Highlights for sumatriptan

  1. Sumatriptan oral tablets are available in both generic and brand-name forms. Brand name: Imitrex.
  2. Sumatriptan also comes as a nasal spray, an injection, or a nasal powder. This article focuses on the tablets.
  3. Sumatriptan tablets are used to treat migraine episodes. You take the drug when your symptoms start. Sumatriptan is not taken regularly to prevent migraine headaches.

  • Heart attack: Sumatriptan can cause serious heart problems such as heart attack, angina (chest pain), or cardiac arrest. If you’re at risk for heart disease, your doctor may have you take your first dose in their office so they can monitor you.
  • Arrhythmias: Sumatriptan may cause your heart rhythm to change, which can be dangerous. If you feel changes in the way your heart beats, stop taking this drug and call your doctor right away.
  • Chest, throat, neck, or jaw pain: Sumatriptan can cause tightness, pain, or pressure in your chest, throat, neck, or jaw. In general, this feeling can be a symptom of heart attack, but it may not be when you’re taking this drug. If you have this symptom, call your doctor.
  • Brain hemorrhage or stroke: Brain hemorrhage (severe bleeding in the brain) or stroke can occur if you take sumatriptan. It’s not clear whether the drug is a direct cause of these effects.

Sumatriptan oral tablet is a prescription drug that’s available as the brand-name drug Imitrex. It’s also available as a generic drug. Generic drugs usually cost less. In some cases, they may not be available in every strength or form as the brand-name version.

Sumatriptan also comes in a nasal spray, an injectable solution, or a nasal powder.

Why it’s used

Sumatriptan is taken as needed for acute (immediate) treatment of migraine symptoms, with or without an aura. Sumatriptan may be used as part of a combination therapy. This means you may need to take it with other medications.

Mechanism of action (how it works)

A migraine episode causes the blood vessels in the brain to expand. It also causes a release of chemicals in the brain that can cause inflammation (swelling and irritation). Sumatriptan works by helping to bring your blood vessels back to their normal size. It also helps prevent your body’s release of these chemicals that cause inflammation.

Sumatriptan drug class

Sumatriptan belongs to a class of drugs called serotonin-1 receptor agonists. A class of drugs is a group of medications that work in a similar way. These drugs are often used to treat similar conditions.

Sumatriptan oral tablet may cause drowsiness. It may also cause other side effects.

More common side effects

The more common side effects that can occur with use of sumatriptan tablets include:

  • feeling warm or cold
  • tingling or prickling sensations in your skin
  • pressure or pain in your chest, neck, jaw, or throat
  • dizziness
  • tiredness

If these effects are mild, they may go away within a few days or a couple of weeks. If they’re more severe or don’t go away, talk with your doctor or pharmacist.

Serious side effects

Call your doctor right away if you have serious side effects. Call 911 if your symptoms feel life threatening or if you think you’re having a medical emergency. Serious side effects and their symptoms can include the following:

  • Heart attack. Symptoms can include:
    • chest pain that spreads to your shoulder or arm
    • excessive sweating
    • dizziness
    • weakness
    • shortness of breath
  • Other heart problems. Symptoms can include:
    • severe chest pain
    • fast heart rate
    • irregular heart rhythm
    • palpitations (feeling like your heart is skipping beats)
  • Abnormal feelings in your chest (not related to your heart), throat, neck, or jaw. Symptoms can include:
    • tightness
    • pain
    • pressure
    • heaviness
  • Vision problems. Symptoms can include:
    • blurred vision
    • loss of vision (may be temporary or permanent)
  • Stroke or brain hemorrhage. Symptoms can include:
    • headache
    • face drooping
    • trouble speaking
    • numbness or weakness on one side of your body
    • loss of balance
  • Changes in mental health. Symptoms can include:
    • confusion
    • agitation
    • hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t real)
    • thoughts of suicide or hurting yourself
  • Digestive tract problems. Symptoms can include:
  • Serotonin syndrome. Symptoms can include:
    • agitation
    • confusion
    • hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t real)
    • fast heart rate
    • shaking
    • sweating
    • large pupils
    • diarrhea
    • rigid muscles
  • Seizures. Symptoms can include:
    • muscle spasms
    • falling
    • rapid eye movements

This dosage information is for sumatriptan oral tablet. All possible dosages and drug forms may not be included here. Your dosage, drug form, and how often you take the drug will depend on:

  • your age
  • the condition being treated
  • how severe your condition is
  • other medical conditions you have
  • how you react to the first dose

Forms and strengths

Generic: sumatriptan

  • Form: oral tablet
  • Strengths: 25 milligrams (mg), 50 mg, 100 mg

Brand: Imitrex

  • Form: oral tablet
  • Strengths: 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg

Dosage for migraine headache

Adult dosage (ages 18 to 64 years)

  • Typical starting dosage: One sumatriptan tablet (25 mg, 50 mg, or 100 mg) taken when migraine symptoms appear.
  • Possible dosage increases: If you don’t get enough relief within 2 hours of the first dose, you can take a second dose at least 2 hours after the first dose.
  • Maximum dosage: Do not take more than 200 mg within a 24-hour period. And you shouldn’t use sumatriptan to treat more than four migraine episodes in a 30-day period. The safety of taking the drug more often than this has not been established in clinical trials. Taking sumatriptan too often can lead to medication overuse headaches, which can cause your migraine headaches to get worse.

