Esketamine for Major Depressive Disorder User Reviews (Page 2)

• JAS...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• June 29, 2022

"Spravato gave me a much-needed boost with the first dose. It didn’t completely alleviate my depression, but it definitely got me out of a hopeless state. I was sleeping 24 hours a day for 7-8 months, with only breaks to eat and use the bathroom. After the first dose of Spravato, I was able to play with my dog outside. This drug will give you a kickstart, but probably won’t bring you all the way out of the depression alone. I am on Wellbutrin, Pristiq, and Abilify. I see my psychiatrist once a month and a counselor weekly. The Spravato definitely gave me enough of a boost to be able to start to recover with the help of counseling and other antidepressants."

• Ken...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 22, 2024

"I have now completed 10 treatments with Spravato, and I find myself more alert, focused, less moody, and just happier overall. I was diagnosed with depression in 1992 and have taken several other medications and TMS. Everyone around me has commented on how much happier I appear. I am also doing Cognitive Behavior Therapy sessions along with the Spravato treatment. I wish I had discovered this earlier."

• ilo...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• January 7, 2025

"Spravato helped save my life. After six years of suffering from MDD and anxiety and chronic PTSD, I am feeling a bit like my old self again. It elevates my mood so my spouse and I can communicate better, and our home life is better than it's ever been. I found the ease of the nasal spray to be great. I was taking 82 mg twice per week."

• H2B...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• September 30, 2021

"It’s working for me. The first month wasn’t pleasant. I tried to go in with an open mind, but when nothing had happened during the third week, I felt desperate. Then, after the 6th session (third week), I was able to do some minor tasks that had seemed overwhelming. By the end of the 4th week, I felt significantly less depressed—no suicidal thoughts at all, less hopelessness, more willing to engage with the outside world. Feeling some pleasure. I’d estimate that I’ve achieved a 70% lift from one of the darkest and longest passages I’ve ever experienced. I’m currently stabilized at a higher level than what I’ve achieved after adjusting meds until I’m on a combo that works for a while. I ruminate less. I get off the couch occasionally. Most important, my head is clear enough that I can do some work in therapy. Unfortunately, Janssen’s long-term study was for maybe 8 months, so who knows how long it’ll work?"

• hki...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 11, 2023

"Cannot speak to effectiveness just yet, but this is my experience. I was very nervous going into it. I do not have experience with substances other than alcohol and THC (which I respond very badly to), so I was pretty scared that Spravato would really mess me up and I'd have a bad time. I am also super prone to nausea. My first dose went just fine. Took a few minutes for me to feel the effects, but they were manageable. I was pretty lucid the entire time. My head felt a little swimmy, I sometimes couldn't feel parts of my body, and my perception of time was out of whack. But no nausea, paranoia, etc. I actually felt very pleasant the entire time. The next dose, I did have a few minor moments of panic (once because there was a loud noise, once because it was too quiet and that scared me for some reason), but they subsided quickly. I have felt pretty good in the days after my first doses, but no marked improvement yet."

• ken...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• September 20, 2022

"Who needs therapy when there’s Spravato? Paradoxically, my own reservations almost kept me from trying this drug that turned my entire life around. I went from sleeping on the floor at my mom's and in an abusive long-distance relationship to getting my own place and finally having the courage to leave the relationship. At the twice-a-week regimen, I was even going to the gym after work - pretty much unheard of for me in the last decade. I was discouraged to find that when I tapered to once every other week, my depression seemed to be making its way back, however, I am very lucky to be treated at a place that allows me to go back to more frequent visits. I cannot say enough good things about Spravato, and I’m not sure what my life would be without it. Lexapro took me out of a completely mental state, and Spravato ensured I stay there."

• Goo...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 5, 2021

"I complete week 4 Monday. 84 mg is super strong - can be trippy. Start with 56 mg. Do NOT drive for several hours. Do NOT move around much during the session as you could get nauseous. My depression is much improved so far. Improved, but this is not a magic bullet."

