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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2002 >> Amerge
        
(Message started by: jim_s on Jun 6^th, 2002, 4:53pm)

Title: Amerge
Post by jim_s on Jun 6^th, 2002, 4:53pm

I just saw a nuero man and he prescribed 5 mg a day of Amerge. My ins. co. refused to pay the $20.00 per pill price. Can anyone tell me anything that they have heard about this stuff. What type of drug is it, what is it supposed to affect. Anything at all will be helpful.
Thanks
jim s

Title: Re: Amerge
Post by Ueli on Jun 6^th, 2002, 5:54pm

Hi Jim,

Naratriptan (Amerge / Naramig) is from the same class of drugs like Sumatriptan (Imitrex), but has a longer time of action (half life time ~6 hours). Although not suitable to abort an attack (it takes up to an hour to kick in), it is very useful as a short time preventative. I take a 2.5 mg tablet before bed time to help me through the night. (Hint: split the tablets and take one half every 6 hours to get protection throughout the day.)

Read about Naratriptan on rxlist.com:

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic2/naratript.htm

Of course, the leaflet says (and that's all the insurance people know): "Use Amerge only to abort a current migraine attack, not as a preventative" and "The safety of treating more than four headaches in a 30-day period has not been established." And therefore, the insurance tries to tie a knot into their purse strings, as always.
Your neuro needs to write them a "letter of necessity" to convince them that they've lost their bet this time.

PFNAD's,
Ueli

Title: Re: Amerge
Post by rick on Jun 6^th, 2002, 7:18pm

Jim,

My doc did exactly what Ueli said, only she called my insurance company. The ended up giving me 24 pills per month for $35. I was happy.

I did have a problem where I took them one per day as a preventitive for 3 days in a row, and I woke up with a whopper on day 4 that put me in the ER. Not everyone has had an experience like this from taking them, but I just wanted to send you a word of caution. I did not run into this trouble taking them as an abortive, but it's not the best abortive since it's in pill form and it takes too long to kick in. Good luck.

-Rick

Title: Re: Amerge
Post by Ann on Jun 11^th, 2002, 8:09am

During my last cycle, I used amerge as a preventative before bedtime just like Ueli mentioned. It helped me sleep through the night. I used it for 3 months. During the last three weeks, I would cut the pill in half and found it to be just as effective. (my neuro's suggestion by the way!) When I stopped using it, the first day I got a withdrawal headache, but popped 2 motrin and it was over. I agree with the rest of the gang that it is not an effective abortative because it takes too long to kick in. Imitrex injections abort within 5 minutes. You may want to try that. Good luck!

hugs

Title: Re: Amerge
Post by chip on Jun 17^th, 2002, 7:45pm

jim_s Be carefull with the Amerge. The doc is trying it on me right now. It was prescribed by an e.r. doc when I had my worst cluster to date. Scared me bad enough to take an ambulance ride. Anyway they (both the e.r. doc and my regular doc when i saw him) said no more than 2.5 mg a day and no more than 4 mg in a week.

Title: Re: Amerge
Post by Ueli on Jun 18^th, 2002, 8:07am

Chip, read my post above.
It looks to me that your two docs can't even read the information that comes with the drug, that clearly states: "the dose may be repeated once after 4 hours, for a maximum dose of 5 mg in a 24-hour period."

Also, the statement The safety of treating more than four headaches in a 30-day period has not been established. means just that: Glaxo did not go to the trouble and expense to research the effects of more than 8 tablets at 2.5 mg per month. But that does not mean that this is an absolute limit for safe use. In fact, the safe limit may well be beyond 10 times this amount, beyond 80 tablets per month.

But of course, doctors, that never walked in the shoes of a clusterhead but are afraid of the slightest risk of malpractice litigation, tend to take the proven save dosage as an absolute limit, that they may not dare to exceed just because of a headache.

Why the insurance companies try to stick to these low limits needs no explanation. >:(

I'm taking daily 1 to 2 Amerge (2.5 mg) for years, and I'm still kicking.

PFNADs,
Ueli