Migraine

How do Infusions Help Headaches and Migraines?

Headaches and migraines can arise from diverse triggers, both internal and external. Some patients may have an underlying genetic susceptibility. Other patients may have medical conditions that exacerbate their migraines:

1. Sleep disturbances and insomnia
2. Diet and fasting that may provoke headaches
3. Genetic susceptibility to muscle tension and calcium channel mutations
4. Concomitant depression and anxiety that may increase the risk of painful headaches
5. History of trauma or adverse childhood experiences
6. Medical conditions that cause or exacerbate headaches (eg tumors, tension headaches, fibromyalgia, chronic pain)
7. Environmental triggers (death, separation, personal or financial hardship, etc.)
8. Medications can influence headaches, including traditional headache medications (triptans, ergots, NSAIDs).

Some patients may not be able to achieve headache relief with medications and psychotherapy alone. Ketamine infusions and medication assisted psychotherapy offer a breakthrough treatment for treatment resistant chronic headaches and migraines.

Migraine treatment failure can be high with traditional treatments

Migraine treatment can be effective with abortive triptan medications. However, these medications can have side effects, including headaches, called medication overuse headaches. This is where the very medications used to treat headaches cause the opposite effect: they cause headaches. Novel headache treatments are needed to prevent the overuse of existing treatments, including ergots, triptans, butalbital, caffeine, and NSAIDs (like aspirin).

Ketamine modifies NMDA receptor activity, enhancing neurogenesis

Ketamine has been studied in migraine treatment for over 20 years. Glutamate is a powerful neurotransmitter involved in synaptogenesis, or the formation of new neural connections. Forming new neural connections may help relieve migraines. Ketamine modulates glutamate levels and NMDA receptor activity to fundamentally alter our response to triggering stimuli. This can re-shift the biochemical balance in your brain to help restore your inner healing potential. Traditional chronic pain treatments simply don't have this same effect.

While migraines can arise from many different triggers, ketamine has shown effectiveness in treating migraines rapidly (and here), particularly when co-infused with other medications.

Ketamine may offer enhanced relief when suffering from migraines and anxiety

There is a strong association between migraines, anxiety, and depression. Given the effectiveness of ketamine for both anxiety and depression, ketamine infusions may be particularly effective in patients suffering from all three conditions.

Rigid personality behaviors and depression can exacerbate migraines

Fear and avoidance behaviors, as well as depression, are more common in those suffering from migraines, possibly explaining the beneficial effects of ketamine infusions in treating migraine. Fear and avoidance can have roots in cognitive rigidity, which underlies many psychiatric conditions and personality traits. It's not an unwillingness to change behaviors that make headaches more likely, but it's a neurochemical inertia that can make changing habits and routines incredibly difficult. Ketamine and medication assisted hypnotherapy can help restructure rigid cognitive loops through neuroplasticity - literally helping re-wire rigid neurological habit loops.

Safety of ketamine and clinical hypnosis treatments

Unlike traditional migraine medications, in particular triptans, ergots, and NSAIDs, our infusion treatments are very safe.

By reducing the need for traditional medications, many risks can be reduced, including risks of medication overuse headaches and cardiovascular risks from triptans.

Infusions allow for faster action

Unlike oral dosing, IV infusion rates can be modified instantaneously to allow for more rapid therapeutic effect. There is no need to wait for the effect of a pill to decide if the next pill dose should be changed a week later.