Ibogaine, the very same FDA Schedule 1 psychedelic medication used to cure addiction in other countries, is being promoted as an autism treatment by an AUTISTIC in Miami, Florida. More recently, it has shown promise in the treatment of PTSD and traumatic brain injury in smaller studies.
What is Ibogaine?
Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive compound from the iboga tree that grows in Africa. The iboga tree is a rainforest shrub. Ibogaine comes from the bark of the iboga tree. It has been used for medicinal and ceremonial purposes in the Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Cameroon.
After French and Belgian colonizers discovered it in the 19th century, they sold it as a stimulant in France.
Ibogaine is a Schedule I controlled substance in the United States. This puts it in the same class of drugs as cocaine and heroin. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, ibogaine has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
According to the DEA’s own statement, it should not be useful for treating anything.
If anyone in the United States wants to seek ibogaine treatment they would have to travel to a country where it is legal:
- Mexico
- Brazil
- Canada
- New Zealand
- South Africa
If they would seek treatment this way, it would cost between $5,000 and $15,000 for just the treatment.
Side Effects
Ibogaine has the potential to cause fatal cardiac arrhythmias. There have been at least 24 deaths associated with ibogaine in recent decades. There was a concern that triggered the FDA to end federal research in the late 1980’s.
Some experts say that risks can be managed by screening out high-risk patients and administering magnesium before and during treatments. Also, by having patients monitored on an electrocardiogram (ECG).
other side effects are:
- low blood pressure
- seizures
- paralysis
- difficulty breathing
- anxiety
- hallucinations
- death
A Session of Ibogaine
Ibogaine does not compare to other psychedelic drugs like Psilocybin. A treatment session is no easy experience. It can last for more than 24 hours. Participants in an ibogaine session often compare it to a trip to a lucid waking dream that forces a review of painful life experiences.
”You suddenly have access to this massive store of information that’s been accumulating through our lives, and you’re just able to see it in a more detached way,” said Dr. Martin Polanco, a psychedelic researcher at the Mission within, an organization that works with Special Operations veterans.
ibogaine for Addiction
In the last few decades, ibogaine has shown a lot of promise for curing substance addiction. In several small studies, they show that 2/3 of people who undergo ibogaine treatment are cured in one session of the drug.
Ibogaine mitigates the undesirable side effects of withdrawal and reduces the drug cravings dramatically.
“Ibogaine seems to be resetting the brain pharmacologically, and at the same time, it’s producing deep psychological insight into the underlying drivers of addiction,” said Dr. Joseph Peter Barsuglia, a clinical and research psychologist who advises ibogaine clinics in Mexico.
The majority of the existing data on ibogaine’s efficacy comes from several small studies. it has not been tested in clinical trials using control groups given placebos. This is the golden standard in medical research.
In Brazil, where ibogaine has been used for over 30 years to combat crack addiction, it has been reported to have a 60 percent success rate among patients who were followed for several months after therapy.
It is very unlikely to receive FDA approval as an opioid addiction treatment, according to the federal government’s top addiction researcher, Nora Volkow. She is the longtime director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This is a note of caution, considering that there is worldwide enthusiasm about ibogaine. It’s because of its potential cardiac side effects.
A follow-up 12-month observational study on the treatment of opioid dependence. This study observed the outcome in 14 participants, 12 male and 12 female, over 12 months. They measured the outcome using the Addiction Severity Index lite(ASI-lite) following a single treatment by either of the two providers.
Secondary effects on depression were assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). The Subjective Opioid Withdrawal Scale (SOWS) was collected before and immediately after treatment to measure withdrawal symptoms.
The nonparametric comparisons, using the Friedman Test, were between baseline and 12-month follow-up for participants completing interviews and showed a significant reduction for the ASI-lite drug use
A single ibogaine treatment reduced opioid withdrawal symptoms and achieved opioid cessation or sustained reduced use in dependent individuals as observed over 12 months.
Ibogaine for Traumatic Brain Injury, PTSD, Anxiety and Depression
Stanford University researchers have discovered that ibogaine, when combined with magnesium, safely and effectively reduces PTSD, anxiety, and depression and improves functioning in people who have a traumatic brain injury. The study was published online, in Nature Magazine. This includes detailed data on 30 veterans of US special forces.
There is an increased burden of suicide risk in special operations veterans, and additional treatment options are needed.
In this study, initial results from a prospective study examined the safety and efficacy of the Magnesium-Ibogaine: the Stanford Traumatic Injury to the CNS protocol in SOVs with a history of predominately mild TBI and repeated blast/combat exposures and subsequently developed ent of functional limitations and psychiatric symptoms.
This study investigated SOVs with a history of TBI and reported blast/combat exposures with the magnesium-ibogaine combination. Before treatment, study participants experienced clinically meaningful levels of disability, PTSD, depression, and anxiety.
After treatment, participants showed a reduction in symptoms with large effect sizes, and benefits were sustained at the 1-month follow-up. Disability measures continued to improve psychiatric symptoms reduced and the response rate was 1 month after treatment, without any negative changes.
Areas of improvement are processing speed and executive function. There were no adverse events during this study.
Future placebo-controlled clinical trials may help establish potential therapeutic benefits. Interpretation of clinical trials of psychedelic drugs are limited by very few studies being done. They do suggest that their blinds have been left intact.
Ibogaine for Autism
David Dardashti, an autistic who was diagnosed clinically has “been on a mission to help others on the autism spectrum.”
He has developed a prototype to measure the electric activity inside the brain to “help a person on the spectrum who has failed to respond to conventional medications. it works by regulating the brain chemistry and function of the patient, allowing them to cope better with their condition.
He says,” Having autism is like having a Linux operating system for a brain. There are great benefits once the person can overcome its technical issues.”
According to Dardashti, when using ibogaine to treat autism, it is crucial to reduce the treatment dose. This is because autistics often have a naturally introspective personality. This can often make them more sensitive to the drug. By reducing the dose, providers can ensure that the patient does not experience the overwhelming or distressing effects of the drug.
This sounds like this aims to rewire an autistic person’s brain.
At what cost? This is a drug that has the potential of being fatal just after one use. Why can’t people accept us for who we are and leave our brains alone? Wouldn’t it be more effective to study supports instead of cures?
Sources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28402682
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-440/iboga
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02705-w
Aviva Seigler 