Child dosage (ages 0 to 17 years)

It has not been confirmed that sumatriptan is safe and effective for use in children. Doctors won’t prescribe sumatriptan for people younger than 18 years.

Older adult dosage (ages 65 years and older)

The kidneys, liver, and heart of older adults may not work as well as they used to. This can cause your body to process drugs more slowly. As a result, more of a drug stays in your body for a longer time. This increases your risk of side effects.

Your doctor may start you on a lowered dose or a different medication schedule. This can help keep levels of this drug from building up too much in your body. Before prescribing sumatriptan, your doctor should also evaluate the condition of your heart if you have certain risks for heart disease.

Special considerations

If you have mild or moderate liver disease, you should not take more than 50 mg of sumatriptan in a single dose. If you have severe liver disease, your doctor won’t prescribe sumatriptan for you.

Sumatriptan oral tablet can interact with other medications, vitamins, or herbs you may be taking. An interaction is when a substance changes the way a drug works. This can be harmful or prevent the drug from working well.

To help avoid interactions, your doctor should manage all of your medications carefully. Be sure to tell your doctor about all medications, vitamins, or herbs you’re taking. To find out how this drug might interact with something else you’re taking, talk with your doctor or pharmacist.

Drugs you should not use with sumatriptan

Doctors typically won’t prescribe sumatriptan with certain drugs. Doing so can cause dangerous effects in the body. Examples of these drugs include:

  • Monoamine oxidase-A inhibitors (MAOIs), such as phenelzine (Nardil), isocarboxazid (Marplan), or tranylcypromine (Parnate): Taking an MAOI with sumatriptan can cause a severe condition called serotonin syndrome. Symptoms can include agitation, sweating, fast heartbeat, or hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t real). They can also include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or loss of balance.
  • Ergot-containing drugs, such as dihydroergotamine (DHE) or methysergide: Taking these drugs with sumatriptan raises your risk of certain side effects, such as tightness or pressure in your chest. Don’t take these medications if you’ve taken sumatriptan in the last 24 hours.
  • Other serotonin-1 receptor agonists, such as almotriptan or zolmitriptan (Zomig): Taking these drugs with sumatriptan raises your risk of certain side effects, such as tightness or pressure in your chest. Don’t take these medications if you’ve taken sumatriptan in the last 24 hours.

Interactions that increase your risk of side effects

Certain drugs raise your risk of side effects from sumatriptan:

Sumatriptan oral tablet comes with several warnings.

Allergy warning

For some people, sumatriptan can cause an allergic reaction. In general, symptoms of allergic reaction can be mild or serious.

What might help

If you have mild symptoms of an allergic reaction, such as a mild rash, call your doctor right away. They may suggest a treatment to manage your symptoms and can determine whether you should keep taking sumatriptan.

If you have symptoms of a severe allergic reaction, such as swelling or trouble breathing, call 911 or your local emergency number right away. These symptoms could be life threatening and require immediate medical care.

If your doctor confirms you’ve had a serious allergic reaction to sumatriptan, they may have you switch to a different treatment.

Warnings for people with certain health conditions

For people with heart conditions: Sumatriptan may cause serious problems with your heart. Tell your doctor if you’ve had a heart attack before. Also tell them if you have any other heart condition, such as coronary artery disease (CAD) or angina (chest pain). If you have any of these conditions, your doctor won’t prescribe sumatriptan. They’ll likely recommend other migraine treatment options for you. If you have certain risk factors for CAD, your doctor will give you tests to see if you have CAD. If you don’t, your doctor may prescribe sumatriptan, but they may have you take the first dose in their office.

For people with heart rhythm disorders: Sumatriptan may cause changes in your heart rhythm. Tell your doctor if you have any heart rhythm disorders. If you have certain types of heart rhythm disorders, your doctor won’t prescribe sumatriptan for you.

For people with a previous stroke or ministroke: This drug may cause brain hemorrhage (severe bleeding in the brain) or stroke. If you’ve had any form of stroke in the past, your doctor won’t prescribe sumatriptan for you.

For people with problems with circulation: Sumatriptan may cause or worsen symptoms of peripheral vascular disease. If you have this condition, your doctor won’t prescribe sumatriptan for you. They’ll instead recommend other migraine treatment options.

