View Full Version : Ibogaine for Opiate Addiction- experiences and info
I know that I asked about this in Betty-Bupe's post on getting
off methadone with the assistance of ibogaine, but I feel that this
deserves a topic header of it's own.
I am interested in anyone's experiences, positive or negative, as well as any details about
-- if it was the rootbark or pure ibogaine HCl
-- if it was in done a clinic or hospital, unsupervised, or in Gabon as a part of a Bwiti inititation
-- the nature and duration of any (side)effects
-- and what impact it had on your opiate or other habit of that was the reason for the bioasay.
I am no stranger to either the literature or the clinics that
use ibogaine, inasmuch as I have read everything on the ibogaine
dossier, and I personally know the coordinators of both the Mexican
Ibogaine Association (which I cannot afford to attend) and the Iboga
Therapy House (which has no openings available at present) in
Vancouver. Through much trial and difficulty, SWIM has been able
to acquire some of the pure compound, and want to utilize it in the
most effacacious and safe manner possible.
My friend tried to take some of the substance in an attempt to
overcome her habit to heroin, but vomited up ~90% of her 1gram
dose. Luckily the capsules were regurgitated undissolved and were
able to be recovered for a second attempt in the future (gross, I know,
but if you went through what I did to get the medicine and paid nearly
$400US per gram, then you'd try to recover whatever you were able to as
well). She experienced EXTREME nausea (it is unknown how much of
this was psychosomatic), and then slept for several hours.
Although she did not stop her opiate usage, both her cravings and the
frequncy and quantity of her fixes were significantly diminished, and
she felt that she had experienced profound insight as well as some
paranormal clairvoyant phenomena. Keep in mind that at MOST she
successfully ingested and kept down ~100-150mg. of the ibogaine, so the
results are impressive considering the size of the amount actually
entering the body.
Her partial success intrigues me, although her violent nausea
and the pain and discomfort frightens me. There were points where
she said that it was markedly worse than just going through "cold
turkey" heroin withdrawl, and debated whether just withdrawing with the
aid of benzo's and clonidine would be preferable. I fully realize
that ibogaine varies in its effects from subject to subject, based on a
myriad of factors. That is part of why I want to instigate an
active discussion on the topic, as well as get any input that any of
you can provide. I desperately want to overcome my opiate habit of 5+
years, but I want to use ibogaine safely and also give myself the best
chance for overall success that I can.
Thank you, and my blessings and respect to all those who have overcome their habits and dependencies.
Has anyone out there tried iboga or ibogaine for any reason,
anti-addictive or exploratory of even as a Bwiti initiation? I
would love to hear your first-hand accounts!
IBOGAINE IN THE TREATMENT OF CHEMICAL DEPENDENCE DISORDERS: CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES (A Preliminary Review) H.S. LOTSOF © 1994 Dedicated to the work J. Bastiaans and N.F.P. Adriaans
in memory of N. Kribus
INTRODUCTION The primary purpose of this paper is to provide general information to the clinician who will be using the Lotsof Proceduresm (Goutarel, 1993) developed by NDA International, Inc. in which Ibogaine is administered to treat chemical dependence disorders. This is a preliminary report. The patient base upon which my conclusions have been made totals thirty-five treatment episodes. All clinical observations conducted after 1963 have been made on patients treated outside of the United States.
Ibogaine is not a substitute for narcotics or stimulants, is not addicting and is given in a single administration modality (SAM). It is a chemical dependence interrupter. Retreatment may occasionally be needed until the person being treated with Ibogaine is able to extinguish certain conditioned responses related to drugs they abuse. Early data suggests that a period of approximately two years of intermittent treatments may be required to attain the goal of long-term abstinence from narcotics and stimulants for many patients. The majority of patients treated with Ibogaine remain free from chemical dependence for a period of three to six months after a single dose. Approximately ten percent of patients treated with Ibogaine remain free of chemical dependence for two or more years from a single treatment and an equal percentage return to drug use within two weeks after treatment. Multiple administrations of Ibogaine over a period of time are generally more effective in extending periods of abstinence. It is noteworthy that twenty-nine of the thirty-five patients successfully treated with Ibogaine had numerous unsuccessful experiences with other treatment modalities.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Ibogaine, a naturally occurring alkaloid found in Tabernanthe iboga and other plant species of Central West Africa, was first reported to be effective in interrupting opiate narcotic dependence disorders in U.S. patent 4,499,096 (Lotsof, 1985); cocaine dependence disorders in U.S. patent 4.587,243 (Lotsof, 1986) and poly-drug dependence disorders in U.S. patent 5,152,994 (Lotsof, 1992). The initial studies demonstrating Ibogaine's effects on cocaine and heroin dependence were accomplished in a series of focus group experiments by H. S. Lotsof in 1962 and 1963. Additional data on the clinical aspects of Ibogaine in the treatment of chemical dependence were reported by Kaplan (1993), Sisko (1993), Sanchez-Ramos & Mash (1994), and Sheppard(1994).
Prior to Ibogaine's evaluation for the interruption of various chemical dependencies, the use of Ibogaine was reported in psychotherapy by Naranjo (1969, 1973) and at the First International Ibogaine Conference held in Paris (Zeff, 1987). The use of Ibogaine-containing plants has been reported for centuries in West Africa in both religious practice and in traditional medicine (Fernandez, 1982; Gollnhofer & Sillans 1983, 1985) An overview of the history of Ibogaine research and use was published by Goutarel et al. (1993).
Claims of efficacy in treating dependencies to opiates, cocaine, and alcohol in human subjects were supported in preclinical studies by researchers in the United States, the Netherlands and Canada. Dzoljic et al. (1988) were the first researchers to publish Ibogaine's ability to attenuate narcotic withdrawal. Stanley D. Glick et al. (1992) at Albany Medical College published original research and a review of the field concerning the attenuation of narcotic withdrawal. Maisonneuve et al. (1991) determined the pharmacological interactions between Ibogaine and morphine, and Glick et al. (1992) reported Ibogaine's ability to reduce or interrupt morphine self-administration in the rat. Woods et al. (1990) found that Ibogaine did not act as an opiate, and Aceto et al. (1991) established that Ibogaine did not precipitate withdrawal signs or cause dependence.
Cappendijk and Dzoljic (1993) published Ibogaine's effect in reducing cocaine self-administration in the rat. Broderick et al. (1992) first published Ibogaine's ability to reverse cocaine-induced dopamine increases and later, on Ibogaine's reduction of cocaine-induced motor activity and other effects (1994). Broderick et al.'s research supported the findings of Sershen et al. (1992), that Ibogaine reduced cocaine-induced motor stimulation in the mouse. Sershen (1994) also demonstrated that Ibogaine reduced the consumption of cocaine in mice. Glick (1992) and Cappendijk (1993) discovered in the animal model that multiple administrations of Ibogaine over time were more effective than a single dose in interrupting or attenuating the self-administration of morphine and cocaine, supporting Lotsof's findings in human subjects (1985).
Popik et al. (1994) determined Ibogaine to be a competitive inhibitor of MK-801 binding to the NMDA receptor complex. MK-801 has been shown to attenuate tolerance to opiates (Trujillo & Akil 1991) and alcohol (Khanna et al. 1993). MK-801 has also shown a blockade of "reverse tolerance" of stimulants (Karler et al. 1989). Ibogaine's effects on dopamine, a substance hypothesized to be responsible for reinforcing pleasurable effects of drugs of abuse, and the dopamine system were found by Maisonneuve et al. (1991), Broderick et al. (1992) and Sershen et al. (1992). Ibogaine binding to the kappa opiate receptor was reported by Deecher et al. (1992). Thus we begin to see a broad spectrum of mechanisms by which Ibogaine may moderate use of substances so diverse as opiate narcotics, stimulants and alcohol.
CLINICAL PRACTICE
The effects of Ibogaine treatment are viewed in three categories: acute, intermediate and long-term. The acute and intermediate effects have sometimes been referred to as the effects and aftereffects. The two major effects of Ibogaine are A) the ability to interrupt narcotic and stimulant withdrawal and B) the attenuation or elimination of the craving to continue to seek and use opiates, stimulants and alcohol (Lotsof 1985, 1986, 1989). Knowledge concerning the use of Ibogaine in treating alcohol dependence is limited to: 1) a single alcohol-only dependent patient and 2) the attenuation and, in some cases, cessation of alcohol use in persons treated for poly-drug dependence disorders. Ibogaine's ability to treat nicotine dependence (Lotsof, 1991) has been seen in poly-drug dependent subjects treated primarily for opiate and/or cocaine use .
First, there are some general considerations. The primary obligations of the treatment team are four-fold: 1 ) to earn the trust of the patient, 2) to maintain the comfort of the patient, 3) to assist the patients in interrupting their chemical dependence and 4) to supply the psychosocial support network needed by the majority of patients to enable them to develop a sense of personal accomplishment and the ability to function as productive members of society. This is a process the Dutch treatment community refers to as normalization.
In the Lotsof Proceduresm, for which a manual is now being prepared, the sense of conflict seen in most treatment modalities between the doctor and patient over the immediate ceasing of drug use does not exist. The patients have been allowed, if narcotic-dependent, to continue their use of narcotics until a certain time prior to treatment with Ibogaine. There is no conflict over opiate use before treatment as our position has been that Ibogaine will either work to interrupt chemical dependence or it will not. Patients dependent on stimulants are not maintained on stimulants and this has not created a problem for the patients or the medical staff.
Prior to our conducting Ibogaine treatments in hospitals, addicted patients were allowed to use their personal supply of narcotics until the evening before treatment. However, during hospital-administered Ibogaine sessions, the narcotic-dependent patient is maintained on medications prescribed by the principal investigator during the three to five day intake process preceding their treatment with Ibogaine. Even under these circumstances, patient distrust of the medical establishment and their extreme fear of going into withdrawal has resulted in the smuggling of narcotics into hospital environments. In order to protect the patient from possible overdose due to narcotics, stimulants or other drugs, a thorough physical examination is performed on all patients upon their admission to hospital environments. The examination and a search of the patient's possessions prior to treatment with Ibogaine serve two important functions. The first, is to limit the possibility of accidental overdose from secreted drugs. The second, is to provide a complete understanding of the patient's physical health, since many of the people seeking treatment for chemical dependence have masked various and often numerous medical problems for years or even decades by self-medicating with illicit drugs.
ACUTE EFFECTS
A. REGIMEN
The acute effects of Ibogaine are dramatic. The initial reaction is usually noted within forty-five minutes after the oral dose and full effects are generally evident within two to two and a half hours. The earliest subjective indication by patients of Ibogaine's effects is the report of a pervasive oscillating sound. The patient tends to lie down and, if asked to stand or walk, shows signs of ataxia.