• Haz...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 24, 2024

"I had my first Spravato session today, and it was terrifying. I took 56 mg. The room started spinning, I felt like I was going to throw up, everything turned into this loud noise and distorted visuals swirling around me. I had trouble keeping breathing. Suddenly I became afraid that this state would be permanent, that they had tricked me into taking the med. I became overwhelmingly sad because Spravato felt like my last chance and now I was dying from it. I felt lost, like I had ruined my brain and now was stuck with an unbearable situation. Finally, after maybe an hour and fifteen minutes, I started to come out of it. Now I'm really scared to have another session. Too soon to know if it's helping."

• Din...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 16, 2022

"I have been using Spravato for about 4 months now, and I'm on the highest dose, and I have to say that I am actually getting worse to the point I don't think I'm going to use it anymore. Right now, at this moment, writing this, I'm in the most depressed state of mind I've ever been in. I'm so, so tired of hurting. Nothing but darkness follows and overshadows me. I just can't take feeling the way that I'm feeling. I've tried many medications, TMS, Spravato, and nothing has worked. I want to try ECT, but I can't find anyone to take my insurance. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I haven't bathed in over a year, and my hair is falling out. Plus, I have a lot of physical pain because of an autoimmune disease, I can't find anyone to prescribe me pain meds, so I'm just one big ball of pain. I was hoping Spravato would have worked, but it hasn't."

• Kay...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 6, 2022

"My major depressive disorder is drug resistant. I used Spravato at a doctor's office 3 times weekly for about 6 weeks. My first 2 weeks were filled with sadness, followed by mad anger (PTSD symptoms) for the following 2 and experienced deeper sadness and suicidal ideation for the last two. We then stopped treatment about a month ago, and I am still struggling with deep sadness. I feel disappointed. I had been so hoping for lasting help. I've begun to lose hope that I'll never again experience life with more delight."

• Dan...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• June 5, 2022

"I have struggled with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) since I was diagnosed with MDD in 1988. Things really got bad around 2001, and I had to go on disability. I have been fortunate in that I have been treated by some of the best psychiatrists in the game. Prior to being allowed to access Spravato between 2019 and 2020, I had received every pharmacological and psychological treatment available, including TMS (extensive) and ECT, including a one-year outpatient course of intensive ECT. Despite all of this, I pretty much remained in depressive hell, or as I heard one expert describe it, 'the anti-life.' Spravato, combined with a comprehensive bio-psycho-social treatment approach, allowed me to attain recovery and remission for the first time in over 30 years. However, my insurance quit covering it at the end of 2020. I actually thought I could do okay without it, so I did not really pursue trying to stay on it at that time. I was okay for awhile, but the past year has been particularly rough, and I intend to try and resume."

• Ric...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 22, 2022

"I am using this for PTSD. The drug experience is horrible. After I spray it in my nose and it begins to take effect, I pray it will end. The feeling is so horrible. I want to throw up, I can't physically move, I can't assess where I am, I can't 'sense' anything, but I am aware of how bad I feel and pray it ends. For 24 hours after each treatment, I am a worthless dish rag. I feel my brain will never come back. No ability to think and want to vomit. I can't take many drugs. I have severe reactions. I opted to try Spravato because it is not every day. You won't want a soul near you when under the effects in the office. I feel I am in prison. Trapped. Can't scream. Buried alive with no help. It is a bad trip. If it treats PTSD, it is worth more than the nightmare side effects, that is the only reason I tried it. I have had allergic reactions to everything ever given to me. I am not allergic to Spravato. I just am terrified of how it makes me feel. I dread treatment."

• Des...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 4, 2022

"Spravato ended up making me have suicidal thoughts, and I think maybe go into a psychosis or something... I took it for a month. Twice in one week, 34 mg, and then the rest ones were 84 mg once a week. You take it like a nasal spray, and it burns a lot. I just couldn’t move and felt drunk, like mucked up, seeing tracers for about 45 minutes maybe. I didn’t like how I couldn’t move. I was completely numb, it helps pain for that time. But when it wore off, I was still numb mentally. I would get angry when it wore off. It just has to be known, it made me worse. They told me it was impossible to feel worse, which is so stupid. I also have PTSD, social anxiety, and generalized. Spravato made me take a lot of steps back. I had worked so hard to the point to where I was, and it tore it all down. Now I am a lot better and building it back up. But I just still don’t feel 100%. I hope I do. It made me aggressive, I wanted to fight people and harm myself. I used to be addicted to self-harming."

