Dr. Ben Yudkoff, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer at Lumin Health, hosted a Reddit AMA on the Spravato community on November 21, 2025. The below blog post is a recap of one of the questions presented on that AMA, syndicated to the Lumin Health blog in the event that it answers any questions about ketamine therapy, Spravato treatment, or general concerns you may have about treatment.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Spravato/comments/1p2ar6v/ama_im_dr_ben_yudkoff_psychiatrist_cofounder/
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you’re interested in learning more about ketamine for depression at Lumin Health. Thank you once again to the moderators and community members for facilitating such an engaging discussion.
onebirdonawire asks:
The only thing I hate about spravato is the reaction when it starts draining back into my mouth/throat. I've figured out that there's something about this treatment that really really upsets my stomach. So, when it starts draining, I have to keep spitting it out because if it hits my stomach I will vomit out everything in there. I just have a very sensitive stomach. Always have.
Is there any plan to change this part? The taste or even something to prevent it from draining back down would be amazing.
Answer:
I hear you. there is actually a bittering agent - meaning an ingredient that induces a bitter taste - that's added to Spravato to decrease the likelihood of its abuse. And a lot of people find that the taste of it is just so gross. I'm not sure by what mechanism swallowing of it impacts the stomach, but it makes sense that if there's a chemical irritant, it would do just that.
So, one thing I would consider is just trying to get as much of it into the nasal passageway or breathe in very deeply to try to get as much medicine away from your nasopharynx (the area that connects your nose to your mouth) as possible -- this would decrease how much is available to swally. Outside of that, there may be other options such as intravenous ketamine (which might be insurance covered as it is with some insurances in the state where I practice). Another person in the AMA wondered about different head positions when taking the medication to reduce the effects that gravity has on the medicine leaking into their throat. There may be something to this for people who are sensitive. Please see my response to metalheartmom as it may be relevant for you!