The protocol for the Lotsof Proceduresm stipulates that the patient remain in bed with as little movement as possible from the time of Ibogaine administration, as nausea associated with Ibogaine use has proven to be motion-related or, in later stages (those longer than four hours after administration), possibly to be a psychosomatic reaction to previously repressed traumatic experiences. In addition to keeping the patient as still as possible, we use a non-phenothiazine anti-nauseant, as phenothiazines may interfere with the psychoactive properties of Ibogaine. If the patient vomits in less than two and a half hours after the administration of Ibogaine, an examination of the regurgitated material should be made to determine how much Ibogaine may have already been absorbed by the patient. A rectal infusion of Ibogaine to supplement the lost portion of the dose may be provided if it is not possible for this dose to be administered orally. The rectal administration should occur only if the patient has previously consented to this mode of dosing.
B. VISUALIZATION
One of Ibogaine's principal effects during its first phase of action is to produce a state which emulates dreaming, aside from the fact that the subject is fully awake and has the ability to respond to the treatment staff's questions. In most cases, people under the influence of a therapeutic dose of Ibogaine do not wish to speak. They prefer instead to pay close attention to the visual presentation of memories or phenomena they are experiencing, that have been noted to have both Freudian and Jungian connotations.
The experiencing of visual material is rapid. Some patients have described it as a movie run at high speed; others as a slide show, each slide containing a motion picture of a specific event or circumstance in the viewer's life. In either case, the presentation of visual material is so compressed and fast moving that distracting the patient for even a moment may interfere with the process of abreaction. Therefore, in treatment, the intrusion of the medical staff should be kept to a minimum during Ibogaine's primary phase.
AUTONOMIC RESPONSES
During the first through the fifth hour there is a moderate rise in blood pressure of ten to fifteen percent and, in some cases, an associated decline in the pulse rate. The most significant autonomic changes occur between one and a half and two and a half hours after administration of therapeutic doses of Ibogaine. In many cases the patients' pulse rates are elevated due to anxiety prior to the administration of Ibogaine.
On two occasions, persons with transient hypertension were treated. In one of those instances the patient's blood pressure dropped to normal levels during the primary and secondary stages of treatment. The second hypertensive exhibited little change at a 23mg/kg therapeutic dose, but showed significant changes on two occasions when provided with only a 1.6mg/kg test dose. The two 1.6mg/kg doses were supplied due to our concern over the patient's hypertension. He had been previously treated with an 18mg/kg dose by Dutch Addict Self-Help (DASH) with no apparent negative results. This alleviated somewhat our concern for the patient's safety. Variation in individual patient reactions should be anticipated.
FEMALE PATIENT SAFETY
One 24-year-old female patient treated with Ibogaine for chemical dependence died from undiagnosed causes in the Netherlands. Although her autopsy did not determine the cause of death, it reported Ibogaine levels of 0.75mg/liter in blood. This level has not been seen to be toxic in animal research or in our prior human studies. Subsequent to this death and to a previously reported death of a Swiss woman who received Ibogaine during a psychotherapy session in Europe, totally unrelated to NDA's research program, the FDA excluded women from the present clinical trials taking place at the University of Miami. However, the FDA decision is contrary to the gender guidelines of the National Institutes of Health. The guidelines with regard to women call for the inclusion of women at the earliest stages of clinical trials, as this would provide the greatest determination of safety for women. Thirty percent of NDA International's patients have been women who have shown no negative effects from taking Ibogaine either during or after treatment. However, considering all of the circumstances, the Procedure should be administered only in a hospital or clinic with the patient under continuous staff observation and electronic monitoring.
An ongoing international research program is developing evidence to determine a hypothesis for the cause of death of the woman in the Netherlands. We are additionally seeking Swiss government cooperation concerning the death of the Swiss woman. The results of this research may facilitate either an exclusion criteria or an antidote allowing Ibogaine safely to treat chemical dependence in women.
COGNITIVE EVALUATION
The second phase of Ibogaine's action during the Lotsof Proceduresm is one of the patients' intellectual evaluation of their previous experiences and decisions. This occurs after the visualization phase, which generally ends abruptly in three to five hours. However, individual reactions and variations are the norm and not the exception within the parameters of the Procedure.
Regarding this process of evaluation by the patient, in many cases, when various decisions were made by the patient in the past, those decisions appeared to be the only options available at the time. However, due to Ibogaine's ability to allow the reevaluation of one's life, actions and behavior , it is possible for the patient to understand that alternatives to their original decisions were available, and this knowledge appears to allow the patient to modify their current behavior and cease their drug dependence.
ATTENUATION OF NARCOTIC WITHDRAWAL
One of the major acute effects experienced with Ibogaine treatment is the attenuation or elimination of narcotic withdrawal in opiate-dependent patients. This is extremely important to the narcotic-dependent patients who live in fear of going into withdrawal.
The treatment team's experience in the field is of the utmost importance in dealing with this aspect of the Procedure as withdrawal symptoms are a combination of physical and, in many cases, psychosomatic manifestations that are anxiety-driven. Therefore, it is imperative for the medical and paramedical staff to have experience in identifying and distinguishing between these varieties of symptoms. Provided below are examples of psychosomatic withdrawal manifestations demonstrated by two of the patients treated outside the United States.
Example One
On one occasion I was called into the room by a colleague about twenty hours after Ibogaine had been administered to a twenty-five year old male heroin-dependent patient. The patient had been using approximately 1/4 gram of heroin a day, but soon increased his daily intake to two grams while in the Netherlands.
I was informed that the patient was complaining of muscle spasms; I asked the patient if this was true, and he concurred. I asked if I might see these spasms and the patient agreed, showing me the calf of his leg. The patient was exhibiting what appeared to be involuntary movements. I checked his pupils and observed that they were not dilated, nor was he exhibiting any other form or manifestation of withdrawal. When I turned to my colleague for discussion I noticed the patient's spasms had ceased. When I turned to the patient and once again examined his calf, the spasms returned. I turned away once again, but continued to watch him and the spasms ceased again. I informed the patient that I believed the spasms to be psychosomatic in origin. I placed a pillow under the patient's calf to give it support and covered the patient with a blanket. The spasms did not occur again.
Example Two
On another occasion I received a call from a person involved with Dutch Addict Self-Help (DASH) groups who had been observing a number of treatments. She informed me that a Yugoslavian woman in her mid to late twenties had been complaining of narcotic withdrawal during Ibogaine treatment, but the DASH observer did not believe this to be the case as there were no observable signs of withdrawal..
When I arrived, the patient was sitting on a couch. I checked her pupils and observed they were not dilated and asked her if she were in withdrawal. The patient said, she was.
"How are you in withdrawal? What are its manifestations?" I asked.
"I'm sick," she said.
I asked her if her eyes were tearing.
"Yes," she said, but her eyes were not tearing.
"Is your nose running?"
"Yes," she said, but her nose was dry.
"Do you have goose bumps?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, but I pointed out to her that she did not have goose bumps, and finally I said, "Do you have diarrhea?"
"Yes," she said, but I had no way to determine the validity of her statement.
The patient requested that I provide her with funds to return home, and I told her I did not think it wise for her to leave at this time, but would give her carfare in the morning. The following day the DASH observer informed me the patient left about four hours after I did, informing the observer as she left that she had not been sick, but had only said she was. This example should further demonstrate the importance of hospital administered treatments with a full medical staff of psychiatrists, neurologists, internists, therapists, nurses, peer counselors and patient advocates capable of evaluating and responding to any aspects of the patient's condition at all times.
DELAYED WITHDRAWAL
The complaint of experiencing narcotic withdrawal after leaving the treatment environment has been reported in three cases. We have provided additional treatments six months to a year after the initial treatment to patients who were re-addicted and stated they had experienced some form of withdrawal within a week of their first Ibogaine treatment. Our working group decided to keep patients making such complaints under observation for periods equal to the number of post treatment days during which the patients stated they previously experienced withdrawal symptoms.
Our findings have been that, under the above conditions of monitoring, the reported withdrawal signs are usually symptoms of anxiety or anxiety related conditions that the patients characterized as withdrawal, i.e., nausea, diarrhea or increases in blood pressure in one hypertensive patient.
There have been two incidents which did not appear anxiety related, in which diarrhea occurred five to seven days after treatment in patients using one gram of heroin a day. These episodes were easily controlled with a single administration of an appropriate medication and did not occur again.
AFTEREFFECTS
INTERRUPTION OF CRAVING
The acute interruption of craving to seek and use drugs of abuse is unique to the Lotsof Proceduresm as a treatment modality for chemical dependence disorders. This effect is generally not noticed by the patient until the principal actions of Ibogaine (visualization, cognitive evaluation, behavioral immobility and significant residual stimulation) are no longer evident and the patient has had the opportunity to sleep. The initial recognition of lack of craving is usually noticed forty-eight to seventy-two hours after Ibogaine administration. In a minority of treatments, recovery and the absence of craving may be evident to the person being treated in as little as twenty-four hours. The medical staff, on the other hand, usually notes the absence of craving in the patient in forty-five minutes to one and a half hours after Ibogaine administration.
Our experience gained in recent years through the treatment of twenty persons outside the United States has shown that the majority of patients may need a series of treatments before the conditioned responses (craving) to a long history of chemical dependence can be extinguished. However, for three of these patients a single treatment interrupted chemical dependence for a minimum of two years. The advantage of Ibogaine is that it begins to allow patients time periods free of craving during which the psychiatrist, social worker, therapist, paraclinician and the patient often bond into a cohesive working group to accomplish a state of long-term non-dependence by the patient to the drug(s) of abuse for which the patient is under treatment.
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT
All aspects of treatment for chemical dependence disorders common to other treatment modalities are common to the use of Ibogaine. The patient's characteristics in terms of psychopathology, behavior, societal accomplishments, as well as the skills of the treatment team are significant to treatment outcomes.
In rare cases, when the patient already has the occupational, educational and skills needed to succeed in society, the task may be somewhat easier. In cases where the patient does not have those societal skills, or lacks medical care for disorders other than chemical dependence, care and training must be provided through psychosocial support structures.
Trauma suffered by the patient during childhood appears to play an important part in the drive for love and the fear of abandonment that is common to many of the patients we have treated (Bastiaans, 1991).
All psychosocial support paradigms should be available for the patient after the completion of an Ibogaine treatment. Their use should be contingent upon the evaluation of the patient's needs and progress.
One of the primary differences that social workers, counselors or therapists offering psychosocial support notice in post-Ibogaine treated patients, as compared to untreated subjects, is the rapidity with which the support can and must be provided to aid the patient in accomplishing goals and making decisions. Ibogaine presents a symptom-free window of opportunity which the patient and therapist must take advantage of. One patient put it this way: "Ibogaine and 12-Step (groups) both help you to get in touch with your soul. Ibogaine is like rocket fuel for that process." (Village Beat, 1990) It is imperative that ground control remain in contact with the patient, and this means moving quickly and dramatically to assist the patient to establish goals while the patient has the ability and desire to do so.
To read more, see page 2...