• pfx...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 29, 2022

"31 y/o, I have been tried on 30 meds over the last 6 years, tried rTMS as well with no results. The only thing that's ever helped is tramadol (for MDD). I'm also on klonopin as needed. I had one Spravato treatment today. It was the exact opposite of IV ketamine, which I really didn't like and quit after 4 infusions. IV was COLD, clinical, and felt mean. Spravato, on the other hand, felt good. It felt very pleasant and WARM. I took the 84 mg. I did not 'trip' at all. I didn't on the max dose IV ketamine either. Both felt like a drop in the water compared to DXM or DMT, but I didn't want to 'get high', I want to feel less depressed. I think the klonopin attenuates it a bit. The experience was like a total couch lock. It was very pleasing. It felt like I was doing personal therapy in my mind, along with the music. I was feeling words like creativity, peace, acceptance, and seeing troubling issues in my mind, like grief and loss, and was able to breathe through them. I am excited to keep going with Spravato."

• Dan...
• April 4, 2023

"I’ve just had my 9th Spravato at 84 mg. I have only today felt the effects on me. It was not a scary ‘trip,’ but it wasn’t nice. I felt distressed and a bit ‘out of it.’ For example, I have chronic lower back pain, I felt the pain but couldn’t feel my legs. I am trying to find the positive side of this in the fact that at least I did feel it. I was really worried that it wasn’t working at all. I now hope number 10 has an effect as well. They are talking about possibly moving me from the Spravato spray to ketamine infusions. So I will update you as soon as I can. At the moment, my mood is still desperately low, and suicidal thoughts are paramount. I hope my next ‘review’ is a more positive one."

• Emm...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 16, 2022

"Ok, so I have only done it twice - the first time was 56 mg, the second was 84 mgs or whatever. I want to start off by saying I have a very long history of substance abuse, so something like “tripping” or “dosing” was not something I hadn’t experienced. Being on Spravato - I’ve never been so messed up in my life. Seriously, what in the world… At one point, I thought I melted into a pool of something on the floor, and I could hear the air twitching. For me, the initial “high” lasts about 2 hours, where you trip the hell out, hallucinate, and completely dissociate - but the extreme dizziness and nausea is enough to knock me on my ass for an entire 2 days afterwards. I’m trying to decide since I have not yet felt any relief - if I’m going to continue. My doc says to give her a month of trying it before I stop, but the entire day of and next day I’m sick as anything. Hope some of you find relief with this stuff."

• CRW...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• December 5, 2024

"WOW! This medication gave me my life back. It's quite a commitment but well worth the investment. I am going on 11 months and am in complete remission from my severe depression. I continue it now every other week."

• TLA...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• October 5, 2023

"I am currently in the phase of getting the medication every two weeks. I am also taking Venlafaxine and Doxepin for sleep. Overall, I feel like the medication is helping, but I developed some vertigo symptoms like random dizziness, brain zaps, and brain fog. I am also in EMDR therapy as well. I don't see a 'regular' therapist. So my experience with the sessions is great because I meditate, then I fall asleep. It's like the medication is giving my brain a much-needed break. I do have varied dips between treatment sessions, especially now that they are farther apart. I feel like I got more of a benefit in the beginning because the treatment was more frequent. I feel at odds about this because I don't want to come off as an addicted person, but it does help me. I am too ashamed to admit this to my medical team. I have emotional blunting rather than down (to me, a plus). I wish I could do the treatments at home because I am more comfortable there. I am concerned about relapses."

