My neurologist has prescribed me Gpants in tablet form after I have trialed 4 different horrible preventive medications. I was happy to finally be at the stage to qualify for these.
Bad news is- he tells me it’s unlikely my GPs will pay for me to have them as they are so expensive -£200/£300 month. Has anyone else experienced this problem? I am very upset and shocked at this-qualifying for a much needed medicine yet being refused it.
Has anyone tried the Gpants, what are side effects like and success?
many thanks
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Hello. Gpants have never been paid for by the NHS. It is approved by NICE but that's it. This medication acts on the CGRP, which in turn are just one part of the migraine process. It works differently for each of us. I hope you find a solution.
Hello,I have tried both Remegepant and currently Atogepant, privately at first. For me, Atogepant works better, especially when teamed with a CGRP injection ( for me this is currently Aimovig).
Because I have suffered so badly in the past, especially with sickness, when my weight dropped below what could be considered healthy I have managed to get Remegepant prescribed by my gp surgery in the past. I'm hoping to change this to Atogepant in the near future. I managed this after intervention by the head pharmacy practitioner who strongly recommended it.
However I also have regular contact with the National Migraine Centre, who prescribe the injections privately. It is because of this regular contact that they are able to circumvent the process and allow me free access to the gepants.
The two drugs combined help enormously with levels of sickness and pain, but sadly I still get regular migraines ( they don't seem so good at reducing frequency).
I hope hou can get something sorted.
The CGRP injections are available through a neurologist. I'm surprised your gp isn't referring you.
Thank you for this. I’m glad this has managed your symptoms but sorry to hear it hasn’t stopped the frequency that’s not good.
I am under a neurologist however he didn’t explain i could have injections as well as gpants-just that I qualified for Botox or gpants, and gpants tablets would be better. He has wrote a prescription to my GP but said he knows the GP wont pay for it.
He has referred me to a headache clinic who will pay for it but this is over a years waiting time plus very far from where I live, of course willing to travel to get anything that will help.
It makes me so mad that we have to beg and feel like criminals just to get appropriate treatment. I only went private in the first place because I was refused accessibility to some of these drugs. Initially I was given Emgality which worked brilliantly, but knly for 9 weeks as I developed antibodies to it. I thought it would be a simple matter of switching to another brand, but no. Apparently if one drug fails you aren't allowed to try any other. So why do we have 4 different types if you can only try 1.
It's like going to the gp with high blood pressure and then being told to go away if the first drug you try doesn't work so well.
Why we in the migraine community are treated like this I will never know.
And why we all have to endure months of taking medication not specifically for migraine first before we are offered migraine specific drugs is also crazy.
I hope you get it sorted. I can't see why you are not being offered cgrp injections as these can only be prescribed by neurologists and migraine specialists.
I've spent a small fortune on this dreadful ailment but at least I know I've left no stone unturned and finally am only paying for 1 treatment instead of 2.
Sounds like you have really suffered. I agree it’s a terrible situation not having free or even affordable, straight forward access to suitable medication.
My neurologist said I can have a private prescription for Gpants but would be £200/£300 a month. He also said all new medications start of very expensive like this then as time goes on they will become the same price as average medications (a few pounds per tablet.) so there is hope for the long term future- suppose we are the Guinea pig generation.
For now I’m managing with eletriptan and ibuprofen. I’m lucky in that I don’t get sickness.
yes, I’m having to pay for them at the moment, £288 and change a month, but I’ve gone from 7 migraines in the 1st 2 weeks of September to 1 in the same period in October, so they’re worth it. I’ve an appointment at an NHS headache clinic at the beginning of November and the hope is that they’ll prescribe it.
I’m a bit prone to UTIs, which are recorded as a possible side effect. I don’t know if the one I just had is linked to that. I might hav to go back on prophylactic antibiotics.
I hope they work for you and you can get them funded.
Have you tried verapamil? I was on different medication originally propananol, topiramate,then various tryptins, I also ended up getting nerve block injections in the base of my neck, but also having the sumaptrapin injection pens would alleviate the big headache, and after taking the verapamil it was a life saver, and I'm now more or less free, and prior to that I was getting 4 or 5 attacks a day, or should I say early hours of the morning, normally while asleep, mine were diagnosed as cluster headaches and these are the worst pain known to mankind, even oxygen therapy is used for this complaint, I hope you find a suitable medication without getting charged astronomical amounts of money, best of luck
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