Abstract: An NMDA antagonist (such as ketamine) is administered with a safener (such as clonidine) in patients suffering from neurologic disorders other than pain. The ketamine is adminsitered at a dosage that causes slurred speech, for a span of several days. This treatment enables a patient's nervous system to return to a healthy “set point”, also called an improved stable neural homeostasis, in a manner similar to a broken bone healing itself if protected from jostling and reinjury by a cast. In at least some patients, this treatment can ease problems such as addictions to illegal or pain-killing drugs, nicotine, or alcohol, compulsive or criminal behavioral problems, severe depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, phobias, etc. It may also provide some relief in some patients for problems such as chronic fatigue, chemical sensitivities, allergies, autoimmune disorders, and diabetes.

Abstract: A drug that inhibits NMDA receptors (such as ketamine, a surgical anesthetic) is continuously administered to patients suffering from neuropathic pain. Unless the NMDA antagonist drug has inherent safening activity, this treatment requires a “safener” drug to prevent the neurotoxic side effects of NMDA antagonists. One class of safener drugs that increase the efficacy of the treatment include alpha-2 adrenergic agonists, such as clonidine. The treatment lasts for several days and nights, continuously. A maximum tolerated dosage is titered for each patient, such as by observing slurring of speech, and the patient does not lose consciousness except during normal sleep. Magnesium and/or drugs that inhibit ketamine-degrading enzymes can also be used. Patients who suffered for years from chronic intractable pain emerged from this treatment with apparently permanent relief, or with lasting reductions in their levels of pain.