High functioning autism / Asperger's - Glutamatergic dysfunction & NMDA antagonism

[palmanita]

High functioning autism / Asperger's - Glutamatergic dysfunction & NMDA antagonism

To make it short (agreed, I'm bad in making things short......), I'm very probably someone with HFA or related condition, my mother has many of the same problems that are hard to describe but after being in psychiatric treatments on and off for 10 years now, I've learned much about all the matter and thought a lot about everything. My autistic traits have been overlooked because of all the environmental influences, psychological problems caused by the illness of my mother who has been mis-diagnosed(?) as schizophrenic, adult ADHD and refuses any counseling or medical therapy and struggled with life for her whole lifetime.

So after what I think to be unraveling of learned conditions from underlying neurological problems I'm basically left with what fits absolutely into high functioning autism. Ever since I've been living with the feeling that I'm only running at 25% or so, the other 75% just waiting to enfold themselves but somehow I couldn't. Also that I had/have to invest a large part of my cognitive abilities or power into coping with everyday's emotions and basic social interaction, leaving me awkward, rigid and deeply unsatisfied.

The first time I actually experienced my dreams to be not just dreams but a locked possibility was with DXM in my teens. In all its dirtyness, it shattered that dome under what I'm living and separates myself from the real world. It just made it disappear for a short time. A normality I've never felt before. Emotions flowing naturally with no effort, all the cognitive capabilities available on demand, whatever. This made me accept all the side effects and was a road into ... addiction to dissociatives, if you want to call it so.

--

I've tried so many medications and drugs, still nothing - really nothing does what NMDA antagonism is able to do. To make me feel, think, act, look, be ... plainly, simply normal. More normal than ever. Confirmed by so many situations and people, even people trained to spot intoxications, repeatedly and not a single negative experience as long as the dosage was exactly correct.
Of course subjective and very probably due to reduced stress levels, I have the feeling that while being in this state of calm positive normalness even my body functions better. Many minor aches and signs like pimples, skin redness, disturbed digestion, whatnot tend to go away after some days on a NMDA antagonist. The differencies regarding motor skills, handwriting, balance, body control - overall clumsyness - are unbelievable.

Reminds me very much of what some people report about racetams or nootropics in general. So unfortunate that they don't work for me. Sarcosine on the other side might be worth a try as well as GLYX-somewhat or other weak partial NMDA agonists.

Now 2-Oxo-PCM brings this to a level I'd never could have imagined in my craziest dreams as a teen. Before I thought of MXE to be that godsend I longed for, even when this was in a time where I knew far too little about psychology, neurology, myself and all. It took a long time, countless sad mistakes and setbacks as well as hard work that I now think of being just in the very beginning (but now I'm able to deal with this work, what I absolutely couldn't naturally before) to grow into this.

My sober state is not unlike alcohol rebound. Just without the alcohol before and for an infinite duration.

Think I've nearly found my (temporarily) ideal solution with 2-Oxo-PCM (and a bunch of other meds, of which I am not yet sure how important they are and all).
It's nothing less than life changing. Like some nanotech fiction that makes a wheelchair driver walk. And I've self-experimented much and long enough to be sure of it to be relieable, reproduceable at any point.

When I'm off the NMDA antagonism, depending on how long I've been on it, I will continue to feel normal for a few days or a week with slowly drifting away again. The dome rematerializing. Dosage and purity / selectivity is crucial. A very little too much and I'm feeling disconnected, spacey etc. and the positives turn into negatives.

But with a strict regimen of 2-Oxo-PCM of maybe 50mg split throughout the day in equal doses it's a plain miracle. Additionally I'm on venlafaxine, methylphenidate, pregabalin and buprenorphine (ugh. Hard to get off, I know.) as well as chewing tobacco where I suspect the nicotine to balance out anticholinergic properties of O-PCE and the harmala alkaloids contributing their own. The venla & MPH are probably of benefit, the others I can't say. Just that NMDA antagonism alone isn't enough but that it's the key to everything and there is a striking synergy between NMDA antagonists & buprenorphine in that each partially substitutes for the other. I hope and think that with therapy and learning the other meds will become less and less important over time.

Now I've read that in many recent papers it's speculated that a glutamatergic dysfunction might be the cause of many autism-like symptoms. Maybe due to an auto-immune condition. Memantine has proven to be safe and beneficial but isn't accepted yet. I have to try it again in this regimen I'm currently on and in lower dosages, it worked in the past but was not comparable to MXE / 2-Oxo-PCM by any means.

