Type of medication:
Axert® (almotriptan malate) is an antimigraine medication, and should not be used to relieve any kind of pain other than Migraine. Many people find that their Migraines go away completely after they take almotriptan. Other people find that their Migraines are much less painful, and that they are able to go back to their normal activities even though their Migraines are not completely gone. Almotriptan often relieves symptoms that occur together with a migraine, such as nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, and sensitivity to sound.
How Supplied: 6.25 mg and 12.5 mg tablets
Precautions:
Almotriptan is generally not prescribed under these conditions:
- presence or risk factors for coronary artery disease
- uncontrolled hypertension
- basilar or hemiplegic Migraines
- Do NOT take Axert within 24 hours of taking any other triptan.
- Do NOT take Axert within 24 hours of taking any ergotamine medication such as DHE or Migranal.
Pregnancy and Breastfeeding:
- FDA pregnancy category C. This means that it is not known whether this drug will harm an unborn baby. Do not take this medication without first talking to your doctor if you are pregnant or could become pregnant during treatment.
- It is not known whether this medication passes into breast milk. Do not take without talking to your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.
Other medical conditions:
Be sure to tell your doctor if you have:
- high blood pressure, chest pain, shortness of breath, or heart disease
- family members with heart disease
- liver or kidney problems
- diabetes
- high cholesterol
- plans to become pregnant, or if you are pregnant, might be pregnant, or do not use effective birth control
- plans to breast-feed, or if you are already breast-feeding a baby
Other medications:
Be sure to tell your doctor if you are taking any other prescription or over-the-counter medications, especially other prescription medicine for Migraine or depression.
- Do not take almotriptan if you have taken a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) such as isocarboxazid (Marplan), tranylcypromine (Parnate), or phenelzine (Nardil) within the last 14 days. The combination could cause seizures, nausea, vomiting, sweating, flushing, and dizziness.
- Do not take almotriptan if you have taken any of the following medicines within the previous 24 hours:
- ergot-based medications such as methysergide (Sansert), ergotamine (Ergostat), dihydroergotamine (D.H.E., Migranal Nasal Spray), and ergotamine combination products (Cafergot, Ercaf, Wigraine, Cafatine, Cafatine-PB, Cafetrate).
- another triptan such as zolmitriptan (Zomig, Zomig ZMT), rizatriptan (Maxalt, Maxalt-MLT), almotriptan (Amerge), sumatriptan (Imitrex), frovatriptan (Frova), or eletriptan (Relpax)
- Do not take almotriptan if you have taken ketoconazole (Nizoral), itraconazole (Sporanox), ritonavir (Norvir), or erythromycin (E-Mycin, others) in the last 7 days
