Sumatriptan

Cautions

Anyone who has three or more of these cardiovascular risk factors is not suitable for OTC sumatriptan:

  • men aged over 40 years
  • post-menopausal women
  • hypercholesterolaemia
  • regular smoker (>10 cigarettes daily)
  • obesity – body mass index more than 30 kg/m2
  • diabetes
  • family history of early heart disease – either father or brother had a heart attack or angina before the age of 55 or mother or sister had a heart attack or angina before the age of 65

Contraindication

  • Sumatriptan must not be used prophylactically
  • known hypersensitivity to any component of the product
  • known hypersensitivity to sulphonamides
  • known hypertension
  • previous myocardial infarction
  • ischaemic heart disease, e.g. angina
  • peripheral vascular disease
  • coronary vasospasm/Prinzmetal’s angina
  • cardiac arrhythmias (including Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome)
  • hepatic or renal impairment
  • epilepsy or history of seizures
  • atypical migraine (including hemiplegic, basilar or ophthalmoplegic migraine)
  • a history of cerebrovascular accident or transient ischaemic attack
  • concomitant administration with ergotamine, ergotamine derivatives, other triptans, monoamine oxidase inhibitors