Deleriant said:
Excellent! That's not a problem for me at all! I don't mind a few drinks of an evening but I'm sure I can handle going without for a bit
How long should I avoid other drugs? I assume this includes paracetamol, ibuprofen etc and proscription drugs, too?
Some people recommend a few days. The time should be long enough for most of the drug’s effects to be gone. Ibuprofen SWIM has taken on the same day without an issue. Each drug is different though. I’d say if you can’t feel the drug anymore, you’re probably fine to use ayahuasca.
Drug interactions are complex though, and this is true for many drugs other than ayahuasca, and some interactions do things you don’t expect.
For example, SWIM uses 4 Datura inoxia seeds as a sleep aid on occasion. Scopolamine was once sold as an OTC sleep aid and 4 Datura inoxia seeds contain roughly the same dose of scopolamine as the sleep aid pill did. This is a great sleep aid. Sometimes SWIM might use Kava as a sleep aid. But mix the two, and it just doesn’t feel right. You can tell by how your body feels that it’s a bad mix and probably dangerous if the dose is a little high. However, mix 4 Datura inoxia seeds with ayahuasca, or mix kava with ayahuasca, and the result is rather pleasant. Certain drugs just don’t go well together.
In general, drugs that are potentiaters are drugs that tend to have unexpected interactions with other drugs. Datura is a potentiater, Kava is a potentiater, Caapi is a potentiater, etc. These are the ones to be most careful with. Kava has MAOI effects that differ from Caapi, so mixing Kava with Caapi is a little risky. Datura doesn’t have MAOI effects, but nonetheless it’s a potentiater of many other drugs. Datura makes painkillers like ibuprofen work better, and so does kava, but never take Datura + ibuprofen + Kava.
Anyway, drug interactions are all over the place. As long as you stick to drugs like coffee, tobacco, etc., which have been used in ayahuasca, you’ll be fine. These have been mixed with ayahuasca for centuries.