Qulipta (atogepant) is a prescription drug used daily for the preventive treatment of episodic migraine (with headaches occurring up to 14 days per month) in adults. Its mechanism, which involves blocking calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptors, is focused on preventing the onset of migraine attacks.
Qulipta (atogepant) can be abruptly stopped in terms of your oral tablet use. However, many patients have described the withdrawal symptoms as being intense. Usually, resulting in headaches or migraines returning.
Key Takeaways
Qulipta (atogepant) is a prescription drug used daily for the preventive treatment of episodic migraine (with headaches occurring up to 14 days per month) in adults.
There are no withdrawal symptoms recorded with Qulipta (atogepant) that is related to fatigue, dizziness, “brain fog,” or anxiety. However, patients who abruptly stop taking Qulipta (atogepant) often experience their headaches return quickly.
Qulipta (atogepant) Withdrawal Symptoms
Before discontinuing use of any prescription medication, you should visit your primary care physician to learn about their approach to tapering your dosage schedule. For example, the most commonly prescribed milligram of Qulipta (atogepant) is the 60 mg quantity. Your primary care physician may suggest to lower your dosage to the 30 mg and finally the 10 mg amounts to lessen the chances of any withdrawal symptoms from appearing.
Headaches and Migraines Returning
Most commonly, patients experience their migraines and headaches return quite quickly when they discontinue use. Since Qulipta (atogepant) is quite effective in curbing the onset of migraines, when the patient discontinues use, the migraines may return quickly.
Based on this Reddit thread, patients said, “I’ve been on qulipta for almost a year and have been suffering with intolerable brain fog and anxiety. I asked my doc about brain fog and she said that it definitely wasn't from Qulipta. It's worked WONDERS for my migraines. I stopped taking Qulipta a few days ago and am having headaches.”
In the same Reddit thread another user said, “I just stopped Qulipta a week ago and have been having headaches this week, days 4-8.“
And this would be quite obvious and common—the notion that your migraines and headaches will return as your strongest withdrawal symptom from the medication.
Dizziness, Vertigo, and Fatigue
Some patients have publicly disclosed that they started to feel a sense of “brain fog” or fatigue after continued use with Qulipta (atogepant). However, long-term use and withdrawal symptoms is not something that has been tested by AbbVie, the maker of Qulipta (atogepant).
Most likely, these patients who are reporting issues with dizziness, vertigo, and fatigue are most likely experiencing issues from their drug combinations. Or from the long-term side effects that include:
Body weight decrease (experienced in 7% of patients against placebo trials)
Nausea
Fatigue
Patients who are experiencing dizziness, vertigo, or fatigue are most likely not experiencing the withdrawal symptoms, however, are experiencing the common side effects of the medication.
At this time no other withdrawal symptoms have been reported due to long-term use of Qulipta and discontinuing use abruptly.
Related: Qulipta Side Effects
Find Affordable Brand-Name and Generic Drugs at Drugmart.com At Drugmart.com, we pride ourselves on our affordability, exceptional quality and ease of use when our patients shop for both brand-name and generic drugs. We work closely with the world's most reputable pharmacies to provide high-quality medications from Canada and other tier 1 international sources at unmatched prices, so you can get the treatment you need without worrying about affordability.
Sources
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health. (2023, June). Atogepant (Qulipta): CADTH reimbursement recommendation. CADTH. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK595348/
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (n.d.). QULIPTA (atogepant) prescribing information. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/spl/data/a313e1c3-0edb-4e39-b069-0c538f0c9424/a313e1c3-0edb-4e39-b069-0c538f0c9424.xml
Rizzoli, P., Marmura, M. J., Robblee, J., McVige, J., Sacco, S., Nahas, S. J., Ailani, J., Ferreira, R. D. A., Ma, J., Smith, J. H., Dabruzzo, B., & Ashina, M. (2024). Safety and tolerability of atogepant for the preventive treatment of migraine: A post hoc analysis of pooled data from four clinical trials. The Journal of Headache and Pain, 25(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s10194-024-01736-z
Related Articles
Qulipta Uses: For Patients with Migraines and More
Qulipta (atogepant) is a prescription drug used daily for the preventive treatment of episodic migraine (with headaches occurring up to 14 days per month) in adults. Its mechanism, which involves...
Qulipta Side Effects: What to Know (2024)
Qulipta is a brand-name oral tablet prescribed for migraine prevention. Qulipta contains the active drug atogepant. Due to the common use, many patients want to investigate some of the common side effects and...
Over-the-Counter vs. Prescription Drugs: What Are the Similarities & Differences?
Prescription and over-the-counter drugs provide a wide range of benefits for their users. If you look at over-the-counter vs. prescription medications, there are several...
