 2.5mg will do the job.
I also yesterday started a prednisone course - there are no knowledgable doctors here so from this site I see that prednoisone is a preferred treatment - I am relatively comfortable with the drug and my children use it for asthma from time to time - I started 80mg yesterday and will continue at that level for 6 days (I will taper off if the headaches continue after 48hrs on the assumption that it will not work) - while I had my 2 monsters last night I missed the 8am wakeup call this morning! I shall see.
Like you I beleive they will be soon on their way out and as always I wont be any the wiser of what worked.
Great letter pinksharkmark - it certainly helped to know there are others whose experience is the same.