I can't say whether it's about just disturbing the glutamatergic circuits so the brain temporarily re-adjusts it to a better equilibrium or the right low amount high trapping NMDA antagonism makes the difference - so when on an antagonist, auto-receptors* (?) get sensibilized and glutamatergic activity gets slightly shifted towards AMPA receptors, then as the drug leaves the now sensitized auto-receptors temporarily reduce glutamate output* causing less NMDA-mediated excitatory inhibition and thus NMDA -> AMPA stays maintained. As the auto-receptors desensibilize again, things will return to the dysfunctional equilibrium.

* (The autoreceptor theory is based on what I've observed with e.g. clonidine.)
** (and that after dissociative trips, so heavier dosages, we have a hangover of clouded mind and measured under-activity of certain areas of the brain)

It's so deeply frustrating to know of a life-changing medical aid, the possible theory behind and all, to have it available right now and experiencing how life could be every hour I'm awake currently but also knowing that the law will take it away very soon and I'll grow old or die before any such medical intervention will become approved. I am desperately hoping for some established prof or whatever doing research about autism & glutamate who could maybe believe me and my theories and.. well, not much more probably. To hope for some exotic chemical they are, or intend to do so, trialing on humans where I could participate and get it on presiption is very probably irreal.

I'd do almost anything to get a permission to acquire some pure NMDA antagonist with the profile of 2-Oxo-PCM (or MXE, even ketamine) - hoping that it isn't an antibiotic and that my bladder will tolerate it*. Riluzole is a last hope but it will be a hit or miss if I should ever manage to get a script for it.

* Think there have been some threads and research about the K related bladder damage. Don't remember whether it was due to the NMDA antagonism itself or a structural coincidence that would mean the more potent O-PCM had less risk and one could find a safer replacement.

I'm only now under the influence of O-PCM able to rationally think about all this matter, to search for a professional and whatnot. Take it away from me with no replacement and within 1-2 months I'll be a chaotic treatment resistant mess again. Had this countless times and it's just a hard fact. In days on MXE or O-PCM I'm able to come further than in months or years without. Again and again. Just that now I've found a good regimen, learned how to use it, have a very clean agent and learned from past mistakes.

Anyone experiencing this too?


A Pilot Open-Label Trial of Use of the Glycine Transporter I Inhibitor, Sarcosine, in High-Functioning Children with Autistic Disorder

Experimental molecules for ASD treatment reported to be the NMDA antagonist include memantine and riluzole. A recent double-blind, placebo-controlled trial reported that children with autism treated with memantine as adjunctive therapy with risperidone had decreased symptoms of irritability [27]. Riluzole is thought to inhibit the release of glutamate at the presynaptic nerve cell terminus [28] and enhance glutamate reuptake [29]. Wink et al reported improvement in the severe repetitive behavior of three ASD patients by riluzole [30]. On the other hand, experimental molecules for ASD treatment focusing on enhancing and augmenting NMDA function include d-cycloserine (DCS) and GLYX-13. A preliminary, open-label study of the effects of DCS in a sample of children with ASD showed that it appeared to reduce measures of social withdrawal during a 12 week trial [31]. GLYX-13 is a monoclonal antibody fragment with partial agonist effects at the glycine modulatory site. Treatment with GLYX-13 has been demonstrated to rescue the ASD-analogous behavioral deficit in the animal model [32], but no clinical trial has been reported yet. The opposing mechanisms of memantine and DCS and the other NMDA agonists highlight the need for approaches to clinically assay NMDA function in individuals with ASD, which remains a daunting task.

NMDA receptor dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders





http://linkinghub.elsevier.com.sci-hub.cc/retrieve/pii/S1471-4892(14)00135-0[h=1]A Prospective Open-Label Trial of Memantine Hydrochloride for the Treatment of Social Deficits in Intellectually Capable Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder.[/h]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27043118

[h=1]GABAergic/glutamatergic imbalance relative to excessive neuroinflammation in autism spectrum disorders[/h]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4243332/

[h=1]Immune-glutamatergic dysfunction as a central mechanism of the autism spectrum disorders.[/h]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19149568

Oh well, this was too much for the new bluelight editor.. posting these links was a mess. But it's all there, black on white, yet unavailable for the masses..

