Oral triptan therapy.

Oral and Intranasal Triptan Therapy for Acute Migraine Headache The “triptans” are a family of drugs that were developed to treat acute migraine headache. Your doctor has prescribed for you 1 of the oral triptans: Imitrex (sumatriptan), Amerge (naratriptan), Zomig (zolmitriptan), Maxalt (rizatriptan), Axert (almotriptan), Frova (frovatriptan), or Relpax (eletriptan). Alternatively, he/she may have prescribed 1 of the 2 triptans marketed as nasal sprays: Imitrex nasal spray or Zomig nasal spray. Although all of the oral and intranasal triptans initially were investigated for the treatment of migraine headache of moderate to severe intensity and were superior to placebo in those pivotal trials, they appear to be more consistently effective when used to treat migraine earlier in the attack, when the headache is still mild to moderate. Ideally, the oral or intranasal triptans should be used as follows.