How Do You Take Reyvow? Plus, 5 Other Pharmacist-Backed Tips for Getting the Most Out of This Medication

If you or a loved one has migraine headaches, you know the symptoms aren’t fun. Vision changes, nausea, and vomiting can affect your daily life. Several migraine treatments, including medications, can help. 

Reyvow (lasmiditan) is one FDA-approved medication that can treat migraines. If you’ve been prescribed Reyvow, we’ll review six pharmacist-backed tips for how to take it. 

1. Take Reyvow as soon as you feel migraine symptoms

Exactly how to take Reyvow depends on your prescription. Your prescriber will recommend a specific dose and directions for taking it. Most often, your initial Reyvow dose is either 50 mg or 100 mg as a single dose. Your prescriber may increase your dose to 200 mg if needed. 

It’s best to take Reyvow as soon as you feel a migraine attack coming on. The quicker you take it after feeling migraine symptoms, the quicker you’ll get relief. 

In studies, about 30% of people taking Reyvow 200 mg were pain free within 2 hours of taking Reyvow. And about 25% of people taking Reyvow 100 mg were pain free 2 hours after their Reyvow dose. With both doses, over 65% of people experienced pain relief, even if they weren’t completely pain free.

Keep in mind: Reyvow doesn’t prevent migraines. So you should only take Reyvow if you’re experiencing a migraine headache. Based on how many migraines you have a month and other factors, your prescriber can discuss whether you’d benefit from also taking a preventative migraine medication.

2. You shouldn’t take more than one dose of Reyvow every 24 hours

Studies have shown that taking more than one Reyvow dose for a single migraine attack doesn’t have added benefits. So you should only take one dose of Reyvow per every 24 hour period. Taking more than one dose in a 24-hour period can also increase your risk of side effects, such as dizziness, “pins and needles” sensations, and fatigue.

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3. You can take Reyvow with or without food

Certain medications should be taken with food, while others should be taken on an empty stomach. This is usually because food can affect how well some medications are absorbed by the body.

But Reyvow doesn’t have strict rules around taking it with or without food. That means you don’t have to pay attention to when you last ate before taking Reyvow.

However, nausea is a possible side effect of Reyvow. So taking it with food may help if you experience nausea or vomiting.

4. You may be able to take other migraine medications with Reyvow, but only with your prescriber’s approval

Once you take a dose of Reyvow, you shouldn’t take any other migraine medications right away.  Reyvow is meant to work on its own to relieve migraines. But what happens if your migraine doesn’t improve? Can you take another migraine medication, such as sumatriptan (Imitrex)?

Possibly. But you’ll need to discuss this first with your prescriber. Although taking Reyvow and sumatriptan together doesn’t impact how they’re absorbed by the body, they have some similar risks, such as serotonin syndrome. This is a potentially dangerous condition where you have too much serotonin (a chemical messenger in the brain). Symptoms include sweating, agitation, and nausea and vomiting. 

While serotonin syndrome is rare, taking Reyvow and sumatriptan together could increase your risk.

EXPERT PICKS: WHAT TO READ NEXT

• Common Reyvow side effects: Dizziness and drowsiness are common side effects of Reyvow. They can affect your ability to drive. Other risks include dependence and misuse.

• Over-the-counter (OTC) medications for migraines: Several OTC options treat migraines, but knowing how to use them is important.

• Prescription-only migraine treatments: Several prescription medications are available to help prevent and treat migraines.

Other migraine medications can also interact with Reyvow. For example, Reyvow may interact with propranolol (Inderal LA, InnoPran XL), a medication that prevents migraines. Both medications can decrease your heart rate. Propranolol is taken daily for migraine prevention, so taking Reyvow and propranolol on the same day could drop your heart rate too much.

Despite potential risks, it’s possible that your prescriber will want you to take additional migraine medications besides Reyvow. But ask them to discuss the risk versus benefits first. They can also explain how to time the dosing of the two medications if needed.

Good to know: If you take multiple migraine-relief medications, keep track of how many times you use them. For example, taking 10 or more doses of triptans per month may worsen your migraines. Your prescriber can offer suggestions to help you manage your headaches and avoid this from happening.

5. Avoid activities that require alertness right after a dose of Reyvow

Reyvow can cause drowsiness and dizziness. And studies of Reyvow have found this affects the ability to drive or do other activities that require alertness, even if you don’t feel any different than usual.

That’s why Reyvow’s manufacturer recommends waiting at least 8 hours after taking a dose before driving or operating machinery. If you can’t wait this long to do these activities, you shouldn’t take Reyvow. Your prescriber can help you choose another migraine medication if this is the case.

6. Let your prescriber know if you’re taking Reyvow too often

Reyvow’s manufacturer doesn’t recommend using Reyvow more than four times within a 30-day period. This is because there haven’t been any studies of people using Reyvow more often than this. So we don’t know whether it's safe. But we do know that using Reyvow more often may increase your risk of side effects. 

What’s more, Reyvow is classified as a controlled substance, which means it has a higher risk for dependence and misuse. The risk is low with Reyvow, but using it more frequently than how it’s prescribed increases your risk.

If you find yourself needing Reyvow more often than four times per 30-day period, let your prescriber know. Having more than four migraines a month might mean you need a preventative migraine medication. Or, you might need a different medication for treating migraines.

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Written by:

Austin Ulrich, PharmD, BCACP

Austin Ulrich, PharmD, BCACP, is a board-certified ambulatory care clinical pharmacist. In his early career, he provided direct patient care in a variety of settings, including hospital and community pharmacies, and in a primary care clinic as a clinical pharmacist.

Edited by:

Amy B. Gragnolati, PharmD, BCPS

Amy Gragnolati, PharmD, BCPS, is a pharmacy editor for GoodRx. Amy currently holds her pharmacist license in Georgia and California.

Reviewed by:

Daphne Berryhill, RPh

Daphne Berryhill, RPh, has two decades of experience as a clinical pharmacist. She spent most of her career in the Chicago area practicing in-home infusion.

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