Posted by dianna on September 03, 1998 at 12:35:25:
In Reply to: Imitrex posted by John on September 03, 1998 at 10:52:28:
are you taking the injections , the nasal spray or
the pills?
on the injections you are not supposed to take any more than 12mg per 24 hours...if you use the autoinject, that's 2 doses, as each injection is 6 mg. however, it does come in vials that contain 6mg of the imitrex in .5ml of fluid. these are harder to find , my husband has to have the pharmacy order them (the 4th pharmacy we called , i might add.)you can use half of the dose if you have the vials and syringes...3mg..that way you can use more shots over the 24 hour period and it is just as effective for the headache.
if you use the nasal spray the total dose is 40 mg in 24 hours...you can get 5mg or 20mg in the spray form. the pills , which i imagine are probably too slow acting... total dose is 100mg per 24 hours. i do know of some people taking more of the recommended dose but be careful the side effects can be dangerous. my husband, who has the headaches, gets flack from the pharmacy and his dr. for getting refills so often even though he NEVER exceeds the dose. hang in there.
there is also a new med out for about 5 weeks on the market called maxalt, a med that is in tha same family as the imitrex, but comes only in pill form and sublingual pill that you put under your tongue that might be worht looking in to .
works the same way but the half life is longer so would keep the headache away longer. thanks