what are some migraine medication that is not vascular constictor?

The answer depends on whether you are looking to prevent the migraines from happening, or whether you are looking to stop the migraines when they do occur. The first are preventative medications, and the second are abortive.

The vast majority of the time, preventative medications are not vasoconstrictors. Medications for preventing migraines are taken daily, and may include blood pressure medications, or anticonvulsants (which are the same drugs used to prevent epileptic seizures). They have no effect on your blood vessels whatsoever, and are often highly effective for preventing migraines. Usually, a person will want to consider these medications if migraines are occurring two times a week, or more (although this varies).

For aborting migraines, the triptans are by far the most common medications — these include Imitrex, and are the ones that constrict blood vessels. But there are other options, too. For many people, taking a dose of an NSAID medication such as Naproxen (the ingredient in Aleve) is effective for aborting a migraine, and this does not constrict blood vessels. Some people also respond to plain old Aspirin. The trick to using these medications effectively is to take them immediately when you know that a migraine is coming on — if you wait, they are far less likely to work. Also, you must carefully avoid having so-called “rebound” headaches, which are caused by overuse of pain killers. If you have frequent migraines — more than a couple of times each week — then you cannot usually use NSAIDs or other abortive medications for all of your attacks; overuse can cause very severe migraines that are often unresponsive to medication.

But the most important thing is to consult your doctor about your migraines; if they are bothering you very much, you’d probably benefit a lot from thinking about ways to prevent them from happening in the first place. And there are lots of effective ways to do this. Best of luck to you!