Ketamine for Chronic Migraines
The canceled plans. The dark rooms. The careers and relationships negotiated around a disease other people think is "just a headache." If preventives, triptans, and CGRP medications haven't given you your life back, ketamine may be worth an honest conversation.
You've Become an Expert
in a Disease You Never Wanted to Study
Chronic migraine — fifteen or more headache days a month — is a neurological disease, not a bad habit or a stress problem. If you're reading this page, you've likely already worked through the standard ladder: preventives like beta-blockers, topiramate, or amitriptyline; abortives like triptans; possibly Botox or CGRP inhibitors. When headaches persist despite all of it, or when a single unrelenting migraine won't break, that's the territory where ketamine gets considered.
Reaching the Pathway Triptans Don't Touch
NMDA receptors and glutamate signaling are involved in central sensitization — the process that helps convert episodic migraine into chronic migraine, and that sustains intractable attacks. As an NMDA-receptor antagonist, ketamine works on that upstream amplification rather than on the serotonin and CGRP pathways your other medications target. That distinct mechanism is why it's studied for the hardest cases: refractory chronic migraine and status migrainosus (migraine attacks that will not break).
Honest framing — read this part: The evidence for ketamine in migraine is real but more limited than for depression or CRPS. Published studies — largely in refractory patients at academic headache centers — report meaningful short-term pain reduction in a majority of treated patients, with more variable durability. Ketamine for migraine is off-label, it is not a first-line treatment, and we position it honestly: an option for carefully selected patients who have exhausted better-established therapies, not a miracle cure. If we don't think it's right for you, we'll say so.
How We Treat Migraines at Desert Sands
Your evaluation reviews your migraine history and diagnosis, the treatments you've tried, your current medications, and your cardiovascular health. Treatment protocols are physician-directed and supported by experienced clinical staff under the medical oversight of board-certified anesthesiologist Dr. Eric Evans, whose more than 30 years of clinical experience help guide the highest standards of patient safety, comfort, and care. We encourage coordination with your neurologist or headache specialist — ketamine works best as part of a comprehensive migraine plan, not a replacement for one.
Built for migraine patients specifically
Every infusion happens in a private room where we control the things migraine patients need controlled: low warm lighting, quiet, and no shared spaces. Infusions are administered at sub-anesthetic doses titrated to your response, with continuous monitoring throughout, and treatment courses and maintenance are individualized based on how you respond.
Patient Selection
- Have chronic migraine that has failed multiple preventive medications
- Get inadequate relief from triptans, CGRP inhibitors, or Botox
- Experience prolonged attacks that resist your usual abortive treatment
- Also live with depression or anxiety alongside chronic migraine
- Migraine that hasn't yet had an adequate trial of standard preventives — start there first
- Uncontrolled high blood pressure or unstable cardiovascular disease
- A history of psychosis
- Elevated intracranial pressure or certain neurological findings identified in screening
Outcomes, Honestly Stated
For responders, the most consistent benefit is breaking the intensity of refractory pain — headache severity dropping meaningfully during and after treatment, and for some patients, a reduction in attack frequency that lasts weeks. Durability varies more with migraine than with ketamine's other applications, and some patients don't respond. We track your headache burden across treatment and will tell you plainly whether the results justify continuing.
Risks and side effects
During and shortly after infusion, patients may experience dissociation, elevated blood pressure or heart rate, nausea (which we manage proactively — migraine patients know nausea well), dizziness, or drowsiness. These effects are typically temporary and most resolve within about two hours. Every patient is screened beforehand and monitored throughout, and you'll need a ride home after each session.
What the Research Shows
Studies at academic headache centers have evaluated ketamine for refractory chronic migraine and status migrainosus, reporting short-term reductions in pain severity in a majority of treated patients — a meaningful finding in a population that had failed nearly everything else. Reviews describe the evidence as promising for carefully selected refractory patients while calling for larger controlled trials.
Migraine Treatment FAQ
Should I stop my current migraine medications?
No — don't change anything without your prescriber. Ketamine is evaluated as an addition to your migraine care, and your evaluation reviews everything you take for interactions.
Can I come in during an active migraine?
Treatment is scheduled rather than emergency-based, but if you're in a prolonged refractory attack, call us — we'll talk through timing honestly. For sudden, severe, "worst headache of your life" pain, go to the emergency department; that needs immediate medical evaluation, not an infusion appointment.
Will it help my regular migraines or just the terrible ones?
The evidence is strongest for severe, refractory pain. Some patients also see reduced frequency afterward; some don't. That's exactly the kind of expectation-setting your consultation is for.
You've Lost Enough Days
to the Dark Room
Your free consultation is an honest conversation about your migraine history and whether ketamine is a reasonable addition to your care.
Request Your Free ConsultationCall (435) 522-5190This page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Ketamine is FDA-approved as an anesthetic; its use for migraine is off-label and not first-line therapy. Study findings cited reflect published research in refractory populations; individual results vary and are not guaranteed. Reading this page or submitting a form does not create a provider-patient relationship. For sudden severe headache or any medical emergency, call 911.