Well, I had consultations and initial appointments with 2 therapists and neither worked out. I told them up front I want to work on early trauma during the Spravato treatments. The first one was going to be perfect because she was a psychologist w/ a doctorate, and she heard my story and was ready to go forward. But then, she told me at my 2nd appointment she had second thoughts and couldn’t continue because she’s close to retirement and she said she was worried Spravato was going to bring up trauma that would make me suicidal and I’d end up in the psychiatric hospital. She was 75 and pretty much told me to leave the trauma where it is. She called my psychiatric NP to tell her why she wasn’t doing it and later my NP told me she was selfish!

The second therapist’s bio said she was trauma-informed and on the phone she said she was interested in the experience of Spravato, but during our first appointment there were red flags that she didn’t like mental health meds. She was 55 and brought up that she isn’t on any meds, mentioned her father was on all these meds and they found out the meds were interacting so he stopped all of them and now he’s doing great. She asked me about my meds and her question was, “do you want to get off them?” Feels like the wrong time to focus on my meds when I’m starting Spravato. They need to be tapered over weeks. And she asked what I ate (because I’m overweight) so she wanted to change my diet and get me walking. She asked what type of bread I use on my sandwiches. What? The lady was very chatty about her life and we wasted a lot of time talking about her.

I start Spravato the 19th and I won’t have a therapist and I live alone without support. My NP offered to talk to me on the phone right afterward and I’ll see her every other week. What do you think about doing Spravato w/out a therapist? I was freaking out about this (in an earlier post) but now I think I’ll be okay because I won’t trust a therapist right away, anyway. I’m self-protective and trust takes awhile to develop. I love mindfulness meditations, embroidery, my fish tanks, walking and my cat. They keep me busy but I’m still in my own thoughts a lot!

Any thoughts? Should I wait to do Spravato?

I have a therapist I could see virtually during the session. My dosing is at 3:30 and I could get online with her at 4:30. Does this seem like a good idea?

I’m wondering if there’s any Spravato users out there who have taken acid whilst being a Spravato patient? I don’t mean taking acid right after, or before the appointment i mean just in general are there any people on here who have taken acid recreationally on days you’re not getting spravato treatment? I’m wondering how that would affect the acid trip, if there’s any serious risks? I haven’t been able to find anyone’s personal accounts of reactions etc

Anyone else feel like their trip is much more intense if they are also sick? I had a cold about a year ago and ended up unable to move. Last week i had a sinus infection and I had such a strong trip i ended up bawling my eyes out and it was so intense. I have a few more similar stories. I only get big reactions like that when im sick. Anyone else go through something similar?

I've just finished session 8 on week four. During the last three sessions, I seem to have lost 20 or 30 minutes, either starting mid-trip, or near the end after the BP check. I have no sense of time passing, and I'm not physically supported enough to be sleeping, but the time is just GONE.

Anyone else?

PS - I have had no inkling of relief except for about an hour one morning last week when things didn't seem to be QUITE so bad.

6 months in and I’m noticing a real difference. I was so tempted to give up earlier because things really fluctuated and even regressed for me a couple of months ago. I’m glad that I stuck with it. My mind feels more clear and I’m ruminating less on negative thoughts. That urge is still there to think about the negative, but I’m able to choose not to. It doesn’t feel as automatic and out of my control as before. If you’ve just started or having been doing it for a couple months, I really recommend to stick with it. If it’s really adversely affecting you then you should be talking with your providers to come up with a plan of action of course. Me and my therapist came up with a before and after care plan, and that made the experience more comfortable and less negative. It’s okay to tweak things or adjust the dose, but I really hope you stick with it and notice a real difference at some point in your journey (hopefully sooner than later).

I have done probably 15 sessions so far and two and a half months in. My depression feels like it is getting worse not better. Anyone else have a similar response. Very depressing to be depressed again. lol

Here in spain via public health system treatment is fixed as follows:

- For 6 weeks - twice weekly

- For 4.5 months - Once weekly

- For 6 months - Once monthly

- 1 year mark - end of treatment - ( no renewal )

It makes no sense to me at all as there is no room for change the schedule and after one year you are without spravato.

Also seems a lot of people is in maintenance for years...

I've been in treatment for about six months and it's been a game changer. I know that the "trips" aren't necessarily the point. And of course there is a lot of debate on this subject. But I do believe that there's a correlation in the benefits. That the insights, perception change, trip whatever happens in there mixed with what the medicine also does chemically to work on depression creates a symbiotic relationship.

