Some of you have been following my journey with the new treatment Spravato (esketamine) for my medication resistant bipolar depression. I just thought I would give an update now that I have had 16 or 17 treatments and am going every other week after starting with twice a week.
If you haven't read my other blogs, a quick update on what it is. It's a nasal spray for medication resistant depression. It is administered in a certified doctor's office, and you stay there for a two hour monitoring period afterwards. It is derived from a form of medical ketamine.
The side effects are weird but not unpleasant. Yesterday was, for some reason, my most intense experience yet. I had serious dissociation (where you can feel disconnected from your body, thoughts, and feelings) and hallucinations, which are the two primary side effects that I feel. It's pretty weird, though, which is why you have to be monitored for two hours (and also it can increase your blood pressure but not mine). Plus, you can't drive for the rest of the day.
It has given me my life back. I can actually laugh and smile and play with my grandson and interact with people and leave my house more (although that is still hard). I am not "cured" because there is no cure for bipolar disorder, but I feel better than I have in years.
My hope is to be able to go to a once a month cycle at some point, but I am still having a bit of a struggle a couple of days before my treatment which tells me that I still need to stay at this frequency. I'm not ready to stretch it out yet.
So that's where I am. If anyone has any questions about Spravato, the experience, the side effects, or the outcomes, please feel free to message me. Hope this helps some people. Good luck.
