Nothing Has Worked for My Depression: Can Spravato® Help?

Living with depression can feel like an unending struggle, especially when traditional treatments haven’t been effective. If you’ve tried multiple medications, therapy sessions, and lifestyle changes without experiencing significant relief, you might not know where to turn.

At Ketamine Health & Wellness Clinics of Ohio, we have a solution. Our team of providers at our Dublin, Ohio, office offers Spravato®, which is a relatively new player in the mental health field that offers a fresh approach to treatment-resistant depression.

Spravato explained

Spravato, the brand name for esketamine, is a nasal spray approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2019 specifically for treatment-resistant depression. Unlike traditional antidepressants, which typically require weeks to take effect, Spravato works quickly, often producing desired results within hours. 

It's derived from ketamine, an anesthetic known for its dissociative effects and its rapid action in alleviating depressive symptoms.

Spravato is part of a comprehensive treatment plan, often used in conjunction with oral antidepressants and psychotherapy.

How Spravato works

Spravato targets a protein complex in the central nervous system called the NMDA receptor, which is different from the chemical messengers most antidepressants affect, such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine pathways. 

By affecting glutamate, the most abundant neurotransmitter in the brain, Spravato helps restore brain connections and improve mood. This novel approach can be particularly beneficial if nothing else has worked for your depression.

How to know if Spravato is right for you

Spravato is intended for adults with major depressive disorder who haven’t found relief from at least two different antidepressant treatments. It’s not a first-line treatment, but it’s an option if you’ve struggled with the effectiveness of traditional therapies. 

If you've exhausted other treatment options without success, book a consultation with our mental health team to find out if Spravato might be the next step for you. We can determine if you’re a suitable candidate and explain the potential benefits and risks.

The treatment process

Receiving Spravato involves more than just using a nasal spray. You administer it yourself, one spray into each nostril, under the supervision of one of our trained psychiatrists at our clinic. 

Each session requires that you stay at the clinic for two hours for monitoring due to possible side effects like dizziness, dissociation, and increased blood pressure. You can relax, meditate, or listen to music during this time

The typical process involves two sessions per week for the first four weeks, then one session per week for the next four weeks, and then maintenance treatments as needed. 

Effectiveness and considerations

Clinical trials have shown that Spravato can significantly reduce depressive symptoms in patients with treatment-resistant depression. Many report feeling relief within hours of the first dose, which can be life-changing, particularly for those at risk of suicide. 

However, it's important to manage your expectations; Spravato isn’t a cure-all, and it doesn’t work for everyone.

To learn more about Spravato and to find out if it can help you, schedule an appointment with our mental health team today. Give us a call at 380-214-1636, or you can book an appointment online anytime, day or night.