Treatment-Resistant
Depression
MDD with Suicidal
Thoughts or Actions
Ask a Care Navigator about patient support resources. Call 1-844-4S-WITHME (1-844-479-4846), Monday through Friday, from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM ET.
Your healthcare provider will remain an important part of your care throughout your month of treatment with SPRAVATO® for major depressive disorder with suicidal thoughts or actions.
If you’re considering SPRAVATO®, talk to your healthcare provider; get the facts and decide together if SPRAVATO® should be part of your overall treatment plan. Your healthcare provider can also help you find a certified SPRAVATO® treatment center to begin your treatment.
Expect to review your overall medical and depression treatment history in deciding with your healthcare provider whether SPRAVATO® is right for you.
SPRAVATO® cannot be purchased at a pharmacy. To help ensure the safe and appropriate use of SPRAVATO®, it is given at a certified SPRAVATO® treatment center. This could be a different location than your regular doctor’s office. Your healthcare provider will discuss the risks of misuse, abuse, sedation and dissociation with you and enroll you in the SPRAVATO® Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Program.
Download the patient starter brochure to learn more about the SPRAVATO® treatment experience.
You may start treatment as soon as your second visit to the SPRAVATO® treatment center.
Plan for rides to and from the treatment center. You won’t be able to drive, operate machinery, or do anything where you need to be completely alert until the day after a treatment session, following a restful sleep.
Bring a form of entertainment, like a book or playlist, for the session. A healthcare provider at the treatment center will monitor you for at least two hours after treatment.
Avoid eating two hours before, and drinking liquids 30 minutes before, the treatment session. Some patients taking SPRAVATO® may experience nausea or vomiting.
If you take a nasal corticosteroid or nasal decongestant medicine, take these medicines at least one hour before taking SPRAVATO®.
You will administer SPRAVATO® yourself under the supervision of a healthcare provider, who will show you how to use the SPRAVATO® nasal spray device.
There’s an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior with SPRAVATO®.
Call your healthcare provider right away if you have new or sudden changes in mood, behavior, thoughts or feelings, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or behavior.
SPRAVATO® may cause serious side effects, including sedation; dissociation; abuse and misuse; temporary increased blood pressure that may last about four hours after a dose; problems with thinking clearly; and bladder problems, such as a frequent or urgent need to urinate, pain when urinating or urinating frequently at night.
The most common side effects that can occur during and after taking SPRAVATO® include:
You’ll take SPRAVATO® twice a week for four weeks. After four weeks, you and your healthcare provider will determine if continued treatment with SPRAVATO® is necessary.
Next:
Information you may need to help you get started and stay on track.
To help ensure the safe and appropriate use of SPRAVATO®, it is only available at certified SPRAVATO® treatment centers. Your healthcare provider can refer you to a certified SPRAVATO® treatment center. Even if your current healthcare provider doesn’t directly treat you with SPRAVATO®, they should remain a key partner in your treatment.
You can only get SPRAVATO® at certified SPRAVATO® treatment centers; ask your healthcare provider to help find a location. Because of the risks for sedation, dissociation, and abuse and misuse, SPRAVATO® can only be administered at healthcare settings certified in the SPRAVATO® Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Program.
On treatment days, you will administer SPRAVATO® nasal spray yourself under the supervision of a healthcare provider. Your healthcare provider will assess your blood pressure before and after you administer SPRAVATO® nasal spray.
After you administer SPRAVATO® nasal spray yourself, there will be an observation period of at least two hours during which you will be allowed to rest comfortably while a healthcare provider monitors you for possible side effects.
Because of possible side effects affecting mental alertness and motor coordination, you won’t be able to drive, operate machinery or do anything where you need to be completely alert until the next day, following a restful sleep. So you’ll need to plan for rides on treatment days.
Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or does not go away.
If you have high blood pressure, whether treated or not, you should discuss that specifically with your healthcare provider in deciding whether SPRAVATO® may be right for you. Do not take SPRAVATO® if you have a blood vessel disease (aneurysm), an abnormal connection between your blood vessels (arteriovenous malformation) or a history of bleeding in the brain.
SPRAVATO® can increase your blood pressure temporarily – for about four hours – so you will have your blood pressure measured at various times, including before and after taking SPRAVATO®.
If your blood pressure is high before using this medicine, your healthcare provider will decide whether to start the medicine or wait until your blood pressure is lower.
Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get chest pain, shortness of breath, sudden severe headache, change in vision or seizures after taking SPRAVATO®.