 

[aced126]

There is/was another user on this board who significantly benefited from NMDAr antagonists (Dopamimetic). You can look at a couple of his started threads, they are similar to yours. An example: http://bluelight.org/vb/threads/773...-highly-sensible-individuals-ADHD-para-autism

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

Jesus H, I know what you mean. I'm in the same boat. Classically autistic (and like it that way, mind you) but christ, fuck me, memantine was indeed life changing. I'm getting desperate enough to try some fucking indian pharmacy, because I cannot find the appropriate dimethyladamantanol to make some. If can't find it, chances are I'll go for some PCP analog. But not really satisfactory.

Do you other spesh guys/girls find that dissociatives have a major tendency to be reinforcing and grab a hold on you if you don't watch intake like a hawk? I do.

But at the right dose, diphenidine and to a lesser extent methoxphenidine were absolutely amazing. Rather than sleep all day, the activating effects really helped to counter the excessive sedation from the large doses of morphine and the oxy I need to take daily, plus chlormethiazole and gabapentin, clonidine, tizanidine and others. And oddly the effect that they had, like with memantine, on my memory when classically, NMDA antagonists HELPED with my memory, at the right dose.

 

[polymath]

I don't find DXM very pleasurable, except when I used it to boost the effect of alcohol (which isn't very smart, though, because it got me so fucked up that it was just dangerous). I definitely don't feel more normal when on dissociatives. I've never tried memantine, though, this thread got me somewhat interested. I'm an aspie...

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

Good to see more of the breed around here.

Not just the best way, but the ONLY fucking way

*needs to pick his pain meds up then go line up the labware a few times

Its not that I feel more NORMAL, to me, me, IS normal. Always has been, before I had much understanding of social structure and interpersonal cognitive modes, neurotypicals, when was young, were just fucking weird, freakish fucking things. Well still are, but now I comprehend why in some respects. WHAT would be more accurate. WHY is..well...there are some things that just don't make sense. Damned tendency to be led by emotionality rather than analytical perspective for one. Yep, definitely, I must have some green vulcan blood in me.

oddly I find VERY little effect from DXM. Tried it in gram doses before, even several times that, lab grade DXM HBr, got jack but an upset stomach, literally, next to no effects. Only psychic effect if you can call it that
was blurred vision.

 

[palmanita]

Do you other spesh guys/girls find that dissociatives have a major tendency to be reinforcing and grab a hold on you if you don't watch intake like a hawk? I do.

Oh yeah, and this was a huge pitfall as well as a hard learning episode.

It isn't the dissociative that is reinforcing. It's that state of normaility, of finally, after such aeons of time, to feel completely absolutely sober and normal. In this state normal everyday reward works in a way I could never have dreamed of. Everything I do is pleasurable. Just to look out and see the sun, see all the people, the nature, feeling all the feelings ... without having this dome between myself and the world. The soul, the brain, whatever wants to grab this state and never ever let it go again. I want more of it, for the rest of my life. But it's induced by the dissociative, so the connection is made between the chemical and the state.

Just that here, because we deal with a real genetical / neurological / metabolic whatever illness, usual rules of drugs don't apply. More isn't more but makes things go haywire. I've learned this the hard way, but now I'm able to maintain this state as long as I just have access to a good, pure, predictable NMDA antagonist and O-PCM is just perfect for this, at least in the beginning. The relatively short duration makes it controllable, but it isn't as short as ketamine where the comedown begins before things have settled. And it both hits almost instantly as well as it has a sane potency where eyeballing is possible, so I don't overdose on it.

I'm unsure about O-PCE. Maybe with very accurate and strict dosing, like we do with medications, it could be even better because it would only need 2-3 doses per day and not 6+ like O-PCM. But maybe it has different kinetics at NMDA or other additional activities that make it less ideal, i don't know.

Still have to explore how tolerance goes, whether I'll have to infinitely up the dose until some sort of ceiling effect sets in or not. My bet is on that it's not the case here.

But at the right dose, diphenidine and to a lesser extent methoxphenidine were absolutely amazing.

What dosage did you use? Just to have some idea about ... never really tried diphenidine but maybe I should. Would be fantastic if it's the same as O-PCM but with all day long effects and no bladder / antibiotic (the latter I'm putting in question) issues.

And oddly the effect that they had, like with memantine, on my memory when classically, NMDA antagonists HELPED with my memory, at the right dose.

Yes, absolutely. It's like the master of nootropics. Cognition flows so incredibly easy ... but it's also a state dependent memory. I tend to forget about things I've learned and did while being on NMDA antagonists when I'm off for some time. When going on again, after the adjustment period, memories come back.

I think it's kinda like this (from a paper about memantine & Alzheimer's):

I know far too little to say anything about how the plain NMDA antagonism, NMDA : AMPA etc plays together but this picture fits somehow with my imagination.

