Posted by VWM on March 12, 1999 at 10:47:58:
Dear Clusterheads:
Just thought I'd pass along something I've been doing for about a year now, it saves money and it works for me!
(Procedure done by a Professional Clusterhead - Kids, don't try this at home!)
After using Imitrex for some time and paying ungodly sums of money, I decided to try something one day to lessen the cost.
I took apart one of the self injectors, and instead of using the entire dose, I only used half. It took a little longer for relief, but it worked! After that I tried 1/4 dose, it took a little longer yet, but it still worked!
To make a long story short, I checked the PDR, talked to my Dr., and now he Rx's Imitrex in single dose 6 mg vials (G-W # NDC 0173-0449-02). These look like the regular med vials you see in a Dr's. office, the ones with the rubber stopper on them, only the're about 1/4 of the size.
I use an insulin syringe, and use appox. 10 IU at a time, which is about 1/4 the full dose. It usually takes 15 to 20 minutes for the Imitrex to kick in, vs. 3 to 4 minutes for the full dose.
The nice thing is that your getting 4 doses out of one, and if you have to take more because the reduced amount didn't work, you still havn't reached the full dose.
Like I said, it worked for me, maybe it can work for you and save a little $$$$$.
Pain free days,
Verne