Drug & supplement interaction

Ketogenic Diet + Sumatriptan

Sumatriptan brand name: Tosymra.

No Known Interaction
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Ketogenic Diet and Sumatriptan in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Ketogenic Diet and Sumatriptan

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Sumatriptan and Ketogenic Diet in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — research on Ketogenic Diet alongside specific medications may be limited.

Ketogenic Diet is an eating pattern rather than something you take. Ask your pharmacist or doctor before changing how you eat while on a prescribed medicine: some medicines are dosed around meals, and a change in diet can change how they work. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Ketogenic Diet safety at a glance

Ketogenic Diet overall Use caution Generally manageable for healthy adults short-term, but it can cause side effects and is not safe for everyone.
Pregnancy Use caution Strict keto is generally not recommended in pregnancy without medical supervision because of nutrient and growth concerns.
Breastfeeding Possibly Unsafe When used orally without medical supervision. While rare, there are several case reports of lactation ketoacidosis thought to be associated with adherence to ca... Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Sumatriptan and Ketogenic Diet? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Sumatriptan

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Sumatriptan is filed under 4 classifications — including qt interval-prolonging drugs, serotonergic drugs, serotonergic drugs. Ketogenic Diet has documented interactions with 6 drug classes — the most serious being anticonvulsants (moderate), antidiabetes drugs (moderate) and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (moderate) — and none of Sumatriptan’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Ketogenic Diet Does Interact With Other Medications

Ketogenic Diet has 137 moderate, 122 minor known drug interactions in our database — Sumatriptan isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Ketogenic Diet

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Ketogenic Diet. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Ketogenic Diet and Sumatriptan May Share Several of the Same Side Effects

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so following Ketogenic Diet while taking the medicine can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do. One of them is worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • Seizures Worth acting on Additional detail

    Ketogenic Diet

    “Increased risk of infection has been reported rarely, possibly related to low protein intake. Anaphylaxis associated with the ketogenic diet has also been reported rarely. In one case, a 6-year-old male developed a new-onset egg allergy with an anaphylactic reaction following a previous consumption of 10-15 eggs daily for 6 months as part of the ketogenic diet for epilepsy.”

    Ketogenic Diet · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in allergic rhinitis (hay fever).

    3 sources cited
    1. 98416. van der Louw E, van den Hurk D, Neal E, et al. Ketogenic diet guidelines for infants with refractory epilepsy. Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2016;20(6):798-809. PubMed
    2. 96968. Ulamek-Koziol M, Pluta R, Bogucka-Kocka A, Czuczwar SJ. To treat or not to treat drug-refractory epilepsy by the ketogenic diet? That is the question. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2016;23(4):533-536. PubMed
    3. 97642. Levy Y, Peleg-Weiss L, Goldberg-Stern H. The modified Atkins diet for intractable epilepsy may be associated with late-onset egg-induced anaphylactic reaction: a case report. Nutrition. 2011;27(3):380-2.

    “Hyperuricemia is a common mild and transient adverse effect related to a very low-calorie ketogenic diet in obese adults. It has also been reported with high-fat ketogenic diets in children with epilepsy and a few patients with cancer.

    In a case report, hyponatremia thought to be related to the ketogenic diet occurred in an adult given the diet for super-refractory status epilepticus.”

    Ketogenic Diet · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in anemia.

    6 sources cited
    1. 96957. Martin-McGill KJ, Srikandarajah N, Marson AG, Tudur Smith C, Jenkinson MD. The role of ketogenic diets in the therapeutic management of adult and paediatric gliomas: a systematic review. CNS Oncol. 2018;7(2):CNS17.
    2. 96970. Zahra A, Fath MA, Opat E, et al. Consuming a ketogenic diet while receiving radiation and chemotherapy for locally advanced lung cancer and pancreatic cancer: The University of Iowa experience of two phase 1 clinical trials. Radiat Res. 2017;187(6):743-75 PubMed
    3. 96978. Winter SF, Loebel F, Dietrich J. Role of ketogenic metabolic therapy in malignant glioma: A systematic review. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2017;112:41-58. PubMed
    4. 97650. Cai QY, Zhou ZJ, Luo R, et al. Safety and tolerability of the ketogenic diet used for the treatment of refractory childhood epilepsy: a systematic review of published prospective studies. World J Pediatr. 2017;13(6):528-536. PubMed
    5. 98415. Cervenka MC, Hocker S, Koenig M, et al. Phase I/II multicenter ketogenic diet study for adult superrefractory status epilepticus. Neurology. 2017;88(10):938-943. PubMed
    6. 100843. Chin A. Copper Deficiency Anemia and Neutropenia Due to Ketogenic Diet. Pediatrics. 2018;141(5). pii: e20173286. PubMed

    Sumatriptan

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Sumatriptan. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Dizziness Additional detail

    Ketogenic Diet

    “The ketogenic diet is generally well tolerated when followed for up to one year. Ketogenic diets have poor long-term tolerability and are usually not sustainable long-term.

