confused about imitrex tablets
Today at 5:55pm     Hi, I'm new. My doctor gave me imitrex (Sumatripran Succinate Tablets 50mg) to take at the first sign of a cluster headache.


Reading about the drug today from the company is said "It's important to keep taking the medication it won't work if you stop using it." I get 9 tablets at a time and the doctor told me not to take more than 3 tablets a week. I get a cluster headache at least once a night, last night I had 2. I would never take more than one tablet a day. The first 9 days of this cycle I took one every day at the start of a headache. Then stopped a few days and had no pain, then Sunday had the worst pain ever.  I know as soon as I go to sleep I will get a headache so for a few nights I took an Imtrex right before sleep and slept all night with no pain. I didn't have any side effects at first, but the other night (Wednesday) my chest got very tight and it scared me.





Now I'm afraid to take it and haven't taken any since Wednesday night. Today I slept as much as possible and plan to stay up tonight and drink coffee. That was the usual plan of attack before I started medication. And it might have to be again. When they happen all I can do is drink scalding hot tea (it seems to do something as it comes in contact with the roof of my mouth and often shortens the pain) and hold the hot cup on my face where it hurts most, pressing really hard. (Of course, now that I've actually told this the old devil may take away even this much comfort, they don't call him evil for nothing).


My
doctor is in a different town and won't do much over the phone. I don't see her until October. I've been getting these headaches for about 10 years but wasn't diagnosed until about a year ago in April. I take Verapamil 120mg every night




and my usual one a year winter attack didn't come and didn't come in the spring so I was very hopeful that I had them licked.

   


But not so. I've never had them in the summer before. I have Fibromyalgia and I'm heat resistant. It's been very hot and I cleaned my bathroom top to bottom and became so heat sick and totally exhausted that I think it started this cluster cycle. They used to last about 2 weeks, my last one lasted about 6 weeks. What I don't go through for a clean bathroom. These things are pure evil and have to originate in the bowels of hell.


Interesting that they seem to have something to do with a problem in the nervous system--so does Fibromyalgia and they started about the same time the Fibromyalgia did. My nerve endings have been just crazy from the Fibro this summer causing itching, picky feelings and creepy crawly feelings that are very common with Fibro. It has something to do with pain messages that get goofed up.  It feels like the nerve endings are turned up too high--like a stereo that is too loud, just blasting. Fibro may be an inflammation of the nerve endings and it may be auto immune, so says the research. So might cluster headaches. And now the headaches start during this awful itching non-stop all summer. Not too many women get clusters, but most Fibro victims are women.  Hmmmm. You know, I'm just too tired to put it all together right now. And I have a long night ahead.



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