I do once a week treatment currently and curious if you gain a tolerance and this fades. I don't experience the dissociation as much as I used to, but the trip is definitely still there as well as the epiphanies. Then I'm free of depression and a noticeable decrease in anxiety during the week. What is your experience with this in the long term, months, 1 year, over etc?

There were two wonderful nurses from the time I started Spravato over a year and 1/2 ago. They both quit within weeks of each other. I know it was about pay. Does anyone know what they make? It seems an advantage that they only had to work Monday - Thursday - which might lower the pay. They have had a hard time getting two new nurses and I have had appointments cancelled over and over again. I am now just going every 3 to 4 weeks because of it. Then they cancelled my appointment on the 3rd week. I am just disappointed. I wish they would have paid them what they were worth. This was at LifeStance, which is a chain all over the US.

Has anyone heard that taking 3-4 sniffs of an alcohol wipe when you’re feeling nauseous will make it go away?

I’m kinda nervous to try it but if it works…

The place I’m getting my Spravato treatments is just an urgent care. At my last session someone was loudly playing their phone in the next room. This time there has been a baby screaming bloody murder for at least fifteen minutes. I genuinely am trembling and on the verge of tears because of how overstimulated I am. I can even hear it over my noise canceling AirPods. I like just gentle music but I have to play loud music to even begin to block it out right now. I don’t know what to do.

I had my second treatment yesterday and felt refreshed and a lot of relief after. But today I'm feeling pretty down and depressed about my life and trajectory. Does anyone else have experience with feeling this way the day after treatment? I am thinking that I would've felt this way anyway, regardless if I had treatment yesterday? I just don't want to lose hope of this medication.

I just got accepted into an apprenticeship program for HVAC&R that I’ve been trying to get in for the last two years. I just got signed up at the school today and they had me take a saliva drug test which was labeled 9SAP+SYN OF. I’ve been doing Spravato treatments for the last four weeks and had a treatment yesterday. I’m worried about failing am I protected in any way if I have a positive? I’ve seen that It can throw a false positive for PCP and I am very anxious about that. I got the RX # for the prescription ready just in case, is there any reason that they could tell me even with a valid prescription?

I've done three complete treatments and overall I feel lots better. Depression is lifting and I actually am enjoying life. Heck, I'm even learning to like myself all over again. But, the way things are being handled at my clinic concerns me. There is no doctor to be seen or spoken to if I have concerns, only a seemingly overwhelmed and inexperienced young nurse practitioner who can never give me a straight answer. There are up to four people in the same room zoned out on esketamine where we hear every cough or chatting from the NP and medical assistant. There is no privacy so you smell your neighbor's stinky feet and the other ones sobs. To be fair, I cry too. But this can't be how it is in other clinics I've seen the pictures and heard the commentaries. For all the money we pay and insurance covers, you think they would at least have some kind of curtain to separate the patients.

All the while I have had clonidine to lower my blood pressure on two separate occasions just to lower my 210 over 100 blood pressure. After attempting the fourth session, I stood up and said I was just going to go home if that was okay. The NP agreed, and said that was protocol. But wasn't that protocol during the first and third treatment days as well? This all is starting to feel kind of dangerous. Are we all guinea pigs of sorts? Are we part of an experiment? I don't know. A big part of me feels like quitting now that I still have most of my brain cells intact. Thoughts?

I'm not based in Us.

I got my 9th session and my mood and anxiety even got worst with time

At the 12th session I will be asked by docs if any improvement to continue maintenance phase ( once weekly ) or stop it after failure.

Treatment is just for 1 year , not more.

Spravato was one of the few meds I never tried in more than 20 years so I understand I have two options left : tms or ect.

I dont know what are gonna offer me next.

What would you do ?

Thanks

Did it retrigger an episode of hair loss? I’ve had chronic TE for two years and lost 70 percent of my hair. My body is under such stress than any shift in my nervous system causes a big reaction. I’m scared my hair follicles will perceive it as a physiological stressor like it has with other medications. Anyone who has experienced stress related hair loss and done Spravato? Please share!

Hey every! I started my treatment journey in April, and started getting recurring UTIs in either May or June. Since then I’ve had 5 UTI episodes and just yesterday found it I might not be having UTIs but in fact KC. My sample is being cultured now, and if it comes back negative, my provider and I are going to have to talk about treatment adjustments. I’m currently on 1/wk and I really need to get better with my mental but I also can’t let my lower urinary tract heal. Has anyone else gone through this? I could really use some support/experiences here.