    Most Common Adverse Effects:

    Dizziness, fatigue, headache, gastrointestinal discomfort, nausea, and weakness; these symptoms are sometimes referred to as the "keto flu".”

    Ketogenic Diet · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in arrhythmia.

    Sumatriptan

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Sumatriptan. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Headache Additional detail

    Ketogenic Diet

    “Mild headaches, lethargy, and fatigue have been reported rarely, probably related to the reduction in carbohydrate intake. These symptoms are a part of a syndrome called the "keto flu" which sometimes occurs when initiating the ketogenic diet. In a few cases, seizures have worsened.”

    Ketogenic Diet · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in epilepsy.

    6 sources cited
    1. 96903. Liu H, Yang Y, Wang Y, et al. Ketogenic diet for treatment of intractable epilepsy in adults: A meta-analysis of observational studies. Epilepsia Open. 2018;3(1):9-17. PubMed
    2. 96954. Goday A, Bellido D, Sajoux I, et al. Short-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of a very low-calorie-ketogenic diet interventional weight loss program versus hypocaloric diet in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Nutr Diabetes. 2016;6(9):e230. PubMed
    3. 96970. Zahra A, Fath MA, Opat E, et al. Consuming a ketogenic diet while receiving radiation and chemotherapy for locally advanced lung cancer and pancreatic cancer: The University of Iowa experience of two phase 1 clinical trials. Radiat Res. 2017;187(6):743-75 PubMed
    4. 96978. Winter SF, Loebel F, Dietrich J. Role of ketogenic metabolic therapy in malignant glioma: A systematic review. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2017;112:41-58. PubMed
    5. 97650. Cai QY, Zhou ZJ, Luo R, et al. Safety and tolerability of the ketogenic diet used for the treatment of refractory childhood epilepsy: a systematic review of published prospective studies. World J Pediatr. 2017;13(6):528-536. PubMed
    6. 97651. Lin A, Turner Z, Doerrer SC, Stanfield A, Kossoff EH. Complications during ketogenic diet initiation: Prevalence, treatment, and influence on seizure outcomes. Pediatr Neurol. 2017;68:35-39.

    Sumatriptan

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Sumatriptan. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Ketogenic Diet but not commonly for Sumatriptan: stomach upset, a higher chance of infection, a severe allergic reaction and blood clots.

Effects for Sumatriptan come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Ketogenic Diet come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Special populations

Ketogenic Diet in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Lactation Possibly Unsafe

When used orally without medical supervision. While rare, there are several case reports of lactation ketoacidosis thought to be associated with adherence to calorie-restricted and non-calorie-restricted ketogenic diets. The increased metabolic demand of breastfeeding, especially if exclusively breastfeeding, may increase the risk of lactation ketoacidosis in these individuals. In addition to metabolic changes, symptoms included nausea, vomiting, dizziness, dyspnea, lethargy, epigastric pain, and chest pain. In one case, the lactation ketoacidosis was life-threatening and required treatment in the intensive care unit with non-invasive ventilatory support and dextrose and insulin infusions. In this case, the patient was following a calorie-restricted, ketogenic diet and had lost 19 pounds over 3 weeks.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

Overlapping uses

What Sumatriptan Is Prescribed For, and What Ketogenic Diet Has Been Studied For

These two come up together because they touch the same health topic — not because they do the same job. Sumatriptan is a prescription medicine with approved uses on its FDA label. Ketogenic Diet is an eating pattern: what follows is what researchers have looked at it for, and how strong that evidence is.

Sumatriptan is prescribed for: Sumatriptan is used to stop a migraine headache once it starts — with or without aura (the visual or sensory warning signs some people get before a migraine). It is available as tablets, nasal sprays, nasal capsules, and subcutaneous (under-the-skin) injections for this purpose. Sumatriptan subcutaneous injections (brands: Imitrex injection, Sumatriptan Injection, Sumatriptan Succinate Injection) are also approved to treat acute cluster headaches in adults. Sumatriptan is not used to prevent migraines or cluster headaches — it only treats attacks once they begin.