CURRENT TREATMENTS: A SELF REPORT
(personal communication, 1994)
The following report is from the type of patient we had been seeking for years: a medical doctor who needed to be treated with Ibogaine. The subject was chemically dependent on 600mg of Demerol a day and had attempted to stop his drug use a number of times without any lasting success. Our particular interest in this subject was the hope that, as a medical doctor, he might provide us with some professional insight into the results of his treatment. He kept notes and provided a report on the four different doses he received, which is presented in its entirety. This subject proved to be more sensitive to Ibogaine than any other individual in our studies conducted outside the United States, and had a full-blown experience from a 10mg/kg dose. The patient had participated in a research protocol which called for an intermediate dose of 10mg/kg of Ibogaine, which was administered as part of a pharmacokinetic study and was not expected to have a therapeutic effect, but it did. As part of the protocol, patients would then be administered a known therapeutic dose of 20mg/kg.
1st day - 100mg (test dose #1)
I've taken my Ibogaine dose and went to bed, and stayed laying down. I felt nothing, until the medical staff arrived to do the 1 hour tests. I was surprised because in my mental measurements, I thought I had taken Ibogaine about 20 minutes earlier. When I stood up, I felt a little drowsiness, and it was difficult to walk in a straight line. I was feeling photophobia and every little noise seemed to be much louder than in reality. The sounds were very disturbing to me.
During the two hour testing, symptoms were worse. It was very difficult to walk in a straight line, and the room seemed to beat, like a heart. I felt very tired, and the only thing I wanted was to rest in bed. Each head movement seemed to make things worse.
When I stood up for the 3 hour test I felt that the symptoms were disappearing. I was very hungry and ate. After eating, I was a little nauseated. For the following hours I felt nothing, except for sensation that my mind images were richer in details than before, like a 3-D movie.
I ate with no nausea, slept very well, and awakened in very good condition.
2nd day - 25mg (test dose #2)
After this dose of Ibogaine I felt nothing different from my normal state.
3rd Day - 10mg/kg (experimental dose)
For the first two hours I felt a little different, like I had smoked marijuana. I was very calm and relaxed and all the tension of the beginning of the procedure was gone. The room seemed to be a little different and the colors around me sharper than normal. The lights and sounds were disturbing to me, like the first time. Suddenly, with my eyes closed I began to see images that appeared in screens, exactly like TV or cinema screens. These screens were appearing in small sizes and then they would get bigger as I focused my attention on them. Sometimes they appeared small and would then begin to grow, like I was walking in their direction, and sometimes they were going from left to right, in a continuous way.
The images on the screens were moving in slow motion and were very sharp and well defined. I saw trees moving with the wind, a man with bells in his hands, various landscapes with mountains and the sunset. At this time I was a little nauseated, and when the doctors asked me to stand up for some tests, I vomited. From all of the hundreds of images I saw this day, I recognized only two: the first, an image of myself as a child, static like a photo. This image began to approach me and get bigger, but something in the room happened and I opened my eyes, losing the image. The second image I recognized was one of some horses dancing in a circus. It was a TV show that I had seen two days before. The time seemed to go very quickly, because after about four hours (in my mind), they told me I had taken Ibogaine nine hours earlier! It was very difficult for me to speak in English or in Spanish. I was only able to speak in my native language. At this time the images started to appear at a slower rate and for another two hours I saw only screens with no images on them. About 10-11 hours after the beginning of the experiment they disappeared.
I ate very well and stayed awake all night long, falling asleep only about 7 AM, almost 24 hours after the medication had been administered. During the night I had some insights about my life and about the things I realized I was doing wrong. I stayed all the following day very tired, sleepy, but very happy and relaxed, in a way I never was before.
5th day - 20mg/kg (therapeutic dose)
The first 3 hours were similar to the last time; photophobia and a bad sensation with little noises. After that the images began to appear, in a slower rate than the other time. There were less images, but I was recognizing all of them as part of my childhood. I saw myself playing in my father's farm, riding a motorcycle, playing with a cousin, feeding a fish and other things. I saw some recent images, like one of my father, laughing in the living room of my house. This happened about a year ago. I understood that I had a happy childhood, and there was no one to blame for my addiction, only myself. I felt their love coming from my parents and relatives. I was feeling the same time distortion that I felt the other day, and after many hours I suddenly had an insight. It was that my mind and the universe were the same thing, and that all the people in the universe and all things in the universe are only one. I saw many mistakes I was doing in my life, so many attitudes I could not have, and this helped me to decide very strongly that I will never use Demerol again. Now I can see very clearly that I don't need Demerol to live my life. And I feel better if I don't use it. During the first 8 hours after taking the Ibogaine I vomited 4 or 5 times, always when I tried to move. I was able to sleep about 4 AM, and to eat only about 9 AM the following day. I awakened feeling weak, tired and drowsy. As the hours were going, I slept a lot and began to feel better and in the morning of the following day I was normal.
Differences in day-by-day life after the experience
I returned to my normal life with absolutely no cravings, with better appetite than before, and highly self-confident. Now I can see differences in some aspects of my personality, things are changed. For example, I used to avoid driving at night, because it reminded me of a car accident I had years ago. Now I can drive anytime, day or night, without anxiety. I'm sure that this is caused by Ibogaine, because now I'm not the same very anxious person I was. I'm not as shy as I used to be, too. It's easier now to contradict people when I think they are wrong, and to make them know what I want and what I think. I used to accept all that other people said only to avoid a discussion, even when I was sure that my point of view was the correct one.
These are the main happenings in my Ibogaine experience and the main differences I can perceive in these few days.
Some Months Later
The most important thing I learned with all that happened is that I can never underestimate the power of the addictive personality I have inside. I can never say I'm cured because if I do this, I will forget to protect myself from drug using thoughts. I must know I have a chronic disease that will be quiet in its place until I decide to give it a chance to grow. This decision, and that's the point, is a conscious decision. If I give in,the disease will be out of control in a few days. But, if I could be strong to take real and honest control of my Demerol using thoughts, I will be free forever.
A few days ago, because of professional needs, I had to keep two Demerol doses with me, in my house, all night long. To protect myself, I gave them to my wife. But, it was amazing to see how I was not anxious to use them but, to give them to the patients that needed them. I clearly felt that Demerol was a strange thing in my environment. I wasn't curious about the place my wife had put them, I wasn't feeling any craving. I was only looking forward to the moment I could give them to the patient and say: I've done it. And I did it, because of all of you from NDA.
I don't want to be boring, but I have no words to say how grateful we, my family and I, are. I will remember you for a lifetime.
- - - e n d p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n - - -
Needless to say, this patient provided particular advantages in terms of his treatment outcome. He had a career, was highly motivated, and did not require the significant psychosocial support needed by so many others who do not have his background.
CONCLUSION
The follow-up for observations in patients we have been able to track, a significant minority, possibly twenty-five percent is short. In many cases we have maintained direct contact with the patients for only two months after treatment. In a single case, for five years. The difficulty concerning patient contact has been one of geographic distances, both national and international as our patients have come from diverse cities and countries. This factor, as well as the normal problems in tracking a chemically dependent population must be taken into consideration in evaluating the findings of this paper.
General conclusions based on study observations are that a single administration of Ibogaine is an interrupter for chemical dependence disorders. A series of treatments given over a period of time will produce more significant results and may allow some of the persons treated to free themselves completely from dependence to, or the use of, opiates and stimulants including cocaine and nicotine for years. Data on alcohol dependence treatment in human subjects is minimal.
Ibogaine has the ability to significantly attenuate opiate withdrawal in all patients and, in ninety percent of cases treated, to interrupt an individual's craving to continue drug use for periods of time ranging from as short as two days to as long as two and a half years from a single treatment. Concurrently, Ibogaine has demonstrated the quality of precipitating the release of repressed memories and of fostering a process of abreaction that I believe to be an important aspect of Ibogaine's ability to interrupt chemical dependence.
In order to obtain the greatest benefit for those treated with Ibogaine, a psychosocial support structure should be in place. Providers of the Procedure should be knowledgeable in the field of chemical dependence treatment, and patients should shown kindness and respect. In many cases, such an approach will be the first attentions of this kind the patient may have experienced in decades.
Patients are deserving of kindness and respect, and such care is an important part of the healing process. Ultimately, physicians and support staff should be specifically trained in the Lotsof Proceduresm to fully understand the physical and psychological transformation of the patient, the advantages of the Procedure, and the providers' responsibilities in administering Ibogaine to treat chemical dependence disorders. Eventually, the understanding of Ibogaine's actions may yield important data on memory, learning, dreams and sleep, as well as chemical dependence, tolerance and abuse.
***
TABERNANTHE IBOGA TREATMENT LOCATIONS
- Treatment with Tabernanthe Iboga (natural plant) and traditional african healer contact iboga_planteur@yahoo.fr
500 Euros NOT GOVERNMENT LICENSED
List From ibogaine.co.uk
- Treatment with ibogaine the Healing Visions clinic in St Kitts, West Indies. Cost - UK£1,900-7,500, (US$3k-12k).Visit www.healingvisions.com (http://www.healingvisions.com/) for further details. GOVERNMENT LICENSED
- IBOGA THERAPY HOUSE, Vancouver, B.C., Canada - This west coast iboga therapy house offers treatment to highly motivated individuals who wish to work hard towards ending their repetitive self-destructive behaviours. Open year round, contact marc@cannabisculture.com if you have a blood test completed, an EKG (heart exam), and have a after-care program in place, then we can discuss your treatment at the Iboga Therapy House. NOT GOVERNMENT LICENSED
- Medically supervised treatment with the Ibogaine Association near San Diego in Rosarito, Mexico. Licensed facility. Basic treatment is four or five days long and costs $3300. Extended treatment for methadone patients is 6 days long and costs $4500. Visit www.ibogaine-therapy.net (http://www.ibogaine-therapy.net/) for further details IBOGAINE'S LEGAL STATUS IN MEXICO IS "UNLICENSED EXPERIMENTAL MEDICATION"
- For information and medically supervised ibogaine treatments in the UK please call Hattie on 07949 262 949 or email epoptica@freeuk.com NOT GOVERNMENT LICENSED
- Edward Conn is an Ibogaine practitioner working in London, England. He has been treating people for four years and was featured in the June 2004 BBC documentary facilitating a methodone detox for BAFTA nominated film maker David Scott at his home in London. The film will be available by mail order. Edward is contactable either by telephone or e-mail - (+44) 020 8679 2641 or wardconn@hotmail.com NOT GOVERNMENT LICENSED
- Ibogaine treatments in the UK and the rest of Europe, cost GBP 600-800. concessionary cases considered. Visit www.ibogainetreatment.net (http://www.ibogainetreatment.net/) for further details NOT GOVERMENT LICENSED
- Ibogaine treatment in a Panamanian hospital. Cost - approx UK£9,000, (US$15,000). GOVERNMENT LICENSED Contact: Dr. Edgardo Della Sera, Panama Ibogaine Project, Clinica del Nino, Apdo 447, David, Chiriqui, Republic of Panama; e-mail ibogaine@chiriqui.com (%20ibogaine@chiriqui.com); fax: +507 777 3579
- Medically supervised ibogaine treatment at a hospital in Lahore, Pakistan with Dr Kalbe Abbas for around £1,000, (US$1500). Contact: Dr. Kalbe Abbas MBBS, 5-F Waris Road, Lahore, Pakistan; Tel: +92-042-7586712; Fax c/o Asif Zaidi: +92-042-6372700; Fax c/o Dr. Fayyaz: +92-042-6373228; E-mail: kabbas@brain.net.pk GOVERNMENT LICENSING UNNECESSARY IN PAKISTAN
- Ibogaine treatment via Eric Taub's "I begin again" organisation. Based in Florida, but operating outside of the US. Cost - UK£600-1,500, (US$900-2,500). Visit www.ibeginagain.org (http://www.ibeginagain.org/) for further details. NOT GOVERNMENT LICENSED
- Medically supervised ibogaine treatment in Northern Italy with Karl Naeher for around £1,000, (US$1500). Visit www.ibogainetreatment.com (http://www.ibogainetreatment.com/) for further details. NOT GOVERNMENT LICENSED.
