Precautions
Drug information provided by: Merative, Micromedex®
It is very important that your doctor check your progress at regular visits. This will allow your doctor to see if the medicine is working properly and to decide if you should continue to use it.
You should not use this medicine if you have used an MAO inhibitor (MAOI) such as isocarboxazid (Marplan®), phenelzine (Nardil®), or tranylcypromine (Parnate®) within the past 2 weeks. Do not use this medicine if you have taken other migraine medicines (eg, almotriptan, eletriptan, frovatriptan, naratriptan, rizatriptan, sumatriptan/naproxen, zolmitriptan, Amerge®, Axert®, Frova®, Maxalt®, Relpax®, Treximet®, Zomig®) or an ergotamine medicine (eg, dihydroergotamine, methysergide, Cafergot®, D.H.E. 45®, Ergomar®, Migergot®, Migranal®) within the past 24 hours.
Check with your doctor if you have used this medicine and your migraine did not go away, or if your migraine got worse or started occurring more often. Also, using this medicine too often may make your headache worse (medication overuse headache). Keep a headache diary to record your headache frequency and drug use.
Tell your doctor right away if you have blistering, burning, crusting, dryness, flaking of the skin or itching, scaling, severe redness, soreness, swelling of the skin after using this medicine. These could be symptoms of a condition called allergic contact dermatitis.
This medicine may cause problems if you have heart disease. If your doctor thinks you might have a problem with this medicine, he or she may want you to use your first dose in the doctor’s office or clinic.
This medicine may increase your risk of having a heart attack, angina, or stroke. This is more likely to occur if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, or if you already have a heart disease or a family history of heart disease, if you smoke, if you are male and over 40 years of age, or if you are female and have gone through menopause. Call your doctor right away if you have any symptoms of a heart problem, such as chest pain or discomfort, an uneven heartbeat, nausea or vomiting, pain or discomfort in the shoulders, arms, jaw, back, or neck, shortness of breath, or sweating. Call your doctor right away if you have any symptoms of a stroke, such as confusion, difficulty with speaking, double vision, headaches, an inability to move the arms, legs, or facial muscles, an inability to speak, or slow speech.
Make sure your doctor knows about all the other medicines you are using. Sumatriptan may cause a serious condition called serotonin syndrome when taken with some medicines. This especially includes medicines used to treat depression, such as citalopram, duloxetine, escitalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine, Celexa®, Cymbalta®, Effexor®, Lexapro®, Luvox®, Paxil®, Prozac®, Sarafem®, Symbyax®, or Zoloft®. Check with your doctor right away if you have agitation, confusion, diarrhea, excitement while talking that is not normal, fever, overactive reflexes, poor coordination, restlessness, shivering, sweating, trembling or shaking that you cannot control, or twitching. These could be symptoms of serotonin syndrome.
This medicine may cause a serious type of allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis requires immediate medical attention. The most serious signs of this reaction are very fast or irregular breathing, gasping for breath, or fainting. Other signs may include changes in color of the skin of the face, very fast but irregular heartbeat or pulse, hive-like swellings on the skin, and puffiness or swellings of the eyelids or around the eyes. If these effects occur, get emergency help at once.
Before having a medical procedure (such as magnetic resonance imaging or MRI), you must remove the patch because it contains metal parts. Also, do not apply the patch near body areas with medical devices (eg, implantable cardiac pacemaker, body-worn insulin pump, implantable deep brain stimulator).
Some people feel dizzy or drowsy during or after a migraine, or using sumatriptan to relieve a migraine. As long as you are feeling dizzy or drowsy, do not drive, use machines, or do anything else that could be dangerous if you are dizzy or not alert.
Do not take other medicines unless they have been discussed with your doctor. This includes prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicines and herbal or vitamin supplements.
Portions of this document last updated: April 01, 2024
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