 

[palmanita]

Not just the best way, but the ONLY fucking way

Fully agreed.

oddly I find VERY little effect from DXM. Tried it in gram doses before, even several times that, lab grade DXM HBr, got jack but an upset stomach, literally, next to no effects. Only psychic effect if you can call it that was blurred vision.

DXM is a dirty mess that heavily relies on CYP2D6 metabolism. Do you know whether you're a normal/extensive/poor 2D6 type? Without the dextrorphan metabolite, DXM alone is basically a SNRI. But even for me who appears to get a reasonable amount of dextrorphan out, it has some very bizarre and dark edges, maybe from secondary targets (sigma, kappa, nACh?) and/or other metabolites. I don't know exactly how metabolism works but when DXM compared to DXO has a 10 or more times lower affinity to NMDA then taking 1 gram as a poor metabolizer is like taking 150mg for somebody else (?)

The ketamine I've tried was kinda dirty too, with huge differencies between "batches" what tells about impurities and so I'm waiting for someone offering me a sealed vial of ketamine to try the real thing. I guess it will still have more edges than O-PCM because of the HCN1 blocking effects and other targets.

----

I'm truly wondering about whether this sort of nootropic effect from dissociatives is genetically predicted or that just, in fact, nobody tried to use them this way. Somehow I think it's both.

Also you have to try to circumvent the choline antagonism many dissociatives come with. Takes away much of the mind fog and lethargy (possibly the diarylethylamines have little or no affinity to choline receptors and are thus more "clear" and "lacking something" for the hole-searchers?) but also the psychotomimesis.

I realized that, for me, "home" is a state of mind. One that requires some sort of NMDA antagonism. People who aren't affected by this kind of disorder, or who have it but never experienced dissociatives, can't imagine what for a difference of pure life quality it is. They just absolutely can't. While in this state, being alone in a foreign city can feel so much more "at home" than my actual home ever could while "sober".

My personality literally goes lost in all this NMDA(?) noise as shown in the picture above. This is so weird, so inconceivable, but it is plain reality. A reality that decides about living as a mentally and emotionally crippled ill somebody or as the person I am. And one I can't talk about with no one in reality, no doctors, no friends (of which I don't really have much, because of how I am without chemical correction), nobody. One the people would stigmatize me and that makes me a criminal.

When my supply runs out, it's like dying in slow motion.

 

[pofacedhoe]

It isn't the dissociative that is reinforcing.

face plam, yes it fucking is. you can rebrand it mentally and maybe these drugs do maker you feel connected but they are notorious for bladder/kidney damage and addiction . if ur taking these types of drugs very regular it could be iffy as fuck

you have to think of your kidneys and bladder

 

[Cotcha Yankinov]

Have we thought about the aspect of NR2A vs. NR2B etc? Maybe differences in subunits can explain some of our issues with NMDA.

 

[polymath]

I saw some discussion about galantamine in PD (where they talked about its dream-enhancing effect), and looking at some research articles, it seems to potentiate memantine's neuroprotective effect and it's also used for autism spectrum disorders. Have any of you tried it?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3607148/

Could my ardent tobacco smoking habit be some form of self-medication? Galantamine seems to act on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

Yeah galantamine is a direct agonist of alpha7 CNS type nicotinic AChRs, but to a degree will hit the lot seeing as its a strong anticholinesterase. Have tried it with memantine, changed my life for the short period I had some, I cannot however afford it and have been BEGGING my docs, unsuccessfully for this combination, or even just memantine, because with my memory and other issues post-excitotoxicity (near death) I've been closed to killing myself at times, and ONLY my promise that I will not, to my
stalker, the dear, dear sweet lovely, gorgeous, wholly, entirely beautiful and special lady that she is, has kept me alive. Its tough. Really so. But I respect her way too much to break a promise to her thusly given. I made it and so I must therefore, honor it, and in doing so, honor HER.


Well, with me, dissociative and hole-dose effects ARE incredibly, very much, EXTREMELY reinforcing. To the extent that when I was doing a lot of MXE I'd happily go through 10g in a week and need to order more before week was out, IV.

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

Have tried memantine also with huperzine-A, although this is also antagonistic to the polyamine NMDAR site. Not as good as galantamine though.

Not sure weather average or extensive metabolizer btw, although I enjoy 500mg codeine more than average doses of oxycodone (although I am not much a fan of this opioid, in fact I find it shite, IV oral or up the tony blair.