Ketogenic Diet has been studied for:

  • Migraine headache studied, not established Ketogenic Diet has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Ketogenic Diet for migraine headache

    It is unclear if following the ketogenic diet is beneficial in patients with migraine.

Effectiveness ratings and the research summaries above are the verbatim record from the Natural Medicines database, which grades evidence from “Effective” down to “Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate”. A rating below the top of that scale means researchers have looked at it — not that it works, and never that it can stand in for a prescribed medicine. Do not stop or replace Sumatriptan on your own; if you are taking Ketogenic Diet for the same health topic, tell your prescriber, especially if the medicine is being adjusted to a target.

From our Q&A

Questions About Ketogenic Diet or Sumatriptan

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Ketogenic Diet or Sumatriptan, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Sumatriptan

This page covers Ketogenic Diet only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Sumatriptan page lists 50 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), American Hellebore (major), Arsenic (major), Cesium (major) and Ephedra (major).

By severity: 8 major · 31 moderate · 11 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Sumatriptan page

“The supplement risk that matters most with sumatriptan (Tosymra) is serotonin overload. This migraine drug works through serotonin receptors, and 20 of the 50 interacting ingredients on file, 5-HTP among them, can push serotonin activity higher still, raising the risk of serotonin syndrome (agitation, racing heart, fever).”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Sumatriptan interaction page

How much people look this up

Where Ketogenic Diet and Sumatriptan Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Ketogenic Diet
Steady interest

#1,196 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Sumatriptan
Top 5%

#37 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Ketogenic Diet reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Ketogenic Diet and Sumatriptan records this page draws on were last updated July 11, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Eating pattern

About Ketogenic Diet

What is Ketogenic Diet?

  • Weight loss
  • Type 2 diabetes and blood sugar control
  • Drug-resistant epilepsy (especially in children)
  • Reducing appetite
  • Athletic and metabolic interest

The ketogenic diet is a very low-carbohydrate, high-fat eating plan that shifts the body to burn fat for fuel. It has the strongest evidence as a medical therapy for hard-to-treat epilepsy and may help short-term weight loss and blood sugar, but it can be hard to sustain and is not right for everyone. Talk with a doctor or pharmacist before starting, especially if you have a medical condition or take medication.

Whole-food eating plan; sometimes paired with MCT oil or exogenous ketone supplements

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Ketogenic Diet is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Ketogenic Diet record says about it on its own.

Ketogenic Diet: dosing

There is no single "dose" for a ketogenic diet. Instead, it is defined by how much of your calories come from fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Strict therapeutic versions used for epilepsy keep carbohydrates very low and are calculated carefully by a medical team. More relaxed low-carb versions allow somewhat more carbohydrate.If you try keto on your own, follow guidance from a reputable source and pay attention to food quality, hydration, and electrolytes. Children should only follow a medical ketogenic diet under specialist supervision.

From our Ketogenic Diet monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Ketogenic Diet monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Sumatriptan

What Is Sumatriptan Used For?

Brand name: Tosymra

Sumatriptan is used to stop a migraine headache once it starts — with or without aura (the visual or sensory warning signs some people get before a migraine). It is available as tablets, nasal sprays, nasal capsules, and subcutaneous (under-the-skin) injections for this purpose.

Sumatriptan subcutaneous injections (brands: Imitrex injection, Sumatriptan Injection, Sumatriptan Succinate Injection) are also approved to treat acute cluster headaches in adults. Sumatriptan is not used to prevent migraines or cluster headaches — it only treats attacks once they begin.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Sumatriptan

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (46,096 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Headache 3,911 reports
Nausea 3,510 reports
Migraine 3,445 reports
Fatigue 2,617 reports
Dizziness 2,121 reports
See full Sumatriptan drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Ketogenic Diet

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Ketogenic Diet — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
137Moderate
122Minor
2,570No known interaction
Moderate

137 interactions

Showing 60 of 137 moderate interactions — see all 137 on the Ketogenic Diet page.

Minor

122 interactions

Showing 60 of 122 minor interactions — see all 122 on the Ketogenic Diet page.

