What Spravato actually feels like.
Most people feel something unusual in the first hour after a dose: floaty, detached, a little like a dream. For many, what follows is a calm they haven’t felt in a long time. Knowing what’s coming makes the first session much easier, so here’s what to expect.
Dreamlike, and expected.
The most common feeling is dissociation: a sense of being slightly removed from your body or the room, as if you’re watching from a step back. Sounds and time can feel different. Between 61% and 84% of people feel some version of it.
It isn’t a sign that something’s wrong, and it isn’t the same as the treatment working or not working. It’s simply what the medication does for a while, and it eases as the first hour goes by.
Sleepy, heavy, a little dizzy.
- Drowsiness: many people doze.
- Dizziness or a spinning feeling, especially if you move around. You stay in the chair.
- Numbness or tingling, often around the mouth.
- Nausea for some people, which is why you skip food for two hours beforehand.
- A taste at the back of the throat from the spray. We keep a variety of mints and candies on hand to take it away.
How people get through the first session.
- Calm music, or company. Bring your own headphones, or use the eye masks and noise-cancelling headphones we keep on hand. Most people close their eyes and let the hour pass. If you’d rather not be alone with it, one of our Sherpas (the specially trained team members who look after you on every treatment day) is always on standby to sit with you.
- A blanket and a reclined chair. Get comfortable before the first spray.
- No goal. You don’t need to think or do anything. Rest.
- Say something. If it feels uncomfortable, tell your Sherpa. That’s what they’re there for.
Ask us what a first session is really like.
Our team has given more than 30,000 Spravato treatments. We’re happy to talk you through it before you decide.
Name, date of birth and insurer. We check your plan and call you back. No commitment.
Check my coverageRegister once, and our team starts your insurance check and reaches out to schedule your evaluation.
Request an evaluationTired, and closer to yourself.
By the end of the two hours, most people feel much closer to normal, though sleepy. Someone else drives you home, and most people rest for the rest of the day. You can drive again the next day after a night’s sleep.
Peace, often for the first time in a long while.
The thing we hear most after a first treatment isn’t about the strange part. It’s relief. People tell us that for the first time in months, or even years, they feel at peace and relaxed, that the negative self-talk goes quiet, and that there’s a deep sense of calm. It isn’t the same for everyone, and it doesn’t happen for everyone, but it’s what we hear most from new patients.
Spravato’s side effects leave. A daily pill’s stay.
Spravato
Most of what’s on this page is gone by the end of your visit. The floaty feeling, the drowsiness and the dizziness ease while you rest, and most people go home feeling much closer to normal. You’re not carrying them through the rest of your week.
A daily antidepressant
Many daily antidepressants bring their side effects along every single day: sedation, dry mouth, sexual side effects, weight gain. They come with the medication for as long as you take it.
What people ask about how it feels.
What does Spravato feel like?
For most people, dreamlike and a little detached in the first hour, often with drowsiness or dizziness. It eases while you rest in our office, and most people feel much closer to normal by the time they leave.
Does Spravato make you hallucinate?
It can change how things look, sound or feel for a while, and some people feel detached from the room. Our team is watching over you throughout, and it passes.
Is the first Spravato treatment the hardest?
Often, because it’s unfamiliar. Knowing what to expect helps, and so does getting comfortable before your dose, with your own music or our headphones and eye masks.
Is it like being high?
Some people say it feels a bit like an altered state, or like a dream. It happens in a calm, quiet space with our team watching over you, for a limited time, and it isn’t the reason Spravato helps depression. All the side effects, with the numbers.
How will I feel the day after Spravato?
Most people feel back to normal the next morning and can drive after a night’s sleep.