And DHC, I love that stuff in a high dose, lots of lovely histamine action and very euphoric. Wish it was more of a sedating profile but its good stuff, especially seeing as its not dose-limited like codeine is.

But SURELY, even a relatively poor metabolizer, so long as they weren't an actually stuck with a homozygous null allele would have got SOME of the NMDAr antagonistic effects with 5g of the lab grade stuff dissolved in just enough OTC dex syrup to solubilize it to assist absorption (in terms of just solubilizing it and making the entry of the drug into the meat unit itself would have done SOMETHING. Its not like this stuff was inert, it was active enough in someone else)

 

[palmanita]

face plam, yes it fucking is. you can rebrand it mentally and maybe these drugs do maker you feel connected but they are notorious for bladder/kidney damage and addiction . if ur taking these types of drugs very regular it could be iffy as fuck

No, for once it isn't that simple. In fact it's very unfortunate for this kind of use, that dissociatives are reinforcing (and they are a hell of, hitting multiple reward pathways).

Yeah of course I know what you wanna say. But I think to have separated one from the other. I have been addicted to dissociatives, this caused countless shitty accidents, fallbacks, misbehaviour, mania, whatnot. I still have to watch out, of course. But when on the right low steady level, things are so clear that I'm aware of the mechanisms. Every single time I redosed too soon, or too high, ended up bad - by shattering this clarity and replacing it with how dissociatives act usually.

I think of my kidney and bladder. With every line I think of them. But I also think about myself.

(Most of) you have the indescribable luck of being born with working genes. I, too, have the luck of being alive and healthy so far. But you can't imagine how my life is without treatment. It's plain torture to vegetate in this crippled state and let life passing by while you're under this empty dome - as I have lived for the majority of my time. Ever since DXO somehow opened a window into this dome I'm looking and longing for a way to achieve this naturally. Because I do know now that my dreams are a possibility.

I absolutely need to find a safer agent than O-PCM, and I'm hoping for memantine & galantamine / riluzole / etc, but it's a hard way to find the right professionals, to be able to talk with them in a way they understand and could be able to understand me and my problems. (!! think of a person with severe ADHD, with & without MPH. Multiply this difference and add in the fact that it's not just about attention but about being able to feel, express emotions or not, and you might get a hunch of what I'm dealing with).

My highest wish would be a drug which re-adjusts glutamate in the same manner but lacks abuse potential and is physically safe.

 

[Anxious.Individual]

Have you considered benzodiazepines and barbiturates? I've made a thread about my glutamate excess theory a while back: http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads...enzos-or-barbiturates-and-my-theory-on-autism

Benzodiazepines help rebalance the autistic brain: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/antianxiety-drugs-successfully-treat-autism/

Barbiturates like phenobarbital can easily readjust glutamate, and at the same time they indirectly decrease NMDA activity by antagonizing AMPA and Kainate receptors, which are vital for NMDA activation. Barbiturates are also damn strong anticholinergics and chloride channel openers (they directly hijack GABA-A receptors), which might significantly reduce obsessive/repetitive behaviors caused by autism.

I also have had serious opiate habits in the past and I noticed that opiates make symptoms of autism significantly worse. Is there any explanation to this?

 

[polymath]

I also have had serious opiate habits in the past and I noticed that opiates make symptoms of autism significantly worse. Is there any explanation to this?

There's a theory that autism is related to an abnormally large amount of opioid peptides in the brain, and naltrexone has been used as a treatment for behavioral problems in autism spectrum children. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8275903

 

[aced126]

There's a theory that autism is related to an abnormally large amount of opioid peptides in the brain, and naltrexone has been used as a treatment for behavioral problems in autism spectrum children. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8275903

Indeed, and this theory was more specifically developed by relating it to abnormal absorption of gluten-related opioid peptides from the gut.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_excess_theory

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7010949

I'm still uncertain on the process that allow these peptides, once absorbed from the gut, to cross the BBB.

 

[palmanita]

Have you considered benzodiazepines and barbiturates?

Never experienced barbiturates. Lorazepam has been a last resort aid for panic attacks etc. over many years and of course helps but also sedates and depresses mentally. Alprazolam I've tried just thrice probably, it's wonderful but nobody would give me a script for BZDs and I fear of the withdrawal. Never tried benzos continuously.

Sodium valproate was very helpful but had so many horrbile physical side effects and a psychotic edge. It made me euphoric.

I also have had serious opiate habits in the past and I noticed that opiates make symptoms of autism significantly worse.

