Can imitrex cause rebound headaches?

Hi,
I got a neurologist a couple months ago, she freaked that another doc prescribed Esgic for my migraines and headaches, which were/are daily for a week at a time or more. She told me that my headaches are rebound HA's and that I should switch to Extra Strength Tylenol or Imitrex and take no Esgic. She is actually worried I am addicted to the butalbital in the Esgic, a barbiturate. I didn't really care as Imitrex works better but my insurance only gives me 9 per month. The other doc had also given me imitrex but the Esgic was to fill in if I ran out or if the headaches were not quite migraines. Sometimes I get pain free migraines too, which are really weird...
So now my migraines are going daily for a week, then a week off, then another run. I can get rid of them for half a day with imitrex, but then would have to take it again. Since I don't have enough imitrex despite her giving me handfulls of samples, I often do an imitrex if I have to be somewhere and otherwise grit my teeth and ignore it. Tylenol is pretty useless and Esgic really doesn't work well if taken more than twice a week as tolerance goes up.
Is it possible to get rebounds from imitrex? I would ask her but she is extremely hard to get ahold of, only works one day a week and doesn't return calls. Is there any reason not to take more than 2 doses in a day if I need to? The packaging says "Take as suggested" which really doesn't help as I don't remember what the doctors said. Think I will take one now, actually (:
Kate

Hi, Yes imitrix can cause rebound headaches. I went through a similar experience recently. My doc was giving me lots of samples but she didn't tell me that you should only take 2-3/week. I was taking them every day for a few weeks - and I found I would get a dull ache behind my eyes when I didn't take any, I would think it was a migraine and take another one. When I stopped taking them I had the dull headache for a week but it never got completely unbarable. Now I only get about 1 migraine/week - big improvment ! Hang in there, if it works use it- but not everyday...
good luck!
Mel

Lady Lazarus is absolutely right - Imitrex can cause rebound, as can any of the other triptans, OTC pain relievers, narcotics, etc.

Diana

I was previously on Imitrex, and then Maxalt (both Triptans), and I had such rebound headaches from both that I couldn't take them anymore.

Hi Kate,

Be careful with Triptans. They can definitely cause rebound headaches. Some experts say not more than 2 or 3 a month, some 2 then wait for 5 days before taking more.

As for the warning about no more than 2 in a day, DO heed this warning. Triptans can be dangerous because they constrict the size of your blood vessels and can increase your risk of stroke or heart attack. For example, on a plane I had taken one and thought I was having a heart attack because when the plane took off my blood vessels couldn't expand with the pressure (I had taken an Imitrex just before take off). I was fine because the pressure subsided but if you take too much similar things can happen if have any sort of anomaly in your cardiovascular system.