Very bad first Iboga experience

[funkyboomer]

Hi,
This is my first post on here, and not the one I’d hoped to be making when I embarked on my iboga journey, I took 5 grams of finely powdered root bark on the 22/8/14 which I had a very bad experience with and as a result have been struggled with some after effects. Some of which may or may not be the cause of the Iboga and other substances in my system it may have reacted with in the first instance and also the hereafter, due to it remaining in the body for about 30 days after.

First my Iboga journey, I purchased my powder about 2 months ago and sat on it for a while, during which time I was in the middle of stint of piracetam from the 7/7/14 until 20/8/14 dosing between 7.2 – 9.6g a day supplemented with 1.5g of choline bitartrate. Knowing it could possible interact with Iboga I stopped taking on the day of my first microdose which was 500mg of powdered root bark on 20/8/14.

My initial impressions weren’t great, it didn’t seem to improve my mind as had been expected, give me more motivation, or any other ‘upper’ type effects associated with such a dose, in fact it made me feel quite tired. The next day I didn’t take any and also felt a bit lethargic and groggy.

I decided the day after that on the 22/8/14 that I would take a ‘proper dose’ that would hopefully yield some of the more enlightening psychoactive, hallucinatory and stimulating effects, so I dosed 5g of root bark spaced over the course of an hour, 1g every 12 minutes.
It took about 1 ½ - 2 hrs for me to start feeling the effects, I got the weird sounds in my head, that buzzing twang, but also feelings of anxiety and mental fogginess, the fogginess much more pronounced than the microdose. I waited patiently for this to subside, and for the purge to come but I never did, the synptoms largely remained and I also started experiencing symptoms of sciatica in my legs, it was such an uncomfortable experience that I really just wanted to get off the ‘trip’ and for it to stop. I forced myself to go to sleep at roughly 8pm (6hrs after dosing) and slept right through, bar waking up once or twice very shortly (and quite uncomfortably during the night) to about 8am-ish the next morning. That’s when the real fun started...

I felt really groggy, my cognition felt very much impaired and my short term memory had taken a bit of a hit, but what was most discomforting although I managed to go with the flow of it, was the contortions and spasms that I was experiencing. Sat in my reclining chair, I felt my neck want to involuntarily twist as far as it could possibly go to one side, and when I say as far as it could go I mean it felt like I was almost wrenching my neck off. It could take a good 5 minutes or so before I could relax my body into a normal ‘comfortable’ position again, and the when I was stationary the sciatica was still present although underlying, if that makes any sense.

It was difficult to walk and move about, but I expected that as an after effect of the iboga still being in my system, what was most worrying were these spasms that kept on coming in waves between every 20 -30 minutes. I decided to give in the end and try and go to sleep about 6pm they were that bad, but in the end I went to the hospital, after I told my mum what I’d taken which freaked her out because my uncle had the same spasms when he has a brain tumour. So I relented on her advice and went hoping they could do something about the spasms, although I knew or rather hoped there was nothing more serious going on. They gave me a diazepam which alleviated the spasms and sent me on my way saying my blood pressure was fine etc.

The next day was much the same with the mental fogginess, although I managed to have intelligent conversations, my ability to access memory and my short term memory were quite impaired. However the spasms were totally gone which was a huge relief, but the sciatica still remained although I managed to on with some work and focus past the discomfort.
The next five days from 25/8/14 to 29/8/14 were quite similar in that my basic motor skills seemed to have been blunted quite a bit as I found typing on my laptop incredibly laborious and couldn’t pick up to anything like my usually speed. I was also still very foggy and forgetful.

During that time I began drinking quite a lot guayusa, a Peruvian tea containing caffeine that releases it in much steadier amounts than coffee resulting in more concentration than a buzz effect you get with coffee. Last weekend 1/9/14 I found myself particularly sleep deprived and tired as a result, so began drinking large concentrated brews of guayusa using 1tbsp of powder along with 1/8 tsp of green tea extract with each brew 3 times a day.
I’ve continued this regiment throughout this past week having fallen into a cycle of falling to sleep quite late roughly 1am I think and rising about 7:30-8am, feeling quite tired as a result and doing the same thing over again. However I’ve noticed as the week has wore on that I been experiencing headaches that have got progressively worse. On Monday it was minor a annoyance that happened around 4pm each day them alleviated by 8pm-ish, and Tuesday was totally clear, but by Wednesday I started waking up with them and them being largely present during the day and causing me quite a bit of irritability. I experience them in areas ranging from my forehead to around my hair line to around my temporal area.
Today has been the sixth of this, I went to bed at 9 last night unable to bear the discomfort, I had a red reishi mushroom tea, put a chakra cleansing cd on, was asleep by 10 and awake by about half 8 this morning,( so well rested) although very irritable, scatty, and coupled with these headaches. So I thought I would relate my experiences over the past couple of weeks to see if anyone can shed any light on whether the Iboga has played any part in my current situation given that my experience with in the first instance wasn’t the best. I currently feel as though I I’m on a slippery slope and have no idea what’s happening to me, and fear I might have to put up with this for quite some time. Any insight, experience or solutions that people might have would be warmly welcomed, and I would be incredibly grateful if anyone could shed any light on any of the following:

