Why is the Triptan different every time.

i took one today and the side effects wiped me out for 6 hours.
Didnt work to well either. Now 8 hours since I took it and pain changed sides and not great.

Last one I took didnt wipe me out like this.
I thought it was maybe time of day or if I have eaten or not, but that doesnt seem to be the case.

I do see to be getting more side effects from the Migard.
Is it maybe time to try the Almotriptan??

Does the lack of response mean that most of you find the Triptans mainly consistent please?
Those that can take the of course.
I a finding them more and more hit and miss.

Pen,

I find them very consistent. I take Maxalt-Mlt (tablet dissolves under the tongue). I get total relief from all the migraine symptoms within 1 hour or less. One tablet is effective 99% of the time. Rarely it takes 2 tablets spaced several hours apart. Even more rarely, the Maxalt doesn't work at all. But it's so effective so often that it virtually always works for me. I feel fortunate in finding a med that works so well for me.

But here recently, I've been having astonishing success with cayenne. If that continues, maybe I won't even have to take the Maxalt any more.

Chris

Pen,

I took Relpax for years and it usually worked well within 1-2 hours. In early 2008, the migraines were becoming so frequent and so severe that they were difficult to control with the Relpax. It became pretty much ineffective. I no longer use triptans....now its injectable DHE. It works about 85% of the time.

My migraines often change sides when the meds wear off.

Becky

I don't seem to have consistency with oral triptains either. Sometimes they work well, sometimes not at all. Sometimes I just get the "heavy arms and legs" feeling, other times they make me nauseous and put me to sleep. My Imitrex injections are more consistent and reliable, but I don't get many of those so I have to save them for the ones I wake up with or the ones I didn't catch in time.

When I was able to get them, Zomig-zmt worked about one-third of the time; the generic for Fioricet worked about one-third of the time; and the two together worked about two-thirds of the time.

hi pen

when i take them they work for me virtually everytime, like most people the earlier i take them the quicker they work,

but every so often i hit a bad patch, last year it happened twice, once in feb and again in august, where i am stressed or not well and end up with a constant migraine, and i mean constant, not a scale 10 one but around a 6/7 and it just wont shift at all, it goes on for several weeks, then the triptans and any otc dont work, i dont know why but they dont, at best they just take it down to a 5, so both times i ended up at docs, to try to break the cycle, and ended up on the preventatives that i have mentioned.

Hi Pen,
maybe the difference is not in the triptan, but in the type of attack.
I find that each attack has its own pattern and intensity.
Also, the general physical conditions of that particular day can affect the efficacy of a med.
Bye

Ivy wrote:Hi Pen,
maybe the difference is not in the triptan, but in the type of attack.
I find that each attack has its own pattern and intensity.
Also, the general physical conditions of that particular day can affect the efficacy of a med.
Bye

Ivy, you are probably right. I know hormonal ones are said to be more painful and harder to treat.
Mine have got into a pattern of migraine, day off, day 2 of migraine.
The second day is invariably worse (today).
But I am tired, deflated etc. So maybe its me.

yes i agree hormonal ones are always harder to shift for me.

My problem seems to be, they are all hormonal.
I have no known triggers, never have had...
Need a new Triptan maybe.

yeah give it a go pen and see if there is something else you can try, something soluable maybe? do triptans even come in soluable form??

Zomig-zmt and Maxalt-melt are both tablets that dissolve in the mouth.

Zomig-zmt is an awful artificial orange flavor (like childrens chewable aspirin), that makes me quite nauseated. I don't need that extra nausea when I am already dealing with a mig. It works about one-third of the time if I take it by itself, or two-thirds of the time if I combine it with generic Fioricet and extra acetaminophen.

I would love to try Maxalt-melt, but it is not in the VAMC formulary. The only triptans availiable are Summatriptan (Immatrex) and Zolmatriptan (Zomig). {My spelling may not be accurate.}

I had the exact same issue that you had when taking Triptans. I realized that the longer I waited to take the triptan, after the migraine began, the worse the side effects were. Try to always take the triptan asap, especially within the first 2 hours of the migraine. I used to wait sometimes just because I had hoped it would go away on it's own. It just ended up making me extremely light-headed, nauseous, and I felt like every vein in my head might explode.

I'm against taking Triptans now, btw. I would never take them again.

Thanks Jenny. It does seem to be the case.
I just dont like to take them 5am, cos I could do that and then run out.

Why are you against taking them Jenny?
I dont have anything else.
They are all that has been offered.
Do enlighten me please.....

P

I sometimes notice that the side effects are different at times as well Pen. Though I find I have better consistency with the Zomig nasal spray than any oral tablet, so I switched to that. I do find sometimes I get extremely tired after taking any triptan while other times no fatigue at all so now I always have a cup of coffee with one. It seems to help especially if I have things I have to do.

Also Pen did you get my post about the hormone cream. I posted a couple days ago? Title For Pen, sorry I couldn't post more info. When My Mom is back in country I can get to her records, sometime in the spring, I'll post more details then if you'd like.

Jo

If you have a sensitivity to aspartame aka nutrasweet, stay away from the maxalt mlt. It's got that in it. My doctor gave me a sample that made me worse. Didn't know why until I read the packet

Brenda wrote:If you have a sensitivity to aspartame aka nutrasweet, stay away from the maxalt mlt. It's got that in it. My doctor gave me a sample that made me worse. Didn't know why until I read the packet

It's true that Maxalt-Mlt contains aspartame. It's also true that I have a sensitivity to aspartame. The only thing I can figure out is that there is not enough aspartame in a Maxalt-Mlt tablet to set me off. A 12 oz diet soda with aspartame will. However for the people who are super sensitive to aspartame, a Maxalt-Mlt may be too much.

Chris

How would I know if I was sensitive to aspartame?

Eat or drink something that contains it. But warning, if you are sensitive, it's likely to trigger a migraine. Time to reaction? It was an hour for me. Your results may vary. Aspartame is sold under a number of different trade names including Equal, NutraSweet, and Canderel,

Here's a discussion of aspartame on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame


Chris

Thanks Chris. Sorry to sound so thick. I dont usually have reduced sugar/diet stuff, so will check around and see if it is in anything we have.

That's OK Pen. I don't usually use phony sugar products either. For some silly reason, one day I decided to be "good" and buy a diet Coke. I don't usually drink soft drinks anyway so I must have had a migrainity moment. Anyway, an hour after drinking the diet Coke I was in migraine agony. And I was having such a good day up to that point!

Chris