Although some patients may prefer using an oral triptan other than Sumaritan and injectable Sumaritan to treat an attack of persistent migraine, administration of 2 different triptans within a 24-hour period currently is contradicted. A study was conducted by Dr. John Rothrock, MD and Veronica Morey, RN at the Department of Neurology, University of Alabama School of Medicine, evaluating a series of migraine patients who treated their migraines by mixing triptans during at least 3 different migraine attacks and rated their satisfaction.
200 subjects enrolled in the study, with 66% using an oral triptan other than Sumatriptan and injectable Sumatriptan. At their final follow up visit, 89% reported themselves “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with this specific treatment regimen, with no serious adverse events recorded.
Rothrock and Morey go on to report that for many individuals injectable sumatriptan represents a good option for relief from acute migraine headache of moderate to severe intensity. Although the oral triptans can also be effective in that clinical setting, those drugs typically are more effective if administered when the headache is less severe and in many cases represent a patient’s treatment of choice for such headaches. It seems difficult to justify restricting patients to a “one or the other” treatment paradigm for a migraine attack given the lack of compelling evidence to support such management.
Further research is needed to assess any potential risk however, one is hard-pressed to offer any other compelling rationale for the current proscription against mixing triptans.