1. Is it possible the residual Piracetam in my system caused me to have such a negative experience with Iboga?
2. Is my experience with Iboga very unusual? Am I just unlucky, or do the factors that i’ve mentioned have some bearing on it?
3. Is it unusual NOT to purge after taking the 5g of root bark, and should I have left it a while after my initial microdose of 500mg to take the higher dose?
4. Is the continuous use of high guayusa content brews along with green tea extract in some way reacting with the remaining iboga in my system to cause these headaches?
5. Does it sound like I’ve done myself permanent damage, or will my body reset itself after the Iboga has flushed itself out of my system after the 30 days?

Does my experience indicate I don’t get on with iboga and shouldn’t try it again? I’m well aware of the benefits, and more than a bit gutted that it hasn’t worked and I’ve found myself in the situation I’m in now. I’d like to go a proper retreat in a years time or so and do the experience properly with guides/shamans, but given I’ve reacted so badly to it I’m at a loss as to whether it’d do me more harm than good.

 

[darklordsson]

Im sorry to hear about this issue my friend. I do not have a plausible answer for you. But someone here on the nexus with more knowledge than me will respond. Also I suggest reading the attitude page, strictly states not to talk about sourcing or obtaining any compound,

here--> Attitude Page - DMT-Nexus Wiki

But hope you get better my friend best wishes your way.
---dls---

 

[funkyboomer]

Thanks for the reply darkloadson, I've edited my post now.

 

[poonja]

Not sure about the Guyusa (sic) but it sounds as if you are taking a fair amount of stimulants. That could be a possible source of your headaches. One can always question the quality of the Iboga as well.

 

[MrVortex]

Hi There,

I did an Iboga session about a year ago and did it with a group and some experienced sitters. So maybe I have some answers for you.

1. Piracetam has an half life of 1.5 hours, so most should have been out of your system by the second dose. However, it could very well be that the altered states of receptors didnt react very good with iboga.

2. It seems a bit unusual. The way I (and the group) experienced it was taking a certain amount every hour, for up to 6 hours. Im not sure, but 5 grams doesnt seem like much in comparison to what we were given (about a mouth full each time). After about 2 hours the images come, you get nauseous. The world starts spinning while standing up and walking is very difficult. But when you lie down, you dont notice this. The whole trip lasts 12-14 hours. After that you get some sleep and wake up feeling like a train ran through your brain. It was almost as if I could feel every receptor in my head buzzing. You dwell on your experience the rest of the day and wake up the next morning feeling like gold. The whole group was refreshed.

3. I never purged, some others in the group also didnt.

4. Could be, but unlikely I think. One of the active (by)products of ibogaine is active for weeks and is one of the reasons why its a treatment to addictions. But I've never heard of interactions with green tea and/or caffeine. Can I ask you, were you taking anything else and is it possible that you're undergoing some sort of withdrawal (alcohol)? It is also a possibility it is a form of withdrawal from the piracetam. Some people report shakes and sluggish thoughts when they suddenly quit.

5. The body is pretty resilient, especially when you're young. Just ease up on the stimulants and nootropics I would say.

 

[funkyboomer]

Thanks for getting back Mrvortex

You're trip sounds much more like what I was expecting from what I'd read about it, which is what concerned me at the time and now afterwards, it's good to know that that not everyone purges though. I couldn't find any information on it through all the search engines, that was one of the main factors that made me think I'd took a wrong turning as it were.

I was taking nothing else on the day of taking the iboga, I was really strict with myself due to possible unwanted interactions, I didn't even have a cup of tea both days I took, although I couldn't do anything about the piracetam that may have been in my system. It can't be alcohol withdrawal as I rarely drink though.

You do raise a good point about it being an issue with piracetam withdrawal, although the fact these headaches have started in the past 5 days after not having any piracetam for over two weeks leaves me scratching my head a bit. Although the headaches are similar to those I've experienced when a dose of piracetam has run it's course.