- SARA'S HOUSE, Breukelen, Netherlands. Pastoral, holistic treatment using Iboga root-extract for addiction & emotional trauma problems. Cost - approx Euros 1500. Sara Glatt is a registered holistic healer with 5 years Iboga experience who treats clients as 'part of the family'. Contact Sara at sara119@xs4all.nl to find out more. NOT GOVERNMENT LICENSED
wildwind
21-02-2005, 19:58
Hi Alfa,
I'm sara from Sara's house, the above info. can be changed. now I'm five+ years giving this treatment.
this info. is from 2003.
My speciality is methadone /heroine/benzo detox.& recovery. which is a different way of treatment then other treatment providers. I'm A THC-Minister and I provide my clienten with organically growen cannabis during the treatment and that is one of the reason people like to come here, I also use to give magic mushrooms as part of the healing process and Ayahuascha which can give the person an extra booster after the iboga. one of my hobbies is growing peyote's from seeds, and the reason that I give this treatment is becasue I was told to do so by the spirit during my own Iboga sessions,it became my passion and my way of life, I have no agenda and I write nothing on a paper, I have no statstics about success rates.
I have no idea where most of the people who come here live. what I do have is a thick guestbook. that reaserch is just alot of bla bla bla...
how can anyone find a good reasech when no one is talking about the setting of those treatment, let say a person is been in Vancouver and had a Detox. from 100 mg of Methadone, that treatment is for free, or at least was, so don't expect to get
a kicking ass treatment, you will come out in withdrawals and this what so great about Ibogaine? I'm still in withdrawals, but since it was for no change you will not dare to say anything negetive. to come off you need a lot of iboga not just minimum dosage five days. that is just too short if you ask me. well, I have a person in treatment now, from 80mg of Methadone and
heroine, so I got to go now, doooeeeiiii
Sara
Welcome Sara. Great that you came over.
I found some info on Ibogaine. Correct me if it's wrong:
<H2 align=center>Important information
for those thinking of taking ibogaine</H2>
With ibogaine treatment still not legally available for much under £2,000 + travel (approx 4,000USD), a number of non-medically qualified individuals have started either treating people themselves or selling the drug for addicts or others to self-treat. Whatever the moral wrongs or rights of doing this, anyone considering either self-treating or getting treatment in this manner should be aware that ibogaine treatment is, without doubt, a risky business. The following points should be especially borne in mind:
- Ibogaine is principally recognised for its ability to vastly reduce the symptoms of drug withdrawal, thus allowing addicts to detox relatively painlessly. Any other claims made for the drug, perhaps that it promotes long-term drug-abstinence, or removes the effects of trauma or conditioning in either addicts or non-addicts are a great deal less substantiated and certainly not likely to occur with any degree of reliability.
- There is an inherent level of risk with ibogaine treatment. Five people are known to have died in connection with taking ibogaine or other iboga substances, and there may in truth be many more, given that ibogaine is frequently administered in surroundings where people may be reluctant to contact the authorities in the event of something going wrong. Despite the reports of medical authorities, there is currently simply nowhere near enough data to rule out the possibility that ibogaine may have been a factor in these deaths. Taking too much of the drug; using stepped doses, (ie: half a gram followed by another half later on); being excessively thin; or suffering from liver or heart problems have all been suggested as dangers. But the truth is - no-one yet really knows why people sometimes die when taking ibogaine. No deaths have occurred in clinical settings, as far as the writer is aware.
- You must be medically tested before you take ibogaine. Proper clinical testing of heart and liver function are the absolute minimum. The site author is not aware of any reputable treatment provider who would allow you to take ibogaine without prior medical testing. Do not go with someone who does not insist on it.
- Taking ibogaine can be an acutely physical experience - muscle tremors, spasms, feelings of internal energy shifts and similar are all commonly reported. This drug therefore bears little resemblance to drugs like LSD, psilocybin or ketamine and should not be confused with them. The risk factor for using ibogaine is likely higher than that for using recreational drugs.
- Beware of listening excessively to the advice of just one individual when deciding whether or not to take ibogaine. Ibogaine's effects can be life-changing, and it is common for someone who has had a very positive experience to do their utmost to "spread the message," possibly allowing their enthusiasm to override the very real concerns about safety.
- If you are thinking of taking ibogaine for personal development and haven't yet been involved in proper therapy (therapy where there's an open admission by the individual of the presence of emotional issues), be aware that you may be being attracted to a "quick fix" strategy that avoids really dealing with deeper issues. If this is the case, ibogaine could possibly make things worse. For some, using psychoactive substances can invoke disturbing reactions as the mind's defences struggle to keep down rising repressed material. Drugs like ibogaine, ketamine, LSD and MDMA (Ecstasy), have been used in the past by therapists, but only as one component of an overall therapeutic strategy. Using the drug out of this context could cause more harm than good.
All the above said, ibogaine still potentially represents a major medical breaththrough, especially in the field of treating drug dependency.
wildwind
22-02-2005, 08:22
Ibogaine is risky to people who have no experience and have no idea what to expect. just like anything else , you need to know what you are doing, there are few companies on the internet who like to sell the stuff but they are not an experienced providers. they will sell it to anyone and not care about your risks, just like any drug dealers who don't use their own product. you can say I will try it anyway but it can be an horrific experience, knowing the dosages which are different to each person is a matter of experience,knowing the side effects of the ibogaine and how to deal with them and be prepare is one of the things a good provider should know.
people doing on their own is scary and can make it illegal everywhere. just like shrooms, lsd , mdma and other stuff that can be used thraputically.
How would you advise to use Iboga? What are the benefits of Iboga therapy?
wildwind
23-02-2005, 03:23
I wouldn't do it alone or with a person who isn't an experienced provider.
for number of reasons, is Bad trips,which is when you are not ready for it.
the benifits are that you start understanding yourself better then before.
it is a tool for spiritual growth.
Hoiw succesful is ibogaine with treating addiction in your experience?
wildwind
24-02-2005, 14:35
95% improve their life , 90% stop for half a year or longer. but it is so hard to say because, when stopping Heroin it doesn't stop them from using extasy or Mushroom or alcohol when it's weekend, life become more controled . I treat people from all over the world and it is hard to truck them after a while. this is just generally speaking.
Would you share some experiences you've had with Iboga or ibogaļne or that you witnessed patients had?
Thank you so much Sara and Alfa for all your responses!!
I am friends with Sandra K. from the Iboga Therapy House in Vancouver, as well as Randy H. from the Ibogiane Association in Mexico, and also Daniel Pinchbeck, the author of "Breaking Open The Head" who has expericed both iboga with the Bwiti in Gabon as well as pure ibogaine. I've also been corresponding with the Belgian filmmaker Ben DeLoenen aka DaLuna who did the recent Ibogaine documentary (he told me one of the sessions he filmed was at Sara's House), as well as emailing
with Dr. Eric Taub. I have read everything you've posted, but I am glad you have provided it here for others to read and understand.
I mention the above names so that you may understand that I am no stranger to those who work with iboga therapy or the literature relevant to the topic. My request here was to share a dialogue with others who have undergone iboga therapy either personally or in another's efforts-- even with all the literature and data the personal experiences give me the greatest insight sometimes.
Currently my dilemma is that I have access to the substance, but no sitter or location to undergo the therapy. I cannot afford to enroll in any of the clinics near the US, and although I was accepted into the Vancouver clinic, I have travel issues that may prevent me from crossing the Canadian border. I am thoroughly experienced with psychedelics, from peyote and ayahuasca to 2CT7, 2CB, 5-MeO-DMT, DPT, ketamine, DMT, 5-MeO-DIPT, psilocybin, PMA, MDA, MDMA, etc.-- and
I am well-versed in the topic of tranpersonal psychology, which I would like to practive professionally. I am scared both of the potential change that could happen with ibogaine, as well as the health risks to a lesser extent (my EKG and liver and heart are all normal, and I don't have HIV/AIDS or HEP C or any mental illnesses). My ex-girlfriend ingested ~150mg. (she vomited up the other ~850 mg. before the capsules dissolved) and had HORRIBLE nausea and a bad time ll around for about 16+ hours, but she is also very psychosomatic when it comes to side effects and symptoms. Nonetheless she experienced a dramatic decrease in both her cravings and the amount of heroin she needed to feel OK, and she felt that she had several
insights as well. It took her about 2 weeks to gradually work her way up to her previous level of heroin use (she never stopped completely after taking the ibogaine).
Let's keep this discussion alive, and I'll let you all know how my progress goes. http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/smileys/smiley1.gif
wildwind
06-03-2005, 16:34
Hi Eirias,
Good to find you here, do you think you will be doing Ibogaine if you has a sitter?
or you are just not ready for it?
where is your girlfriend been treated?
okay, I'm looking forward to keeping this discussion alive.
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/smileys/smiley18.gif
It an honour to "talk" with you! I greatly respect the work you do at your "House".
I do have some personal issues that are still keeping me in fear of doing the treatment, but I think that I could get past these things if I knew that I had a good sitter and setting in which to do the medicine. Some of the people I mentioned above are helping me to learing more about this, and works the details out.
