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Migraine Prevention

Of the 28 million Americans who suffer from frequent and severe migraine attacks—only 5% are treated with migraine prophylaxis (prevention medicine). You may benefit from migraine prevention therapy if you have two or more disabling migraines a month, frequently use pain relief medicine or are unable to take triptans or other migraine pain relief medicines. In fact, if recurring migraines seriously interfere with your daily life, then migraine prevention therapy could help.

Migraine prevention medicine
Different types of medicines are used for migraine prevention.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved five drugs for migraine prevention:

  • TOPAMAX ® (topiramate) Tablets
  • Methysergide
  • Propranolol
  • Timolol and
  • Divalproex sodium

As with any prescription medicine, it's important to carefully follow the instructions on the label as well as your healthcare professional's advice. Use these migraine prevention medicines only under the direction of a healthcare professional familiar with migraine prevention therapy.

Migraine prevention includes pain relief
Even though migraine prevention medicine helps stop migraine headaches before they occur, you could still have occasional migraine headaches. To ease the pain of these "breakthrough" migraine headaches, your healthcare professional may also prescribe a pain relief medicine.

To find out more about acute pain relief for migraine headaches, read common questions about migraine treatment.

You have a say about your migraine therapy. To get the most effective treatment, learn how to work with your healthcare professional.

 

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Work With Your Healthcare Professional

 

 

What Are Migraine Headaches? | What Triggers Migraine Headaches? | How Are Migraine Headaches Diagnosed? | Migraine Headache Treatments | Work With Your Healthcare Professional | Web Resources

Could TOPAMAX be right for you?

TOPAMAX has helped adult patients have more migraine-free days. Answer four questions to find out if TOPAMAX could be right for you.More...


 


Ortho-McNeil Neurologics

TOPAMAX® (topiramate) Tablets are approved for migraine prevention in adults only. The usefulness of TOPAMAX in the acute treatment of migraine headache has not been studied.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION ABOUT TOPAMAX

Serious risks associated with TOPAMAX include lowered bicarbonate levels in the blood resulting in an increase in the acidity of the blood (metabolic acidosis), and hyperventilation (rapid, deep breathing) or fatigue. More severe symptoms of metabolic acidosis could include irregular heartbeat or changes in the level of alertness.  Chronic, untreated metabolic acidosis may increase the risk for kidney stones or bone disease. Your doctor may want to do simple blood tests to measure bicarbonate levels.

Other serious risks include increased eye pressure (glaucoma), decreased sweating, increased body temperature, kidney stones, sleepiness, dizziness, confusion, and difficulty concentrating. Tell your doctor immediately if you have blurred vision or eye pain.

More common side effects are tingling in arms and legs, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, taste change and weight loss.

Tell your doctor about other medications you take.

AXERT® (almotriptan malate) Tablets are indicated for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults and should be used only when a clear diagnosis of migraine has been established. AXERT is not intended for the prophylactic therapy of migraine or for use in the management of hemiplegic or basilar migraine. Safety and effectiveness of AXERT have not been established for cluster headache, which is present in an older, predominantly male population.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION ABOUT AXERT

AXERT tablets should be used only when a clear diagnosis of migraine has been established. AXERT is not right for everyone. You should not take AXERT if you have known heart disease or risk factors for heart disease or stroke (family history, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, past menopause or smoking). Medicines in this class have been associated with rare reports of serious heart-related problems. Because AXERT may increase blood pressure it should not be taken if you have uncontrolled hypertension. If you're not sure whether you have heart disease or risk factors, ask your doctor.

Before taking AXERT, be sure to tell your doctor about any medicines you are taking or plan to take. As with other medicines in this class, AXERT should not be taken within 24 hours of another triptan or ergotamine. Do no take AXERT if you have had an allergic reaction to any of its ingredients.

The most common side effects are: nausea, sleepiness, tingling in the arms or legs (paresthesia), headache, and dry mouth.

As your healthcare professional about side effects and other important considerations before taking AXERT.

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