• Sad...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 29, 2021

"First dose was like a light switch flipped on, and everything was in color again. Immediate end to all suicidal thoughts and ideations. Drastically improved sleep, and I was able to reduce other medications as a result. The rest of the treatments were beneficial, as the dissociation helped me process trauma that I just couldn't do with therapy alone. No side effects except drowsiness the day of treatment."

• Jac...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• March 27, 2022

"I just finished treatment #12 of Spravato today. I am 37 years old and am diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression and complex PTSD. I have been on at least 10 different types of antidepressants over the past 15 years. I have also done TMS and IV ketamine treatments in the past 5 years. I would say that I am cautiously optimistic that Spravato is starting to work. I have gone from sleeping 6 to 7 hours during the day and 8 to 9 hours at night because I did not want to face life. Now I still sleep a full night but only take a 1 to 2 hour nap during the day. So I have increased energy and an overall improved mood. I would say the biggest change has been in my suicidal ideation. I still have hard nights, but the intrusive thoughts are way less! As anyone who has been dealing with depression for years and years knows, there is no one miracle cure. I would say overall though Spravato is helping, and thankfully, unlike IV ketamine treatments, it is covered by my insurance, which is a huge blessing."

• Mer...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 5, 2022

"I was diagnosed with MDD before 23 years. Since then, I have used several antidepressants. I started Spravato sessions before 6 months. My Dr. recommended 8 sessions (two 28mg doses on each session). I stopped the medication after the 5th session as the medication didn't work at all (ZERO benefit), and my Dr. has agreed with this."

• Owl...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 9, 2021

"I did Spravato for six weeks, and it had zero effect on my depression, but did have several negative side effects. I became very aggressive and hostile. The actual process of taking the drug was a miserable experience. The taste was horrible and made me horribly nauseated. The entire experience was not worth it. Add to that, I'm now fighting with the pharmacy that supplied the drug. I qualified for Janssen's assistance, and my portion should have been $10, but Alliance RX/Walgreens is billing me $1000."

• car...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 28, 2022

"After many months of coordinating clinicians, paid leave for hubby, and 2 insurances, I had my first Spravato treatment yesterday, and it was great. The first time I have been able to truly relax since a stalking in 2008, from which I developed PTSD. I go to a wonderful clinic with calm, serene decor, and my therapist specializes in psychedelic guidance (hubby's union insurance pays for this, my Medicare Advantage pays for the Spravato). Also, I have experience with psychedelics from when I was a kid, and I use medical marijuana, so I understand altered states. As of today, I feel the same... low mood and anxiety, with a bit of stomach upset. Tomorrow is my second session. I'm hoping this is going to help, as I am unable to tolerate most psychotropic drugs due to a gene mutation affecting my liver. Good luck to everyone out there."

• CAd...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• May 11, 2022

"I’ve been on Spravato for a few months. After the initial cycle, I’ve stayed at once a week for a while. Here are my tips: Tilt your head back. Have hard candy, the taste is bad. Some days I have more intense effects than others, sometimes it is as mild as a glass of wine or nothing at all. As far as being dissociative, I use eye shades and earphones, listening to vibration sounds on Spotify or Apple Music, and completely absorb myself into this… no out-of-body feelings, no walking around, no messing with vision. This method has helped to enjoy the experience because it’s not scary and allows me to be with my thoughts. As far as how it’s worked, it helps on the day of treatment, but the efficacy wanes until the next treatment. Even on the first day, it’s not a fix. I was hoping for more. My provider suggested infusions, but between the cost and knowing now how the drug works: it won’t last and would be infinitely more costly to maintain."

• Win...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 4, 2022

"I only tried Spravato once, but it was too bad to continue. A few minutes after the nasal sprays, I had a horrible taste in my mouth, then nausea, then crying, dissociation, sweating, etc. Now I’m back home after a few hours with somewhat of a hangover feeling: headache, still nauseous, and now also a sore throat. I can’t accurately “rate” this drug since it needs to be taken for quite some time to get the results, but the side effects were just too horrible to go on. *Side note: I have also done several ketamine infusions prior to this, with only a bit of nausea once."