My ex-girlfriend did the ibogaine with myself and a female friend of ours as sitters. She (the ex-girlfriend) is very
psychosomatic (makes her symptoms much worse psychologically and believes she is sicker that she is) and started showing signs of unsettling discomfort and strong nausea very soon after swallowing the capsules (about 30min. to an hour or less). I basically just kept her hydrated and comfortable (I treid not to speak if possible as she said that my talking bothered and confused her and made her nausea worse), and retrieved the capsules that she vomited up that had not yet dissolved (the medicine is very expensive and very hard to obtain where I am) to save them for possibly another try in the future. She
still had some good effects from the little bit she was able to hold down in her stomach and absorb into her body, for example, like significantly decreased cravings and tolerance, and some spiritual insights and clairvoyance (she reported communicating with her cat telepathically, and being able to "hear" the other girl-sitter praying for her silently in her head). It took her about 1-and-a-half to 2 weeks to gradually return to her previous level and pattern of heroin use.
The attempt by my ex-girlfriend was done in an apartment in North America with no medical supervision and no IVs or EKG monitors, although we did have a small personal electronic blood pressure monitor that we used to periodically check her heart rate and blood pressure. Although we focused our intentions and ritually consecrated the medicine spiritually according to our own belief systems, it wasn't used in any fashion or ritual resembling the traditional Bwiti initiations.
I admit I am scared to do it somewhat, and I'll have to be ready and OK with myself, but knowing that someone else is there who is knowledgable about the way the therapy works would be greatly reassuring and would encourage me to give it a try.
wildwind
12-03-2005, 17:19
you are right , wait for when you are ready for it.
it isn't only to eliminate withdrawals iboga will give you a spiritual
experience and as I understand your fear is to start acting up to the
insight/knowledge which you gain,
some kind of resposibility to your spirit.
do you think that as long as you are noy exposed to that knowledge
you can ignor it there for you?
or do you think that is is karma that put you in a position where
you are frightend to make that step?
for sure,the setting and place has to do with a vibe,which can be healing or not.
I treat anyone who can make it to my house,
when a person is sick then I tune the dosage to the need.
take care Eirias,
Thank you and bless you wildwind. I known that things will work out once the time is right. For the present
though I can work on understanding my fears and using opiates in the safest way possible (i.e. harm reduction).
I know that I cannot ingore my responsibilty to my spirit and True Self, but opiates make you forget this part of yourself and to be numb to it somehow. I do also think karma has put me in a place where I am afraid to succeed-- sometimes I feel like I don't "deserve" to be successful or strong in my spiritual Self. I have had issues with not feeling "good enough" to act in my full potential ever since I was a teenager, and I know that this is a big fear/barrier for me that I must overcome.
Your support and words are very insipiring. Thank you again, and I'll keep in touch. http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/smileys/smiley1.gif
I know of a handful of people who have taken either Iboga or ibogaine for purposes other than recovering from opiate habituation, including some who have become 'Baanzi', or initiates into the cult of Bwiti in Gabon, Africa.
I cannot think of anyone who has taken either Iboga or ibogaine that would consider their usage "recreational", and if somehow you are under the impression that ibogaine is similar to some other psychedelics in that it can be used recreationally, then I'm afraid that you may be misunderstanding the nature and subjective effects of the substance in question. Ibogaine is completely unlike any other psychedelic or entheogen, and really has no prospect of being used "recreationally", much less so than even Peyote or Ayahuasca.
Check out this site of the http://www.doraweiner.org/foundation.
If any of you have the chance, try to see Ben DeLoenen's film "Ibogaine: Rite of Passage". I picked up a copy of it and it is
very inspiring.
mescalifornia
22-07-2005, 08:14
The idea of being able to bring memories to full detail, to relive your childhood andlife in a linear fashion, to better understand the person you are, to have better control over your actions, to understand what motivates you, is beyond anything!!! Out of all the hallucinogens, Ibogaineseems the smartest, most clever chemical around(based on reading about it). Who wouldn't want to watch memories in a movie screen like fasion??? that sounds too cool to be true!I would pay 4k to use it just to experience it, not having any addiction i mean.so very facinating indeed!! Ibogaine needs to be legalized in america(along with every drug), i swear the war on drugs is so frustrating!!!! man, the treatment with homegrown cannabis, and subsequent ayahuasca or mushroom trip sounds like a dream beyond belief. You would no doubt come back a stronger person, like being born again, fresh and clean. Its so neat how all the drugs work together. Perfect harmony.
Hand't come here for a while...sorry you are going through this Eirias. We've only barely corresponded but it filled me with great sadness to read about your addiction. I pray thatyou can come out the other side.
I'm not at all a substance abuse specialist, andhave seen a lot of benefits in people (myself included) from responsible psychedelic use. That said, and even with what I do know about Ibogaine, I have towonder if ultimately the mentality of seeking peace/freedom from one chemical's prison through more pharmacologyisn't just a different iteration of the very mentality that might have led you into trouble in the first place.
Now I know that this evokes a lot of complicated arguments (like the socially constructed definition of "good" and "bad" drugs, our estrangement from nature, our soul killing modernity, etc) and even poses basic questions to you about your relationship to substances, and perhaps even your ownspirituality.Yet at some point, it seems to me anyway, that the world is equal parts mysticism and pragmatism;you can embraceGod but you still got to live in a sharedphysical reality,putting one foot in front of the other, and when one thing isn't working to try another.
My point is, aren't there places out there that could help you get clean? I mean clean clean, and without another psychedelic to do it...no more pot, no more psychedelics, no more self-deception. And no, I'm not a big fan of "legit" psychotropics either...the problem with all of it, as I see it, is that itall has the potential tobecome something morethan you. To deceive you about your worth, to limit your growth, tomake diffuse the line between your own capacities and volition and that of theOther. Having a sense of how bright, resourceful,and earnest you are, you could easily find treatment within such parameters that honored such goals.
Now, this isn't a rap on the great Western glorification of the Self. This is about an alternative vision of who you could become...if this stuff is alluring, and you've already done every chemical under the sun, you know where this road leads already. The work of sobriety might take longer, but my God once you build a life with it, brick by brick, you at leastknow it is real and your own, and can revel in it with those you love and love you without distortion. The field of psychology (and this society) need more people who've peered over the edge and come back to do authentic work. But you simply can't be the therapist you want to if you are impaired.
Brother, I'm sorry if this is so much Dr. Phil bullshit. I don't know your story or your "you." I can think of only maybe a half dozen times that I've laid my version of "truth" on somebody else's life like this. And this is certainly a hell of a lot different than I treat my clients. But I feel that you are a kindred spirit and just wanted to give my best advice rather than best therapy. Hope you can forgive the trespass.
I'll end this tirade in defense of my potential hypocricy. I defintely had a problem with pot in my late teens, but haven't smoked it in almost 10 years. I did acid 3 times anddxm 6 times the year I was 19, but in the 9 years since then I went 5 years without doing anything, and in the last 4 years have tried low doses of mescaline, salvia, and hawaiian baby woodrose once each. That's it. My own history is complex, but I'm happy to give it context and details if it would help.
Eirias: all the love in this world to you. May you find the path that sets you free in the ways that you hope.
Ibogaine signals addiction genes and methamphetamine alteration of long-term potentiation.
Onaivi ES (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Onaivi+ES%22%5BAuthor%5D), Ali SF (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Ali+SF%22%5BAuthor%5D), Chirwa SS (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Chirwa+SS%22%5BAuthor%5D), Zwiller J (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Zwiller+J%22%5BAuthor%5D), Thiriet N (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Thiriet+N%22%5BAuthor%5D), Akinshola BE (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Akinshola+BE%22%5BAuthor%5D), Ishiguro H (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Ishiguro+H%22%5BAuthor%5D).
Department of Biology, William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey 07470, USA. OnaivaE@WPUNJ.edu
The mapping of the human genetic code will enable us to identify potential gene products involved in human addictions and diseases that have hereditary components. Thus, large-scale, parallel gene-expression studies, made possible by advances in microarray technologies, have shown insights into the connection between specific genes, or sets of genes, and human diseases. The compulsive use of addictive substances despite adverse consequences continues to affect society, and the science underlying these addictions in general is intensively studied. Pharmacological treatment of drug and alcohol addiction has largely been disappointing, and new therapeutic targets and hypotheses are needed. As the usefulness of the pharmacotherapy of addiction has been limited, an emerging potential, yet controversial, therapeutic agent is the natural alkaloid ibogaine. We have continued to investigate programs of gene expression and the putative signaling molecules used by psychostimulants such as amphetamine in in vivo and in vitro models. Our work and that of others reveal that complex but defined signal transduction pathways are associated with psychostimulant administration and that there is broad-spectrum regulation of these signals by ibogaine. We report that the actions of methamphetamine were similar to those of cocaine, including the propensity to alter long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus of the rat brain. This action suggests that there may be a "threshold" beyond which the excessive brain stimulation that probably occurs with compulsive psychostimulant use results in the occlusion of LTP. The influence of ibogaine on immediate early genes (IEGs) and other candidate genes possibly regulated by psychostimulants and other abused substances requires further evaluation in compulsive use, reward, relapse, tolerance, craving and withdrawal reactions. It is therefore tempting to suggest that ibogaine signals addiction gene products.
Development of novel medications for drug addiction. The legacy of an African shrub.
Glick SD (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Glick+SD%22%5BAuthor%5D), Maisonneuve IM (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Maisonneuve+IM%22%5BAuthor%5D).
Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Albany Medical College, New York 12208, USA. glicks@mail.amc.edu
Ibogaine, one of several alkaloids found in the root bark of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga, has been claimed to be effective in treating multiple forms of drug abuse. Problems associated with side effects of ibogaine have spawned a search for more effective and safer structural derivatives. 18-Methoxycoronaridine (18-MC), a novel iboga alkaloid congener, appears to have substantial potential for broad use as an anti-addictive therapy. Like ibogaine (40 mg/kg), 18-MC (40 mg/kg) decreases the intravenous self-administration of morphine and cocaine and the oral self-administration of ethanol and nicotine in rats; unlike ibogaine, 18-MC does not affect responding for a non-drug reinforcer (water). Ibogaine and 18-MC appear to reduce the reinforcing efficacies, rather than the potencies, of drugs of abuse. Both ibogaine and 18-MC decreases extracellular levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens while only ibogaine increases serotonin levels in this brain region. Both ibogaine and 18-MC block morphine-induced and nicotine-induced dopamine release in the accumbens; only ibogaine enhances cocaine-induced increases in dopamine levels. Ibogaine produces whole body tremors and, at high doses (at least 100 mg/kg), cerebellar damage; 18-MC does not produce these effects. Ibogaine, but not 18-MC, causes bradycardia at high doses. Ibogaine and its metabolite noribogaine have low microM affinities for kappa and mu opioid receptors, NMDA receptors, 5HT-3 receptors, sigma-2 sites, sodium channels and the serotonin transporter. 18-MC has low microM affinities at all three opioid receptors and at 5HT-3 receptors but much lower or no affinities for NMDA and sigma-2 receptors, sodium channels, and the 5HT transporter. Both 18-MC and ibogaine are sequestered in fat and, like ibogaine, 18-MC probably has an active metabolite. 18-MC also has (+) and (-) enantiomers, both of which are active. Considered together, all of the data indicate that 18-MC should be safer than ibogaine and at least as efficacious as an anti-addictive medication.
