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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> Frova is working!
        
(Message started by: helpless23 on Jan 30^th, 2004, 7:22am)

Title: Frova is working!
Post by helpless23 on Jan 30^th, 2004, 7:22am

Hi,
Just posted in the GD section. I'm new here and my husband has had cluster headaches for over 20 years now. They took a 5 year break now they're back.

Dr. prescribed Frova for him, and it's working. For the first time in 2 months, he is cluster free for over 24 hours! It's supposedly a form of Imitrex with not so many side effects!

Happy about this! Just wanted to share!
Toni

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by pubgirl on Jan 30^th, 2004, 8:01am

Hi Toni

That is great news for your husband (and you)
Frova is just another Triptan developed for migraine sufferers (Frovatriptan) like Imitrex (sumitriptan) and Zomig (zolmitriptan), and has been around for a few years.
The only trouble for most Ch sufferers is that as far as I'm aware, it is still only available in pill form, which makes it too slow for most.

Glad it works for your hubby though, especially as I think it is much cheaper than Imitrex.

Wendy

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by helpless23 on Jan 30^th, 2004, 8:32am

HI Wendy,

Yeah, well it is in pill form, but once he swallowed the first pill at the first sign on the beast, then he could take it 3 times in a 24 hour period. He has made it through is FIRST 24 hour period CH free! So we are excited about it. I just hope it works and more importantly , I hope the insurance company will keep refilling it for him. I know they can be *&!%$ in all of this. This is what I've heard.

But so far, so good. I guess now that it's into his system, HOPEFULLY it will keep working long enough for him to go into remission again.

:-)

For now, it's working and I'm so happy to see him pain free, even if it's only for `1 full day.

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by CJohnson on Jan 30^th, 2004, 9:39am

I have used Frova as an abortive/preventative. As I am prone to multiple night time attacks, I would take a Frova before bed to prevent attacks via standard triptan action on 5ht receptors. Can't be certain about its efficacy as I was taking preventatives as well. I believe it is the newest triptan and supposedly the safest (less action on the receptors that affect the heart). My neurologist preferred this triptan over the others and my insurance covers all triptans except this one. The pharmacist claims it is because it is newer than other meds of its kind.

"A concern with triptans is that they would work not only on cerebral blood vessels, but also on coronary vessels. Trials indicate that Frova has overcome that concern:
--Studies of frovatriptan in isolated human arteries demonstrated a lower threshold for constriction of cerebral than coronary vasculature and a bell-shaped dose-response curve was apparent in the coronary arteries. In anesthetized dogs, frovatriptan administration produced no measurable effect on cardiac function or on blood pressure. Frovatriptan had no effects on coronary blood flow following transient coronary artery occlusion, whereas sumatriptan (Imitrex/Imigran) produced a prolonged and significant decrease in coronary blood flow--"

That from here:
http://headaches.about.com/cs/druginfo/a/frova_new.htm

PFDANs
-Curtis

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by Bob P on Jan 30^th, 2004, 10:44am

I've wondered about this. Frova is a triptan drug but, unlike the other triptans, it has a much longer half life. It stays in your system much longer. If it indeed worked on clusters, you could take one pill a day and have no attacks. Sounds like you may have found this to be fact.

Do whatever works! And let us know if it continues to keep his attacks at bay.

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by CJohnson on Jan 30^th, 2004, 11:55am

The half life of Frova is 26 hours (Imitrex is 2.5 hours), I wonder what that means in terms of spacing the dose. Does the entire 26 hours have to expire before another dose can be fully effective? Lets say you take a frova @ 8pm each night. Yesterday's frova still has 2 hours to go. Did you waste the frova you just took? Will its effectiveness be reduced? Anyone know how this works? Basically, does anyone know what the effect is of taking a second dose of a med before the first dose's half life has expired?

PFDANs
-Curtis

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by Edski_1 on Jan 30^th, 2004, 12:03pm

Very obviously the different triptans are being found to have differing efficacies with different populations. The only triptan I've been exposed to is Zomig...5 mg pill...the 15-20 minutes it takes to work is adequate for me, as my CH usually last between 60-120 minutes. The last zomig I had to take was a nasal spray...it kicked my a$$ (and my headaches) and did seem to work a bit faster than the pill, maybe in about 10 minutes. But a sample of one is not a very definitive sample...

Well, now that I've been on topamax...that's a different story. Not getting CH :) So I hopefully won't need to test that much anymore.

But it seems the second generation of triptans are finally geting somewhere, especially in pill form. I bet for the long time, more frequent sufferers, that's a definite God-send! ;;D

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by helpless23 on Jan 30^th, 2004, 1:32pm

I think I may have spoken too soon. 24 hours CH free and now he has one.

All I can do is leave him be ya know? Of course you all know...

My heart goes out to all of you who have to go through this.

Toni

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by Edski_1 on Jan 30^th, 2004, 1:59pm

Hey, when my current cycle started in October, the 24 PF I got from the first dose of Zomig was blessing! SO sometimes you have to take what you can get...

Also, is he taking othr meds? Maybe something is "interfering" with it? I had some mixed results initially with Zomig, sometimes it did not provide the relief I had hoped for...but I was taking cafergot at the same time which, after reading a bit (and my neuro also confirmed) was a mistake. The two drugs are contra-indicated, and apparently the cafergot can reduce the effectiveness of the zomig.

Sending out PF vibes...

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by helpless23 on Jan 30^th, 2004, 2:19pm

No, not taking any other meds. :(
Thank God, it's over. I just hope that's the last one of the day.

Title: Re: Frova is working!
Post by henzey on Jan 31^st, 2004, 11:16am

I would still be encouraged....one headache in 2-3 days is not bad for many of us, but I know that each one is stressful and painful. My doctor has recently suggested Flova as an option for me and will probably try it next week and will let you know how it goes.