Anyone undergone the ketamine infusion treatment?

Hi Oliver,

Thank you for your question. I've not had ketamine, but know others who have very good luck with it. You can read more about this here; https://migraine.com/?s=Ketamine&submit=Go.

I know how frustrating migraine disease can be. If may feel like you've tried everything there is for migraine prevention, but that may not be the case! There are over 100 medications and supplements that can be used to treat migraine disease - try not to lose hope! When you get a moment take a look at this information on prevention; https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-preventives-start/.

I hope this helps!
Nancy

Thank you very much Nancy for your response. I have tried most everything (I refuse to say everything because I keep hope) my Medical team and I have exhausted most options, even going international for ideas...a few weeks ago though we thought maybe a new set of eyes would be good. That was the worst appointment I think I had ever had, because that was the first and only time I’ve been told “you’ve tried everything I can think of, I have no treatment plan.” To me that was the worst thing that could’ve been said to me. Anyway I reached out the ketamine infusion center and had a wonderful discussion with them, very professional and I felt like they had my best interest at heart, the main part is they want and are willing to work with my medical team. So I don’t know what my medical teams response is to this yet as I just had sent them the request. I’ve tried the spray in the past and had good response (it was just hard medication to keep because it has a short shelf life). I’ve had my migraines since the age of 2 my parents say that I would grab my head and cry head hurt, so this has been a 28 year thing for me. Sadly I’m sure many of other migraine sufferers agree that once a medication that works it seems to be discontinued...I’ve read many posts on here and can relate to most of them, I didn’t realize that there were so many others that go through this too. Mine get me for multiple days and I’m averaging 3 days a week. I will definitely keep my experience going forward so that others can maybe find some relief through my process.
I read a thread about imitrex and fierocet I was going to say something on that really quick. Imitrex used to be a ok medication for me until it caused a seizure, and fierocet really upsets my stomach. What I currently do is use a benzo (for the nerve property), a muscle relaxer, and a blood pressure medication, also testosterone. For my break through I use fierocet still or if I’m considering the hospital I’ve got keterolac, DHE, or last resort a pain medication.

So I wanted to do a update on the Ketamine infusions. I’ve been going to a place near to me that does the infusions. So when I started we had changed my blood pressure medication to propanolol, that seemed alright but after about a week I had complete memory loss and didn’t really know who I was. So in a family trip to Mexico my medical staff there suggested I go back to the clonidine I was on prior, so my memory issues have since resolved...I have done the infusion prior to the vacation and I got about 60days without a migraine I still got headaches but those are much more manageable. Since I have returned from Mexico I am doing 3 more infusions with hopes that I will get a longer result...this has been working for me...this is not to say I don’t get them every so often and for that the only thing I have that works is a narcotic, I am also on a benzo for my left shoulder pain and I think it helps sometimes.

Anyway just giving a update I hope that this finds someone and helps them.

Ketamine infusions ARE A GODSEND! My daughter has been chronic for 6 years, and has had migraines since she was 8. We did our research on other countries like Sweden doing these infusions, though they are much more extreme (5 days in the hospital and infused 24/5). We found a pain management doctor at a Kaiser office in Glendale, CA that did the infusions back in 2016. He would pay attention to my daughter's reactions starting at 100 mg and adjusted up until it made a difference. He stopped at 250 mg and I have to say she finally got her life back! She went from daily pain to maybe 4 a month, and those were never higher in pain than a 5 at the worst, and totally responded to her abortive (imitrex and naproxen). We were so happy for the year and a half that we had these infusions (1 x a week for 4 weeks every 3.5 months). Then, Kaiser put this doctor's infusion treatments on "hold" or stopped them in May 2018 and my daughter is back to being chronic. It's December 2018 and all I do every day is fight with Kaiser to give back her successful treatments. Her life is gone. Her attitude is wrecked and feels hopeless that this Kaiser corporation doesn't care, which they really don't. But, YES, ketamine infusions DO WORK. They work better than anything we have tried, and we have tried EVERYTHING available. Even Aimovig. I highly recommend these infusions, but not low dosing. There is NOT a one size fits all because everyone is different and you must find a doctor that will treat you individually otherwise it doesn't work.