No interaction 2,570 drugs checked — show the list
Evidence & sources

Ketogenic Diet References

The 72 references that drive our Ketogenic Diet monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Liu H, Yang Y, Wang Y, et al. Ketogenic diet for treatment of intractable epilepsy in adults: A meta-analysis of observational studies. Epilepsia Open. 2018;3(1):9-17. PubMed
  2. Yancy WS Jr, Westman EC, McDuffie JR, et al. A randomized trial of a low-carbohydrate diet vs orlistat plus a low-fat diet for weight loss. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(2):136-45. PubMed
  3. Goday A, Bellido D, Sajoux I, et al. Short-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of a very low-calorie-ketogenic diet interventional weight loss program versus hypocaloric diet in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Nutr Diabetes. 2016;6(9):e230. PubMed
  4. Saslow LR, Mason AE, Kim S, et al. An online intervention comparing a very low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet and lifestyle recommendations versus a plate method diet in overweight individuals with type 2 diabetes: A randomized controlled trial. J Med Intern
  5. Hussain TA, Mathew TC, Dashti AA, Asfar S, Al-Zaid N, Dashti HM. Effect of low-calorie versus low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet in type 2 diabetes. Nutrition. 2012;28(10):1016-21. PubMed
  6. Martin-McGill KJ, Srikandarajah N, Marson AG, Tudur Smith C, Jenkinson MD. The role of ketogenic diets in the therapeutic management of adult and paediatric gliomas: a systematic review. CNS Oncol. 2018;7(2):CNS17.
  7. Michaels JD, Hoss E, DiCaudo DJ, Price H. Prurigo pigmentosa after a strict ketogenic diet. Pediatr Dermatol. 2015;32(2):248-51. PubMed
  8. Hawkes CP, Levine MA. Ketotic hypercalcemia: a case series and description of a novel entity. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014;99(5):1531-6. PubMed
  9. Lima PA, de Brito Sampaio LP, Damasceno NR. Ketogenic diet in epileptic children: impact on lipoproteins and oxidative stress. Nutr Neurosci. 2015;18(8):337-44. PubMed
  10. Ulamek-Koziol M, Pluta R, Bogucka-Kocka A, Czuczwar SJ. To treat or not to treat drug-refractory epilepsy by the ketogenic diet? That is the question. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2016;23(4):533-536. PubMed
  11. Zahra A, Fath MA, Opat E, et al. Consuming a ketogenic diet while receiving radiation and chemotherapy for locally advanced lung cancer and pancreatic cancer: The University of Iowa experience of two phase 1 clinical trials. Radiat Res. 2017;187(6):743-75 PubMed
  12. Ahn WK, Park S, Kim HD. Protein-losing enteropathy as a complication of the ketogenic diet. Yonsei Med J. 2017;58(4):891-893. PubMed
  13. Winter SF, Loebel F, Dietrich J. Role of ketogenic metabolic therapy in malignant glioma: A systematic review. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2017;112:41-58. PubMed
  14. Kverneland M, Selmer KK, Nakken KO, Iversen PO, Taubøll E. A prospective study of the modified Atkins diet for adults with idiopathic generalized epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2015;53:197-201. PubMed
  15. Ashrafi MR, Hosseini SA, Zamani GR, et al. The efficacy of the ketogenic diet in infants and young children with refractory epilepsies using a formula-based powder. Acta Neurol Belg. 2017;117(1):175-182. PubMed

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Following Ketogenic Diet While Taking Sumatriptan: Common Questions

Is it safe to follow Ketogenic Diet while taking Sumatriptan?
We do not list a known interaction between Ketogenic Diet and Sumatriptan. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Ketogenic Diet and Sumatriptan have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 3 of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
Are Ketogenic Diet and Sumatriptan used for the same thing?
They overlap in purpose, which usually means the real question is whether you need both rather than whether they are safe together. This page lists the shared uses and how strong the evidence is for Ketogenic Diet in each. That is a conversation for your prescriber, especially if Sumatriptan is being adjusted to a target.
How was the Ketogenic Diet and Sumatriptan combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Sumatriptan is filed under 4 classifications, and Ketogenic Diet has documented interactions with 6 drug classes — none of Sumatriptan's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Ketogenic Diet interact with any other medications?
Yes. Ketogenic Diet has 259 documented drug interactions in our database — Sumatriptan is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Sumatriptan interact with any supplements?
Yes. Sumatriptan has documented interactions with 50 supplements in our database — Ketogenic Diet is not one of them. The Sumatriptan interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.