How long does DHE stay in the body?

Hi al2ic2ia,

Thank you for your question. Getting a new diagnosis can be scary and confusing, been there done that! The best thing we can do for ourselves is to learn about our particular type of migraine and/or headache disorder. And educated patient can help make decisions with their health care partner.

If I'm not mistaken DHE stays in the system for about 9 hours. I found this that may help; "The major excretory route of dihydroergotamine is via the bile in the feces. The total body clearance is 1.5 L/min which reflects mainly hepatic clearance. Only 6%-7% of unchanged dihydroergotamine is excreted in the urine after intramuscular injection. The renal clearance (0.1 L/min) is unaffected by the route of dihydroergotamine administration. The decline of plasma dihydroergotamine after intramuscular or intravenous administration is multi-exponential with a terminal half-life of about 9 hours." This is from drugs.com.

I know how awful it is to be dizzy and in pain. I've tried PT for vestibular issues that helped quite a bit. Something to think about!

Nancy

You should be able to get a DHE prescription from your Headache Specialist so you can give yourself injections at home. I get 30 ampules per month and purposely cut the 1 mg dose down to 0.40 mg and get three syringes filled since they include agout 20 mg more than the 1 mg size. Hopefully you have a doctor and insurance company that will work with you on this? You may want to inquire about a new FDA approved med Aimovig™ (erenumab) which belongs to a new class of drugs known as selective calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonists, which are used for the treatment of acute migraine attacks. But work with your doctor, establish trust and rapport and you should be able to get anything you want.