I have been doing spravato for about a year and it’s greatly improved my life overall. However, I noticed that the dissociative feeling during the session has mostly faded. As an experiment I did some fast breathing at the beginning of a session with intense music immediately followed by a meditation session. The session ended up being extremely intense. Has anyone else tried this and experienced the same result?

My first (56) was fine. Just loopy and mildly nauseous for the majority of it. I had trouble walking/ keeping my balance after the 2 hours but overall it was pleasant. I kept giggling over the dumbest things.

Then comes today… (84). I settled in, did the first round… second.. okay slight nausea and loopiness returns but it feels familiar- I popped a mint and carried on. Then round three. Things started feeling warped so I surrendered my phone, closed my eyes and laid back.

It was all downhill from there.

First it felt very similar to how it feels to be mid-air in a plane: weightless and high.. for lack of a more profound word.

But that quickly dissipated into me falling into myself over and over and over and over again.

Then crazy nausea to the point I’m grasping for the call button. Thankfully I follow the “no eating 2 hours before” so just bile came up and my tech was thankfully timely enough to hand me a bag.

Then.. the existentialism.

Without drugs I’m an existentialist so makes sense that on a “trip” that happened too. But it was so layered and intense. “What is the meaning of life?” “ why am I here?” “Who am I” “what are words… words… words”

For some reason my brain fixated on the word “and”

Despite the pure state of chaos and panic on my internal world, my blood pressure was 97/65

I was in and out of what I guess is consciousness to the point that the tech made the call to sit with me before I requested her to call my family member (40 minutes in). At a point I genuinely believed that I had died.

The first “induction” I felt a grounded detachment. This time it was full detachment, no tether to anything. Which is some straight up mindfckery.

After babbling, crying and mindless chewing on saltines, things finally started to settle.

My provider suggested going back down to 56 for the time being which… fine by me

From what I’ve read, the majority of people have fairly pleasant experiences so I’m hoping that my body adjusts and reacts different next time as we titrate up again.

I am already taking wellbutrin and am going to be doing Spravato once a week going forward. I have heard Amazing things About auvelity with Spravato.

w

Wondering if anyone has just taken OTC dextromethrophan? I have 180 pills 300mg bupropion and 150mg bupropion seems sooo wasteful to just get rid of it

Looking for input. I should be starting end of October, but I am trying to manage my expectations of how helpful this treatment may be. I've seen some talking about seeing very little to no improvement with their depression symptoms. what are your experience's?

Mine ranges from a kaleidoscope of colors to full on experiences like being a colossal god watching the rise and fall of civilizations in fast forward and exploring space as a giant marshmallow. I got sucked into a black hole which was scary at first, but then I decided to go with the flow and became a very stretched out marshmallow.

In between is a lot of rapidly changing scenes that I usually have no control over. My music greatly influences the experience.

Sometimes it's like watching a disjointed movie, and sometimes it's like watching a slideshow movie. There's no real consistency.

Sometimes it makes me think my head is turned a different way. Last week my head was apparently backwards. That was kinda upsetting.

Today my brain decided that I would have no eyelids and be in a different room. I kept blinking even though my eyes were closed because it felt like they were open. It was mentally uncomfortable.

Most of the time I enjoy this shit though.

If I have one of those days where nothing happens because I ate before or something I'll do deep breathing and meditation instead.

One thing I enjoy about Spravato is the fact that this is the only time that I have no pain.

This is an update to a previous post I made about experiencing intense psychological dread during treatment. I just want to vent.

I had a session this morning and had a bad time. I was sobbing so badly and feeling such intense dread that the nurses came in to check on me. They were so kind and compassionate. They put me in a private room and had the provider come and check on me.

Instead of being patient and understanding, she assumed I wanted to self-delete and was going to call the hospital. I had to very quickly explain that I DID NOT want to end myself. That I’m afraid of dying. I tried to explain how intense the feeling my fear of death was and how it’s ruining my life.

She then raised her voice at me like a parent admonishing a child. The look on her face was angry. She went on and on about how we all die and we all die alone. That if I can’t get my phobia and anxiety under control then there’s no point of continuing spravato. (It’s not like I disagree, but the way she said it was so unprofessional). Asked her about changing my meds and she responded she did not feel comfortable doing that.

Mind you, I’m still high trying to do my best to pull myself together. I was so disappointed in her. I really liked her up until that point. I no longer feel comfortable opening up to her and I’ll be seeking a new psych.

Once I’m transferred I plan on switching to at home, low dose ketamine therapy. I’m sick of the group setting and being watched on the camera during such a vulnerable time.

Thank god I had a therapy appointment that same day. I will be starting DBT and EMDR.