Iboga compounds reverse the behavioural disinhibiting and corticosterone effects of acute methamphetamine: Implications for their antiaddictive properties.
Szumlinski KK (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Szumlinski+KK%22%5BAuthor%5D), Haskew RE (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Haskew+RE%22%5BAuthor%5D), Balogun MY (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Balogun+MY%22%5BAuthor%5D), Maisonneuve IM (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Maisonneuve+IM%22%5BAuthor%5D), Glick SD (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&term=%22Glick+SD%22%5BAuthor%5D).
Center for Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY 12208, USA. szumlink@musc.edu
This study investigated the effects of pretreatment with the putative antiaddictive compound, ibogaine (IBO), and its synthetic derivative, 18-methoxycoronaridine (18-MC), on the changes in behaviour in an elevated plus maze and the changes in corticosterone (CORT) produced by a low dose of methamphetamine (METH). In the elevated plus maze, the acute administration of METH (0.1 mg/kg ip, -20 min) produced an increase in both the number and the duration of open arm entries relative to saline (SAL)-treated controls. No effect of METH administration was observed on the total number of arm entries. These data indicated that METH alone produced either anxiolysis or behavioural disinhibition in this paradigm. More consistent with the latter possibility, the open arm behaviour of METH controls was associated with an increase in plasma levels of CORT, supporting a facilitatory role for CORT in this METH-induced effect. Pretreatment with both IBO and 18-MC (40 mg/kg ip, 19 h earlier) antagonized the behavioural disinhibiting effects of acute METH without altering locomotor activity. In addition, both iboga agents antagonized the increase in CORT produced by METH. These data provide insight into yet another potential mechanism through which iboga compounds may exert their antiaddictive effects, a reversal of the behavioural disinhibiting properties of stimulant drugs. Furthermore, these data indicate that this reversal is related to effects of iboga compounds on the stimulation of neuroendocrine systems by stimulant drugs.
IBOGAINE
EXPLORING THE NEW FRONTIER OF PSYCHEDELIC ADDICTION THERAPY
Ray slips his shades back over his eyes and leans against the window as the van crosses the border into Mexico. It's noon on Monday, Oct.
31, and he hasn't slept in three days. He thinks about the bag of chronic he threw out the window on the way to meet the guy from the clinic. He thinks about the pipe load of meth stashed in the seat of his motorcycle back home. Ray is skeptical--will he really be so changed by Friday that he'll be able to go home and throw it away?
Ray is a 33-year-old meth producer, dealer and addict. So far, Ray's missing fingerprints are the only physical evidence of his addiction--they gradually peeled off after repeated contact with so many chemicals.
Six months ago, after a stint in prison and more than two years clean, he relapsed and took a leave of absence from refrigerator-repair school "to go run amok." The past few months, says Ray, "have been out of control . I won't do anything unless I smoke first. I feel like I just have to do it."
He's afraid that either death or jail is imminent if he doesn't change his life.
"I find myself doing stuff that I would never even do normally," Ray says. "I have a pocket full of money, but I'm out there robbing warehouses and things--Target warehouses, Wal-Mart--just to do something. I've got $2,300 in my pocket and I'm sitting there trying to break into a Coke machine at the Embassy Suites."
Reluctant to quit partying but desperate to curb his destructive behavior, Ray is traveling to the Ibogaine Association, a Tijuana clinic originally founded in Mexico City that treats patients with a powerful psychedelic--ibogaine--rumored to be able to stop addiction in its tracks. Legally accepted as an experimental therapy in most countries, ibogaine is classified as a Schedule 1 substance in the United States, believed to have a high potential for abuse with no accepted medical value.
Every Monday, program director Nathen Gabriel meets new patients at Urban Grind, a cafe located just north of Balboa Park, and shuttles them to the clinic, where they stay until he picks them up Friday morning.
Program director since March 2005, Gabriel has a background in psychedelic healing and a doctorate in naturopathic medicine. He's a lean, compact man in his early 40s with a gaunt face and large eyes that seem to take everything seriously. He looks like a mystic only from the neck up, where an elaborate tattoo of serpents twining around a lotus flower crowns his shaved head and creates the illusion of a third eye at the base of his skull.
Though he's worked at the clinic less than a year, Gabriel's talent for the job emerges during the 30-minute drive. He's friendly and sincere with each patient, asks them straightforward questions about their addictions and absorbs their answers without judgment. They invariably ask questions about ibogaine, and when they do, excitement creeps into his responses.
He explains that ibogaine comes from the root bark of Tabernathe Iboga, a shrub that grows in Central Africa, and has been used for centuries in various ceremonies of the Bwiti tribe.
A man named Howard Lotsof, Gabriel says, took ibogaine in 1962 as a 19-year-old junkie chasing a new thrill. After enduring 36 hours of harrowing visions, Lotsof awoke to find he had no desire to use heroin and was totally free from any symptoms of withdrawal. He has spent the rest of his life trying to make ibogaine more readily available for those in need.
Gabriel himself has taken ibogaine twice, he says--once to better relate to his patients and again recently in an attempt to curb his pot habit. Gabriel describes his own personal experience of ibogaine as "completely hellish" but hastily adds that everyone experiences it differently.
Before leaving San Diego, Gabriel stops the van at a downtown Days Inn to pick up another patient. Ted is in his early-50s, has red hair and a red beard and wears a faded blue-gray polo shirt, green shorts and athletic socks under Birkenstock sandals. He's been on Vicodin for seven years to treat his chronic neck pain--a result of getting hit by a car while crossing the street 10 years ago--and currently takes 15 to 20 pills every day. He wants to stop and has tried to quit cold turkey "numerous times" but finds it "physically impossible."
Though he's emphatic that the pain he now experiences is from Vicodin withdrawal and not from his injury, he hopes that at the very least ibogaine will reset his tolerance to the Vicodin, enabling him to once again get full relief from a couple of pain pills instead of 20.
Preston Peet, a 38-year-old New York writer, told CityBeat in a phone interview that he uses ibogaine for just that. Ever since a car accident 24 years ago, Peet says he has suffered from chronic pain in his back and legs. Until he took ibogaine for the first time in 2004, he took four MS-Contins (a morphine-based pain killer) and more than
12 Dilaudids every day for the pain. He'll live with chronic pain for the rest of his life, he says, but periodic boosters of ibogaine enable him to keep his painkiller intake down to a mere two MS-Contins per day.
The van arrives at the clinic--a nondescript house in Tijuana's most affluent residential neighborhood--shortly after noon. On the inside, the four-bedroom house looks more like a travelers' hostel than a medical clinic. The only medical equipment in sight is a heart-rate monitor on the nightstand next to each bed. The walls are sparsely decorated, the furniture secondhand, and paisley tapestries are draped over the couches. It was once a grand house, full of high ceilings, chandeliers and pink marble. The contrast gives it a haunting air of abandoned opulence.
Gabriel shows Ted and Ray upstairs to their rooms. In turn, they submit to a blood test, which will be taken to a lab for analysis before they take the ibogaine later that night. Gabriel collects the $4,000 fee before their blood is drawn, and a staff member searches their bags for drugs. At no point does anyone search the patients or their pockets.
When Ted's wife calls on his cell phone, Ray goes out on the balcony for a cigarette.
He leans against the railing and smokes pensively.
Hundreds of cigarette butts have collected on the ledge beneath, a reminder that so many people before Ray have stood smoking on that same balcony, all probably pondering ibogaine's power to change them for good.
Greg Douglass, a musician and recovered heroin addict who's been clean since he took ibogaine in 2003, told CityBeat that the visions he experienced with ibogaine were what changed him the most.
"The whole time I was hallucinating, I didn't feel like I was hallucinating," says Douglass. "I felt like I was being shown something for a reason. All of a sudden it was right there for me to see it's really marvelous to be on this planet and part of this universe. Why didn't I see that before? And all of a sudden it was like this big black hole got filled in."
But Ray is skeptical that he will have a psycho-spiritual epiphany with ibogaine.
"I never saw no ray of light when I was sober," he says matter-of-factly. He gloomily predicts the ibogaine won't work and he'll end up being "burned four grand."
Ray perks up when he remembers that he still gets to trip out one last time before he's supposed to turn his life around.
"I want to fry," Ray says smiling, his eyes lighting up. "Let's do it."
Although Ted and Ray are eager to get the treatment underway, hours remain before the blood tests come back. To kill time and give them a better picture of what they're about to experience, Gabriel shows a documentary about ibogaine called "Ibogaine--Right of Passage."
Before it ends, Gabriel leaves Ray and Ted in the hands of the medical staff. Gabriel, whose role is more administrative than medical, won't see either of them until he returns on Friday to pick them up and take them back to San Diego.
Ever since his discovery, Lotsof has reportedly endeavored to make ibogaine legitimate in Western medicine. He quickly passed some out to his junkie friends for more informal testing, but things got complicated in 1970 when the American government cracked down on psychedelics, making ibogaine illegal along with LSD and psilocybin.
Lotsof gained some ground in the mid-'80s when he obtained patents for the use of ibogaine to treat symptoms of multi-drug dependence, but they were never picked up by any pharmaceutical companies and have recently expired.
Nevertheless, since ibogaine remains legal in most other countries, a scattering of informal clinics like the Ibogaine Association have emerged as testimonies spread through personal networks and--more recently--over the Internet.
When Gabriel returns Friday morning, Ray and Ted await him anxiously at the kitchen table. They giggle conspiratorially like two schoolboys who've bonded during a week at summer camp, cracking jokes about the stray dogs outside and the boredom of their post-ibogaine confinement.
There is more color in Ray's face, and he appears physically illuminated from within. He smiles in spite of himself, and his eyes sparkle. But despite the obvious improvement in Ray's appearance, he says he's not sure how effective the treatment was. He says he's feeling good without meth and plans to get rid of the pipe in the motorcycle, but he says he'll probably keep smoking weed. He is disappointed that he didn't experience any visions.
"Everything is just alright," he shrugs. "I still didn't see no ray of light."
Back on the road to San Diego, Ray's quiet until someone on a motorcycle zooms ahead of the van. His eyes light up all over again.
"That's what I want to do," he says, "go for a ride."
The change in Ted is different. No longer in a Vicodin haze, by Friday morning he's grouchy and cursing. He rubs his shoulder repeatedly through the neck of his T-shirt but says the pain he's feeling now is from Wednesday night's overzealous Thai massage.
Still, he's full of praise for the medical staff and leaves a hefty tip for the night nurses.
His hallucinations were much more memorable than Ray's.
"I saw myself in the Civil War," Ted tells Gabriel on the ride back to San Diego. "There were themes of honor and courage," he continues.
"I got stabbed in the back by someone with a bayonet, but I didn't feel fear." So far he doesn't regret his decision to come, he says, but isn't sure he would want to take ibogaine again.
