Sumatriptan

[Ian1977@soton]

Has anyone been told by there GP that taking to much sumatriptan is very bad for ur health and limited the amount of injections you can have in a 24 hour period many thanks 

[CHfather]

Yes.  It also seems to be true that the more sumatriptan you use, the worse/more attacks you get, and the longer your cycle will last.  One strategy is to split your doses.  See this: https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/2446-extending-imitrex/      A better strategy is to abort your attacks with oxygen, not triptans.  Are you using O2?  Also, the "vitamin D3" regimen can substantially reduce the number and severity of attacks you have: https://clusterbusters.org/forums/topic/1308-d3-regimen/

There are other things you can do, too, but let's start with those.

 

[spiny]

Two 6mg injections per 24 hour period is the standard I think. It can be very bad for your health at higher doses. Like Heart Failure kind of bad. and it increases attacks and lengthens cycles too, as stated above.

CHF has given you some very good pointers. Please check them out. We would love a little background info too if possible. Many of the members of this site are living the good life now without the Triptans in it.

[Clusterfukked]

Does anyone know why the Triptans seem to extend the cycle and make the attacks worse at times ? I'm just curious as the injectors can be a godsend as I am on the road constantly and oxygen simply isn't an everyday option. I did a 3 dose bust and it has done wonders but I am still getting the occasional O2 abortable attack but when away from O2, I am left to suffer. I have not wanted to take the Sumatriptan shots just in case I luck upon some MM and can bust again. Just curious if anyone can explain the science behind why something that offers the relief make it worse. It's like Chinese food making you hungry again!!!

[CHfather]

I've never seen an explanation for why. Many "headache" treatments, maybe all of them, cause rebound attacks from overuse, and I think "overuse" might be the key word here -- I've never seen anything say that occasional use of triptans will cause rebounds; typically, what's said at medical sites is that using triptans more than two or three times a week (or some number of times; I think it varies) is likely to cause rebounds.  This is not exactly answering your question, which was about extending cycles and making attacks worse.  We certainly have reports here from people who believe those things happen, and I'm not disputing them although I think we also have to take into account the highly variable nature of CH and how hard it is to attribute things to a specific cause.  My daughter never used triptans; her cycles consistently became longer and her attacks worse.