Rizatriptan (Systemic)

Brand Names : Maxalt, Maxalt-MLT

Before Using This Medicine

In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For rizatriptan, the following should be considered:

Allergies - Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to rizatriptan or aspartame. Also tell your health care professional if you are allergic to any other substances, such as foods, preservatives, or dyes.

Pregnancy - Rizatriptan has not been studied in pregnant women. However, in some animal studies, rizatriptan caused harmful effects to the fetus. These unwanted effects usually occurred when rizatriptan was given in amounts that were large enough to cause harmful effects in the mother. Rizatriptan crosses the placenta in animals.

Breast-feeding - It is not known whether rizatriptan passes into human breast milk. However, it has been shown to pass into the milk of nursing animals.

Children - There is no specific information comparing use of rizatriptan in children with use in other age groups.

Older adults - Rizatriptan has been tested in elderly patients and has not been shown to cause different side effects or problems in older people than it does in younger adults.

Other medicines - Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are taking rizatriptan, it is especially important that your health care professional know if you are taking any of the following:

• Dihydroergotamine
• Ergotamine
• Methysergide
• Other 5-hydroxytryptamine agonists (naratriptan [e.g., Amerge], sumatriptan [e.g., Imitrex], zolmitriptan [e.g., Zomig]) - Taking these medications with rizatriptan may increase the effects of rizatriptan

• Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor activity (isocarboxazid [e.g., Marplan], phenelzine [e.g., Nardil], procarbazine [e.g., Matulane], selegiline [e.g., Eldepryl], tranylcypromine [e.g., Parnate]) - Taking rizatriptan while you are taking or within 2 weeks of taking MAO inhibitors may cause sudden high body temperature, extremely high blood pressure, and severe convulsions; at least 14 days should be allowed between stopping treatment with one medicine and starting treatment with the other.

Other medical problems - The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of rizatriptan. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:

• Angina (chest pain) or
• Heart or blood vessel disease or
• High blood pressure (uncontrolled) or
• Kidney disease or
• Liver disease - The chance of side effects may be increased. Heart or blood vessel disease and high blood pressure sometimes do not cause any symptoms, so some people do not know that they have these problems. Before deciding whether you should use rizatriptan, your doctor may need to do some tests to make sure that you do not have any of these conditions