A week after his return, Ted reflects on his experience with a much more optimistic tone.
Now that he isn't living through a mix of pain and Vicodin, Ted says, his biggest pleasure has been spending more time with his children.
"I'm really hoping the effects stay around for awhile," Ted concludes. "It does feel like my life's better because of it."
Despite the fact that most addiction specialists today seem to regard psychedelic addiction therapy as a bygone fancy of Timothy Leary and his ilk, a small community of researchers still strives to find a place for ibogaine in mainstream medicine.
Dr. Stanley Glick, chairman of the department of pharmacology and neuroscience at the Albany Medical Institute, has been studying the effects of ibogaine in drug-addicted rats since the late 1980s.
Though he's published data that confirms ibogaine's ability to block opiate withdrawal and cravings in animals, initiating clinical research on ibogaine in humans has been trickier.
Though the FDA approved initial stages of clinical research on ibogaine in humans in 1993, protocol was still being developed for the studies when the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) pulled its funding in 1995.
Frank Vocci, director of the Division of Pharmacotherapies and Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse at NIDA, says NIDA's review panel made the decision not to go forward with the research based on evidence that ibogaine was a neurotoxin in rats and posed other potential health risks like bradychardia (slowed heart rate) and grand mal seizures.
That much of the data NIDA reviewed of ibogaine's effect on humans came from observations of informal treatment in the Netherlands, rather than clinical research that had passed through peer review, seems to have added to the medical establishment's already disdainful view of psychedelic therapy.
"I think that we need some published data on ibogaine," said Vocci in a phone interview. "That's where I really think this whole issue is, in terms of both safety, metabolism and possible effects."
However, ibogaine supporters like Patrick Kroupa, a heroin addict for
16 years who recovered with ibogaine and now runs an online discussion board called the Ibogaine List, believe ibogaine will never make it out of Schedule 1 status because pharmaceutical companies--some of whom have representatives on the NIDA review board--don't see big dollars in the development of a one-time-use drug for a stigmatized population, especially a drug that has known hallucinogenic side effects.
"The pharmaceutical industry exists for one purpose: to make money for their shareholders," Kroupa said in a phone interview. "There is no pharmaceutical company that could even recover the money it would have to spend to get [ibogaine] through the FDA."
"To take a drug through the FDA is very expensive," confirms Dr.
Deborah Mash, a professor of neurology and pharmacotherapy at the University of Miami who responded to NIDA's withdrawal of financial support in 1996 by moving her human research on ibogaine to a facility in the Caribbean. She published her first batch of data in 2000 and then went back to work collecting more evidence.
"The data that was collected from there supports the development track that we're trying to do with the FDA here," says Mash. "I'm getting ready now to re-convene the clinical studies in the U.S."
However, until she does, it seems there won't be any shortage of people desperate enough for relief to cross national borders for ibogaine treatment.
The Monday after Ray and Ted's visit to the clinic, three new patients meet Gabriel at the cafe. This time, they're all there because of heroin.
One of the men changes his pants behind a dumpster as the other two pile into the van. The vibe among the patients is considerably different, but Gabriel's approach doesn't change. He remains unswervingly calm and again seems at once respectful and intrigued by his patients' take on their addictions.
Joe Alex is 51, Hispanic and has a droopy graying moustache. When his withdrawals cause him to sweat, he peels off his sweatshirt to reveal an upper body covered almost entirely in tattoos. He is the oldest of the three passengers but by far the most upbeat. He calls Gabriel "doc" and engages him in friendly conversation.
He says casually that he's used heroin on and off since he was 18, when he started "out of curiosity." He's been in and out of jail many times since, with one four-year sober stretch, during which he became a certified substance-abuse counselor. He says he enjoyed the work and that people told him he was good at it. But he relapsed when he stopped counseling to take part in a family real-estate venture.
"I've stopped a thousand times," he says good-naturedly. "The problem is staying stopped."
He proves his point as he counts aloud the different times and ways he's detoxed: cold turkey "about a dozen times," in the hospital "about two dozen times," four or five times in Christian homes and six or so times in secular facilities.
He says he hopes he can find his passion, something that will give him something else in life to look forward to.
"I got a Harley I'm passionate about," he adds, "but I can only keep it clean so much."
Josh is a former heroin addict currently on methadone, and at 32 is the youngest patient in the past two weeks. He is white and tall, has short brown hair, wears jeans and a green hoodie and carries James Frey's recovery "memoir" A Million Little Pieces. His skin is yellowish and sallow, and the color of his lips span the spectrum from green to purple. There are dark circles around his eyes and he leans listlessly against the window in the same seat Ray occupied just a week before. He's shy, and his story emerges haltingly. "A bad roommate" introduced him to heroin nine years ago.
"Six months later, I realized I was in trouble," he recalls. "The whole time I was doing heroin I wanted to stop."
He used heroin for four years straight, got clean for three years, but a year ago "a bad breakup" sent him back to the needle. He transitioned to methadone four months ago but is ready to get off it so he can go back to school for shoe design.
It turns out Josh has already been working through a recovery program. He goes to group and individual therapy on a weekly basis and feels like he's already worked through a lot of the "psychological stuff" that caused his addiction. He isn't looking for a spiritual awakening with ibogaine, he says--he just wants a fast, easy way to detox off the methadone.
The third man in the van, Jesus, like Joe Alex, has been using drugs since he was in his teens.
"I know why I use--I grew up around it," Jesus says bluntly. "My brother did it, and I wanted to be like my brother."
Jesus has a jet-black moustache and wears black jeans, a gray sweatshirt, a baseball cap and a dog tag around his neck that says "father of a soldier." He has spent 18 of his 41 years in jail, makes not-so-veiled references about gang involvement and is clearly terrified of ibogaine. His watery eyes--a common sign of early opiate withdrawal--dart back and forth around the van like those of a caged animal. He confesses he almost ran away from the van when it stopped at the bank but couldn't reach anyone from the pay phone. He dominates the conversation in the van, another question pouring out of him while Gabriel is still answering the one before. He's had bad acid trips before, he says--is this one going to be like that? He's going to break parole when he crosses the border--what about that?
What if they get the blood tests back and find out he can't take the ibogaine--what will they do for him then? He has overdosed before and his heart has stopped--could that happen again?
Gabriel patiently and repeatedly tries to calm him, but with marginal success.
At the clinic, Jesus chain-smokes on the downstairs patio. His withdrawal symptoms continue to worsen, and even though he is afraid of the ibogaine trip, he tries to persuade Gabriel to let him take it sooner. Instead, Gabriel shows them the ibogaine documentary, hoping it will distract Jesus and help calm his nerves. He wishes them all well--just like last week, he won't see them again until Friday.
By the time the acupuncturist arrives on Wednesday night, Jesus is already long gone. According to Gabriel, who was contacted by phone in the middle of the night on Monday by one of the night nurses, Jesus remained agitated even after they gave him the ibogaine and was ultimately sent home when he became disruptive toward the other patients.
"Dr. Paula," who gave Jesus his capsule of ibogaine, said at the time that she personally saw him put it in his mouth.
But the fact that Jesus was active and mobile a few hours after pill was given--highly unusual for someone under the effects of ibogaine--compounded with his vocalized fear of having a bad trip, suggests to Gabriel that Jesus never actually ingested any ibogaine.
Jesus' own account is quite different. A few days later, over the phone from his home, he says he did take the ibogaine but could still feel painful symptoms of his withdrawal and wanted more drugs to knock him out. When the night nurses wouldn't give him any, he demanded that they call Gabriel. Once he realized Gabriel was not coming to his aid, Jesus tried to roust Joe Alex, who he believed had methadone. It was around this time that Gabriel instructed the night staff to call a taxi and get Jesus out of the house.
"He treated me with indifference," Jesus says of Gabriel. "He should have come down, or sent Dr. Paula. His solution was to put me in a taxi and send me on my way."
Jesus took the taxi all the way home to San Bernardino; his family had to pay for the $300 ride.
"My family didn't believe in this shit--nobody believed," Jesus says angrily. "The next thing they see is I'm looking to them to cop some dope. That was so difficult. It was just disappointing."
It turns out Jesus' fear of ibogaine may have been more than paranoia. On Jan. 31, a man named Jason Sears died at the Ibogaine Association while receiving treatment for his heroin addiction.
Nineteen hours after Sears ingested the ibogaine, his heart monitor sounded, alerting the staff. Gasping for air in the arms of the doctor, Sears died of pulmonary thrombosis, which is the end result of a blood clot that forms in the body over time and eventually travels to the lungs.
Like all the patients who come through the Ibogaine Association, Sears' heart and liver functions were checked for abnormalities before he was given the ibogaine, says Dr. Medina, who treated Sears at the Tijuana clinic and prefers his first name not be used.
"Evidence shows that ibogaine can slow the pulse of the heart, so it's a red flag when you have a patient with previous heart disease or rhythm abnormalities," Medina explains. "That's why we do an EKG prior to the administration of the ibogaine. He had a perfectly normal heart . His liver enzymes were completely normal."
Though Sears wasn't technically killed by ibogaine, there have been a handful of fatalities reported during informal ibogaine treatments worldwide over the past two decades, none of which have been good publicity for the drug.
Mash, who collects her data in a traditional clinical facility with much more extensive medical scrutiny, is afraid her work will eventually be derailed by such ibogaine-related fatalities.
"I get concerned the more dead bodies we have," she says. "And at some point the door is going to shut tight forever because of this behavior."
However, many ibogaine supporters don't seem overly worried about standards of care at the smaller, informal clinics.
"With all due respect to her opinion," says Kenneth Alper, associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at New York University and co-author of A Contemporary History of Ibogaine in the United States and Europe, "my approach is simply to appreciate the fact that they exist."
In contrast to Jesus, Josh and Joe Alex experience ibogaine without incident. Even by Wednesday, Josh's physical transformation is remarkable. His lips and cheeks are pink again, and he's much more vibrant and alert. He's still shy while he describes his trip, but, just like Ray, he seems unable to contain his smile.
"It wasn't as intense as I expected it to be," he says. He didn't have many visions but does recall feeling shame and embarrassment.
"I had probably every feeling," he says, and then reconsiders. "I wasn't really scared."
While Josh didn't gain too much insight into his addiction, he repeats that that wasn't his expectation. "I feel almost the same as I did the day before I took [ibogaine]," he says confidently, "but I know I don't have to do methadone anymore."
Perhaps because he's 20 years older, Joe Alex doesn't recover as fast and is still groggy on Wednesday evening. After some ear-acupuncture, Thai massage and a guided meditation exercise, Joe Alex curls up on the carpet and weeps softly, murmuring that it's hard to forgive himself, that he is feeling powerful shame and guilt.
When Gabriel comes to pick them up on Friday, Joe Alex's condition has improved. He and Josh sit side by side on the couch as they wait to depart the clinic, both more mellow and less anxious to depart than Ted and Ray before them. Both men have been through excruciating heroin withdrawals before and seem stunned by their ability to function and feel relatively normal so soon.