Yeah, opioids don't work for me.. they are weirdly dysphoric and something I absolutely can't understand how one could get addicted to them (while of course the physical addiction / withdrawal is the same and there for me too). Buprenorphine being a 30% partial agonist is the only one that I tolerate and maybe helps a bit.

You might be right in that they can worsen the symptoms.

There's a theory that autism is related to an abnormally large amount of opioid peptides in the brain, and naltrexone has been used as a treatment for behavioral problems in autism spectrum children. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8275903

Holy shit, this would explain why I had such an abnormally intense reaction to naloxone while not being opioid tolerant or having any opioid in my system.
No joke, I was thinking about having somehow an excess of endorphin activity but couldn't grasp it. Long story to explain.

Problem I see is that I get most out of decreased NMDA but increased AMPA and choline.

WOW! --> Intranasal ketamine treatment in an adult with autism spectrum disorder
Anyone able to get the full text of this paper? I absolutely need to read this.

Found this:
Rare mutations in N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptors in autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia.

 

[Cotcha Yankinov]

^Not saying I ascribe to that theory too much and I realize the theory is that there are too many opoid peptides and my incoming suggestion is contrary to that, but maybe some issues are due to formation of antibodies against the peptides?

Maybe the peptides act peripherally on nerve terminals that are not too well guarded and the nerve cells carry a signal into the brain?

 

[palmanita]

From Reddit - another guy:

I have Aspergers, and I used to be a ketamine addict. By the end of my two-year addiction I was doing about an eight ball a day. It didn't affect me like most other people- it actually enhanced my ability to do things. I had perfect coordination, even to the point where I could drive unhindered. (I did have a hectic experience where I k-holed on the #1 Highway travelling from Nanoose Bay to just south of Naniamo at 2am on my way to a bush rave, but managed to function enough not to crash)... It basically gave me a buffer zone from the world and I could kind of safely process everything without getting super overwhelmed. It also allowed me to perceive things I never could before (things I'm still in touch with today). I basically marinated my brain in k for two years straight and it was kind of a blessing and a curse. I overcame a lot of mental obstacles, but it basically left my brain a blank canvas. It was basically like hitting a big reset button and reformatting the whole damn thing. I lost a lot of memories, my short term memory was totally gone, and I spoke like I had a speech impediment. I couldn't really carry on a conversation well and I struggled to even retain information I was reading. At first it really helped with the physical overstimulation and it put me in touch with a whole new level of energetic awareness that I maintain to this day, but then it started to take things away from me until I was basically lost in a void and unable to really connect with people in any sort of meaningful way. Now that I've been off it for a long time and after a long (over a year now) recovery process, my brain is better than it was before I started doing k with none of the baggage or old habits I'd carried. Something to keep in mind, though, is that I was also doing a ton of GHB at the time and after I quit K I went on a two-month-long PCP bender, so K wasn't the only contributing factor... All in all, now that I'm off drugs and back to normal, it gave me a lot of gifts that I got to keep. Ultimately, though, those things would have been no use to me had I not quit using it. Feel free to ask me questions if you're curious about anything...

No comment about the driving part, but again somebody with this kind of reaction. I think he went too far with dosing too, because I've experienced a bit of this blank canvas too when I heavily, and I mean heavily, used dissociatives by the end of the last year. Including the speech impairment thing. This is when you (as an autist, maybe?) get adjusted to dissociatives and increase dosage. Again, I think that moderation is key not just out of speculation but experience.

I have autism and had a life changing experience on my trip to Barcelona a few weeks ago. I was with friends at a club and one of them had Ketamine; I did two small bumps and it's as if was in control of my life for the first time. I didn't feel high....I felt normal. I felt like I could fully concentrate, I felt normal. It lasted a good week. I haven't tried it since but I definitely will try it again and report back. It's the first drug that I could honestly say it helped me to feel like a normal person and not strung out/irritable.

[h=1]Study of Intranasal Ketamine for Social Impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder
This study is currently recruiting participants.[/h]I absolutely need to contact the people doing this study.

 

[palmanita]

Patent from 1989 / 1991 ( so many years passed by and nothing happened. So many people out there waiting for life.)

Treating autism and other developmental disorders in children with NMDA receptor antagonists
A method is provided for treating autism and other pervasive developmental disorders in children by the administration of a therapeutically effective amount of a N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist. The NMDA receptor antagonist is chosen from the group consisting of ketamine and dextromethorphan.

Have yet to read through, do they think to "correct" the developing brain or about a life-long medication..