For people with serious bowel disorders: Sumatriptan may cause or worsen symptoms of a condition called ischemic bowel disease. If you have this condition, talk with your doctor about whether this drug is safe for you.

For people with unmanaged high blood pressure: Sumatriptan can increase your blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure that’s not managed, your doctor won’t prescribe sumatriptan for you.

For people with seizures: Sumatriptan may cause seizures. If you’ve had seizures in the past, talk with your doctor about whether this drug is safe for you.

Warnings for other groups

For pregnant people: More research is needed to determine whether sumatriptan has effects on pregnancy in humans. Animal studies have shown negative effects to the fetus when sumatriptan was given to pregnant animals. However, studies done in humans have not shown negative effects to the fetus.

Talk with your doctor if you’re pregnant or planning to become pregnant. Your doctor will only recommend sumatriptan treatment during pregnancy if the potential benefit justifies the potential risks.

If you become pregnant while taking sumatriptan, contact your doctor right away.

For people who are breastfeeding: Sumatriptan may pass into breast milk and may cause side effects in a child who is breastfed. You should not breastfeed your child for at least 12 hours after taking sumatriptan. Talk with your doctor if you breastfeed your child.

Sumatriptan oral tablets are used for short-term treatment. The drug comes with serious risks if you don’t take it as prescribed.

If you don’t take the drug at all: Your migraine symptoms may not be reduced.

If you take too much: You could have dangerous levels of the drug in your body. Symptoms of an overdose of this drug can include:

  • seizures
  • tremor (shaking or twitching)
  • paralysis of one limb, one side of the body, or the whole body
  • swelling and redness or other discoloration of the arms and legs
  • trouble breathing
  • loss of balance

Call your doctor if you think you’ve taken too much sumatriptan. You can also call 800-222-1222 to reach America’s Poison Centers or use its online resource. But if you have severe symptoms, immediately call 911 or your local emergency number. Or go to the nearest emergency room.

How to tell if the drug is working: Your symptoms of migraine should reduce. If your symptoms do not get better at all after taking the drug as recommended, talk with your doctor about your options.

Whether you have health insurance or not, cost may be a factor when you’re considering sumatriptan. What you’ll pay for sumatriptan may depend on several things, such as your treatment plan and the pharmacy you use.

Here are a few things to consider regarding cost:

  • Cost information and savings coupons: You can visit Optum Perks to get price estimates of what you’d pay for sumatriptan when using coupons from the site. See the coupon options below. (Note: Optum Perks coupons cannot be used with any insurance copays or benefits.)
  • Savings programs: Some websites provide details about drug assistance programs, ways to make the most of your insurance coverage, and links to savings cards and other services. Two such websites are:

Learn more about saving on your prescriptions.

Keep these considerations in mind if your doctor prescribes sumatriptan oral tablet for you.

General

  • You can take sumatriptan tablets with or without food.
  • Do not cut or crush the tablet. If you have trouble swallowing the tablets, you can get tips on how to swallow pills, or ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice.

Storage

  • Store sumatriptan tablets between 36°F and 86°F (2°C and 30°C).
  • Keep this drug away from light and out of the reach of children.
  • Don’t store this medication in moist or damp areas, such as bathrooms.

Refills

A prescription for this medication is refillable. You should not need a new prescription for this medication to be refilled. Your doctor will write the number of refills authorized on your prescription.

Travel

When traveling with your medication:

  • Always carry your medication with you. When flying, never put it into a checked bag. Keep it in your carry-on bag.
  • Don’t worry about airport X-ray machines. They can’t hurt your medication.
  • You may need to show airport staff the pharmacy label for your medication. Always carry the original prescription-labeled box with you.
  • Don’t put this medication in your car’s glove compartment or leave it in the car. Be sure to avoid doing this when the weather is very hot or very cold.

Clinical monitoring

Your doctor will monitor your health during your treatment with sumatriptan. They may check your:

  • blood pressure
  • heart rate and rhythm
  • vision
  • kidney function
  • liver function

You may need to have some blood tests done to be sure your kidneys and liver are working well.

Insurance

Many insurance companies require a prior authorization for this drug. This means your doctor may need to get approval from your insurance company before your insurance company will pay for the prescription.

There are other drugs available to treat your condition. Some may be better suited for you than others. Talk with your doctor about other drug options that may work for you.

Disclaimer: Healthline has made every effort to make certain that all information is factually correct, comprehensive, and up to date. However, this article should not be used as a substitute for the knowledge and expertise of a licensed healthcare professional. You should always consult your doctor or other healthcare professional before taking any medication. The drug information contained herein is subject to change and is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. The absence of warnings or other information for a given drug does not indicate that the drug or drug combination is safe, effective, or appropriate for all patients or all specific uses.

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