By now, Joe Alex is invigorated and chatty. He talks animatedly about all the unfinished business he wants to take care of, like getting his teeth fixed, building another motorcycle and helping his daughter buy a house.
"I'm glad I did this," he says firmly. "It's definitely the best detox I've ever had."
On the way back to San Diego, Gabriel stops at a gas station for a pit stop.
"Hey, Doc!" cries Joe Alex like a proud child as he clambers back into the van, "I can feel I've got a little spring in my step!"
For Lotsof, Glick and Mash, progress and legitimacy lie in ibogaine derivatives.
There's not much money to be made in psychedelic drugs, it turns out, and now that Lotsof's patents on ibogaine have expired, there's not really much incentive to try.
But second-generation drugs have not yet been patented and look like they might be as successful as ibogaine, in terms of stopping cravings and withdrawal. Glick has already developed one such drug, a synthesized version of ibogaine called 18 MC.
Mash is also working in a similar direction.
"All the data we've obtained to date suggests that ibogaine gets converted to an active metabolite and that the active metabolite holds promise as a drug candidate," Mash explains. "The ibogaine causes the visions. The active metabolite is what blocks opiate withdrawals, the cravings and the desire to use the drugs."
Until Glick and Mash secure funding to test these non-hallucinatory derivatives on humans, one question remains: how big a part do the visions play in the overall healing process?
One biologist and former crack addict, who asked that his name not be published, told CityBeat in a phone interview that ibogaine presented him with a clear choice to surrender to death or keep on living.
"It doesn't seem like random images that come up," he explained. "I saw a man with graying hair. He was sitting alone in a motel room, and I suddenly realized it was myself, and I had to make a decision whether I was going to kill myself or decide not to and lead a healthy life. That was an image I tried to get rid of, but it kept popping up, like that was the crucial thing I was supposed to see."
Because of testimonials like these, over the years the media has repeatedly portrayed ibogaine as a possible "magic bullet" cure for addiction. But even the most ardent ibogaine supporters say this is hogwash.
"You have to do a tremendous amount of work," affirms Kroupa, the former heroin addict. "One thing that is absolutely certain is that after ibogaine, you need to have some sort of aftercare plan in place. Whatever that means for you [because] problems will not magically vanish. Ibogaine will not hand you a brand new life."
CityBeat followed five desperate men to the Ibogaine Association in Tijuana to see firsthand how ibogaine really works. Four of them returned visibly healthier, free from cravings and relatively optimistic about their future. But how far away from their former lives did ibogaine really take them?
As of press time, Ted remains unreachable by phone and e-mail.
Ray has been in jail since Dec. 21, his mother told CityBeat.
"It was almost like he was on a mission once he got home to get back in jail," she said. "I know that that's not exactly the case, but that's what it seemed like. He just went berserk. I was actually glad that he wound up in jail; I was expecting a worse phone call, to be honest."
Joe Alex checked into a sober-living home at the beginning of December and stayed there for a few weeks. Once he returned home to San Bernardino, he "had some slips" and says he "hasn't been completely clean." He is now taking methadone and thinking of going back to the Ibogaine Association for a second treatment.
Josh is still clean, goes to Narcotics Anonymous meetings twice a week, and was on his way to a job interview when CityBeat called to follow up.
"If I ever got in that situation again, I wouldn't even think twice about doing [ibogaine] again . I was practically dead before," says Josh. "I hope I don't. I'm still kind of blown away at how well that worked and the opportunity it's given me."
Website: http://www.sdcitybeat.com/ (http://www.sdcitybeat.com/)
silkyill
24-04-2007, 18:18
i have heard that you can take a small amount of hcl ibogaine to get through your withdrawl.the person that needs it is in his 50's and doesn't think he could get through the treatment if he had to take a full dose.he does about a half of gram of heroin a day.any feedback would be most appreciated.
This part was missing from my post on page 1:
REDUCTION OF THE NEED FOR SLEEP
In all cases, Ibogaine temporally reduces the patient's need for sleep to as few as three or four hours a night. This effect may last a month or more, gradually returning to normal. Two theories have been put forth concerning this effect. One theory suggests the long-lasting bioavailability of Ibogaine or one of its metabolites. This is in keeping with the pharmacokinetic studies conducted at the University of Miami (Mash, 1995). The second theory suggests the cause is the decrease in the psychological requirements for sleep associated with the necessity to dream. Evidence supporting this theory is that Ibogaine promotes an intense emulation of dreaming that lasts for many hours during its acute stage of activity.
The reduction in the need for sleep is viewed by the majority of patients as a discomfort, since they have used drugs and sleep as an escape mechanism. These patients may require some mild form of sedation during the first days after treatment with Ibogaine. Normal precautions should be taken in providing sedatives to persons with a history of chemical dependence. In a minority of cases, patients have used this newly available time to advantage in their busy work schedules.
LONG-TERM EFFECTS
Long-term are those which may be noticed from one to twenty-four months after treatment, and in some cases even longer. I have provided three examples.
Example One
A heroin-dependent couple was treated. The woman of 26 was a relatively new addict of three months while her 27-year-old husband had a history of over ten years of heroin use. At the time of their treatment a protocol of treating one patient at a time was followed. These were early treatments and the medical and medical support staff were familiarizing themselves with what might be expected during such episodes.
Portions of the treatment episodes were observed by Dr. Carlo Contoreggi, Deputy Medical Director of the Addiction Research Center of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore and Dr. Lester Grinspoon of the Harvard School of Medicine.
The husband was treated first, and his wife was completely cooperative and helpful during his treatment. The following day, when the wife was administered her dose of Ibogaine, her husband demanded that he be allowed to leave his room and remain in bed with her. He informed the medical and paramedical staff present that unless he got his way he would create a disturbance to interfere with his wife's treatment. Rather than deal with a belligerent and angry patient, we decided it would be less harmful to let him have his way. He continuously disturbed his wife during her treatment. This resulted in a policy of treating couples simultaneously in separate rooms.
He recovered before his wife, as she had been administered Ibogaine twenty-four hours after his treatment. He complained that he was getting bedsore and was no longer able to stay in bed and asked for permission to go for a bicycle ride. Upon his leaving, his wife broke down and cried in the arms of a female paraclinician, stating she did not know if she could remain with her husband, but she was afraid he would die if she left him. This was a concept he continuously stressed to her during their treatment.
After treatment, he followed a pattern of controlling his wife's contacts with other persons including the treatment team, which was denied access to either of them. We later learned that they both returned to heroin use. However, three months later the wife determined that her husband was incapable of loving himself or her and this was not the life she wished. She stopped using heroin, enrolled in nursing school, filed divorce proceedings against her husband, and is now specializing in psychiatric nursing.
While initially she did not recognize that her decision to stop heroin use was due to her Ibogaine treatment, as the months went by she realized that her determination to change her life was catalyzed by her experience with Ibogaine.
Example Two
A cocaine/cocaine-base dependent patient was treated with the Lotsof Procedure and experienced an acute interruption of his drug use. During his Ibogaine treatment he had a strong impression that if he continued drug use God would punish him. He remained drug-free for about thirty days, after which he increased his drug use over the next months and was retreated. The dose he received proved to be inadequate due to his vomiting of the oral dose and to a bowel movement immediately after the rectal administration of Ibogaine, which he requested to remedy the loss of his oral dose. His drug use continued, but far below his original pretreatment levels.
About six months after his retreatment, the first Ibogaine therapy group sponsored by the International Coalition for Addict Self-Help, directed by psychotherapist Barbara Judd, CSW, was established in New York. The patient attended these sessions until fifteen months after his original treatment, when he recognized that he had to move away from his drug-infested neighborhood. Thereupon he moved to Florida. In Florida, he has remained drug-free, even though he had access to cocaine. He is employed in the construction industry by a business with strict non-drug use guidelines that is owned and run by former drug users.
Example Three
One of the most important concepts learned by persons treated with Ibogaine is that addiction can be reversed. Persons dependent on drugs such as opiates or cocaine are not able to recognize that chemical dependence is a reversible phenomenon.
This third example is of the only chemically-dependent person from the 1962-1963 study to receive a series of treatments at therapeutic levels with Ibogaine. The individual remained free of addiction for approximately three and a half years as a result of his series of treatments.
During that period he moved to California, married, and worked in pharmaceutical sales. He later lost his job and, when offered a ride back to New York, accepted it and returned to a life of minor drug dealing and use that resulted in his arrest and imprisonment.
After his release, he worked for a while as a machinist, then slowly fell back into heroin use and addiction in 1969. Luckily, this was a period when methadone programs were expanding, and he was able to enter one of the better programs run by Beth Israel Hospital. At that time, the programs were well-staffed with doctors, nurses and adequate counselors, and the patient reached a point in his life when he recognized that the life of a heroin addict was not what he wanted. It was not just the heroin, but the scene itself, wherein a human life was without value, where sometimes a human being would be murdered for two cents worth of an innocuous powder in a glassine envelope. The patient was ready to quit heroine, but was a slave to the craving to use opiates for the anxiolytic relief they provided.
Over a period of more than two years, the patient stabilized himself on methadone. He tried heroin once, two weeks after starting methadone, was satisfied with the level of blockage that methadone offered, and never used heroin again.
During the next few years the methadone programs changed. Many of the competent counselors were unable to continue in their positions due to the stress and sense of frustration in their work, a condition common in the treatment community. The Federal government placed more and more restrictions on methadone patients' freedom of movement and, though methadone is anticipated to maintain the methadone client for a period of twenty-four hours, in many cases it does not. For this patient withdrawal signs were setting in at eighteen hours and not twenty-four. The patient began a slow detoxification process from 100mg of methadone per day that took approximately eighteen months.
The final stage of detoxification was followed by the patient's entry into University-level training after he obtained a scholarship to a prominent university. At the time of the detoxification, the philosophy among methadone patients was that you could not get off methadone, but having previously had the Ibogaine experience, the patient stated that he knew addiction was reversible, and that knowledge allowed him to successfully leave addiction behind.
doublezero
09-05-2008, 19:31
thankyou alfa, good read, very insightful and inspiring... something swim defently consider in the future, to get off H and methadone, defently some bright hope out there
This is amazing, love it. Would it be ok for an ex heroin/methadone user to try the treatment? Swim is 100% clean now for just 2 weeks but feels amazingly alive, he did go through hell for 3 days and had very spiritual experience and would never use man made drugs again or let himself get addicted ever.
Swim wants more tho, he loves this feeling of life and being "alive" but maybe ibogaine would enlighten him even more.
Is Swim just being greedy for love and happiness?
Love n peace.
outriderx
14-11-2008, 22:41
you might wanna give a look at this thread and help me make the article better please :)
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71455&highlight=iboga
i might copy some of this thread since this thread has tons of information itself in it