Imitrex helps to relieve headache, pain, and other migraine symptoms (including nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light/sound). Prompt treatment helps you return to your normal routine and may decrease your need for other pain medications.
Imitrex is also known as Sumatriptan.
Imitrex is used in the treatment of cluster headaches; migraine and belongs to the drug class antimigraine agents. Risk cannot be ruled out during pregnancy. Imitrex 50 mg is not a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Use
Imitrex is a medication used for the treatment of migraine attacks in adults. Imitrex also relieves the nausea and other symptoms, such as sensitivity to light, that often accompany migraines.
Dosage
Imitrex should be taken at the onset of a migraine attack. However, if this cannot be done Imitrex is usually effective at any time – even if you take it when your migraine is at its worst.
Side effects
The most frequently seen side effects are tingling and nasal discomfort.
Precautions
Imitrex, a prescription product available only through your doctor, is used for the acute treatment of migraine attacks in adults. You should not take Imitrex if you have certain types of heart disease, a history of stroke or Transient lschemic Attacks (TIAs), peripheral vascular disease, Raynaud’s syndrome, or blood pressure that is uncontrolled. Very rarely, certain people, even some without heart disease, have had serious heart-related problems when taking Imitrex. Therefore, if you have risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or are a smoker, you need to be evaluated by your doctor before taking Imitrex. If you are currently taking other medications, particularly MAO inhibitors and ergotamines, or if you are pregnant, nursing, or thinking of becoming pregnant, you should talk to your doctor.
History
The development of sumatriptan was the first experimentally based approach to identify and develop a novel therapy for migraine. In 1972, Humphrey and colleagues initiated a long term project aimed at identifying novel therapy for migraine. The goal of this project was to develop selective vasoconstrictors of the extracranial circulation. They focused on the identification of 5-HT receptors in the carotid vasculature, on which the theory of action of traditional anti-migraine drugs was based during the 1970s. Sumatriptan, first synthesized in 1984, potently contracted the dog isolated saphenous vein which is believed to contain the novel 5-HT receptor located in the carotid circulation. Sumatriptan was approved by the FDA in 1992.