I've purposefully not taking any more noots since my iboga 'experience' to try and find my baseline again, and will do until these headaches disappear, hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

It could be that it has something to do with these chinese remedy sachets I took for a few days this week along with some panax ginseng, I have no idea what's in the sachets though as all the writing is in Chinese.

 

[MrVortex]

Well, not purging is all about an iron stomach, but it has its drawbacks alright; you find out the next day when you go to the toilet. Ugh, like dropping a rock lol :shock:

So far I would say its either a case of bad iboga and you got stuck with some mild poisoning (which should clear on its own), and/or piracetam/choline withdrawal (the latter is very rare, but some ppl report about it). The headache can be just a stage in this.

I dont mean to alarm you, but another thing that struck me as a possibility, is serotonin syndrome. Look up the symptoms. The brain jacked up with serotonin in the pre-frontal cortex from piracetam, a certain sensitivity to it and then taking iboga. Look up the symptoms. Im not a physician, so if things keep going like this, go see a GP and mention this. And yeah, might stop the mystery sachets too for now.

Good luck, it will turn out alright! :thumb_up:

 

[Jox]

funkyboomer,

wonder if you setting was correct and your knowledge of Iboga:

- 5g is a lot actually, 5 % of active alcaloids off top of my head, which is 250 mg of active alkaloids. It is. to the same taking it over few hours and taking it all at once, for any plat medicine for,that matter.
- do you know that ataxia is always present in high doses?
- how did you prepare yourself for the journey, did you have a sitter?

Going to emergency if needed is of course necessary, BUT good preparation and understanding of the plant can avoid it.

Going to the hospital after taking plants gives bad light, in general they don't know what to do, if anything they can do except to put in a room and maybe inject some lorazepam... This gives bad press for the cause we want to push forward.

Iboga is not a joke, maybe your bark was weary strong, it was not clear to me how you decided to take it the way you did? Why did you take it in the first place? What others plants or psychedelics do you know and how do you structure your setting?

 

[Ufostrahlen]

1. Piracetam has an half life of 1.5 hours...

Nope.

Piracetam is completely absorbed after oral administration: peak plasma concentrations are reached after 30 to 40 minutes, and oral bioavailability is close to 100%. The elimination half-life of the drug in healthy volunteers is about 5 to 6 hours, but this may be increased in elderly patients, particularly those with multiple disease states.

Piracetam - Drugs & Aging

Synopsis Piracetam is the first of the socalled ‘nootropic’ drugs, a unique class of drugs which affect mental function. In animal models and in healthy volunteers, the drug improves the efficiency of the higher telencephalic functions of the brain involved in cognitive processes such as...

link.springer.com

 

[funkyboomer]

Thanks Mrvortex :thumb_up:

Jox,

I didn't really have a preparation as such for my journey, but my process was as follows:

I began to weigh out the iboga into rizlas about 250mg per paper, and wrapped them up.

I began taking the iboga at about 1:30pm a gram every 12 minutes as stated, but in between those doses I decided that the room I was going to have the trip in wasn't as a clean as I would have liked it to be, and so began to tidy around. I also had a shower in between one of the intervals, and to be honest I felt quite hurried and a bit rushed, wanting to get my setting right before the onset of the trip. Setting and preparation became a bit of an after thought when really it should have been at the forethought of my mind. I was also listening the galactic history show with Andrew Bartzis whilst preparing myself.

I did however do an affirmation every time I took a dose using the 'I AM' to state my intentions for the trip and the required outcome I sought.

Once I had taken all the iboga I lay on my bed which I had arranged with more pillows and cushions, and continued to listen to the galactic history show waiting for the onset of the trip. I realise this is a little unorthodox and much less sacred a way than I should have approached the experience, but that's what I did and I wouldn't do it this way in future.

As for my reasoning, I took the iboga in the hope of renewing myself and to cleanse myself of some negativity that I felt was inside of me, and also as an exploratory experience, although I seem to have taken a backwards step. I wrote a list of questions both personal and metaphysical that I wanted to ask of the iboga. I'd read that it was quite a common practise when undertaking the experience with a shaman so decided to adopt it into my own ritual, although I never progressed to a point where this was possible

I sat on my iboga for about 8 weeks before taking it, did plenty of reading and thought I was equipped enough to handle it, having done numerous trips with mushrooms and lsd in the past. Although I did feel at the time of ingestion that I was forcing myself to take action, and that I shouldn't have taken it. But I suppressed the feeling putting it down to nerves and pressed ahead. I now realise it was my inner voice guiding me against actions.