Meth Meth Withdrawal and Ibogaine

[sotoboy1]

I have been on a run for about a month. I have done this often throughout the course of my life and always dread the withdrawal. The short temper, quick to rage, easily frustrated, and fatigue putting me to bed at 8 PM every night. Obviously my body needs to reset, but due to family responsibilities and my career, I can’t go die for three days. I have access to the following medications
-welbutrin
-modafanil
-adderall
-trileptal
Is there a way to soften the blow of fatigue and mental distress prior to quitting? Is there anything that I can do to boost dopamine or seratonin that has worked for others?

Also wondering what people think about ibogaine and its alleged ability to assist in addiction…

My proximity to Mexico the constant advertisements of ibogaine resorts and retreats enticing. It is said that it can actually reverse the DNA make up of a person and delete the Addiction Gene.

 

[SuperPsych]

I wouldn't risk Ibogaine in early recovery from amphetamines. It's primarily effective for opioid addiction. I haven't done a lot of research. I'm sure that it can be beneficial for other addictions. I think it'd be important to let your body heal from the binging before attempting ibogaine. Ibogaine can mess with the heart and it has led to deaths. Let your heart recover some then consider again.

I have been an on and off stimulant addict since I was 16. I've been heavily addicted to prescription amphetamines, pyrovalerones, and Methamphetamine. Traditional psychedelics have helped me a ton. Stuff like LSD, Mushrooms, 4-Ho-Mipt, etc. can do wonders for addiction. I have found LSD particularly helpful in terms of stimulant addiction. I never come out of a psychedelic trip wanting to get high on stimulants. They always make me want to better myself.

As for those medications; I'd really try to avoid the adderall. Maybe save it for a rainy day when you really feel you cant take the cravings, but there's a very likely chance that it'd restart the cycle and bring you back to meth.
Modafanil has been shown in at least one study to be helpful for cocaine addiction. I have never tried it but I have tried adrafinil. It's not very stimulating, not at all tweaky but it can help focus somewhat and it definitely keeps you awake. I wouldn't use it immediately after stopping the Meth use as it will keep you awake when your body needs rest. It may be a bit helpful in the following weeks. Look into Phenylpiracetam if you can find it. I found that to be an even better substitute for amphetamines that's not harmful and non-addictive.

Wellbutrin I think would be the best. It technically is an amphetamine but it doesn't get you tweaked. It really does help the low moods and helps with focus. Has a lot of similarities to amphetamine, just without the euphoria or ability to get you hyper-focused and visibly tweaked. It'll help raise your norepinephrine levels and I think it has downstream effects on dopamine. I have found that it does help cravings.

In the past I was prescribed Mirtazapine by an addictions doctor for Meth cravings. Apparently some studies show that it can be beneficial. It might have helped a bit but not as much as wellbutrin. Still, I think it's worth looking into. I actually just started it after a 2-3 month relapse that cost me my job. I still have some cravings but it has definitely leveled out my mood and I don't feel nearly as depressed as I did. Sure, I still have cravings but I'm not in a deep depression anymore which makes it much easier to push past the cravings and not give in.

I also think that agmatine is worth looking into. It's a supplement that you can order off of Amazon. I was heavy into nootropics and supplements like years back or so. Agmatine is the one that I found the most beneficial and one that I keep around to this day. It work as an NMDA receptor antagonist similarly to ketamine. It doesn't get you high but it has a noticeable effect on depression. It also blocks or lessens the effects of some drugs. I haven't tried it with amphetamine, but it my reduce the reinforcing effects of speed. NAC is another supplement that reduces the effects of basically all drugs and makes them not even worth taking. A single dose of NAC blocked the effects of dissociatives for me for a week straight.

I don't know enough about trileptal but I doubt it'd be of much use in this case. It also seems to have a wide array of possible side effects to consider

Edit: I feel that I should mention; you say that you went on a month run. That's not a very long time. The comedown period and recovery will likely suck, but I can guarantee that it wont be as bad as you're building it up to be. That's the trap that meth sets in our minds and that's how it gets its hooks in. It convinces us once we run out that coming down is worth than death. It'll play any trick that it can to get you back to using. After only a month the first few days will likely be pretty shitty. You'll start to feel better after a week or two. Will probably have some lingering cravings but in reality, physically recovering from a month long binge doesn't take all that long. As I said, I recently went on a 2 or 3 month long run that was pretty heavy. It's only been a month, maybe a month and a half and I already feel better than I did before I started my binge. The binge actually led me to make some life changes because I realized that the drug wasn't worth ruining my life or worrying my family and friends. I've put them through enough shit. I really feel like Mirtazapine has helped me a lot. I also switched from Kratom to Suboxone which may be helping. I don't know what medication would help you the best. I do, however, know for a fact 3 things that will help you immensely; food, rest, and abstinence from stimulants (caffeine and nicotine are fine if you need it), If you have a doctor that you trust I'd recommend working with them. Otherwise, maybe try Wellbutrin for a week and see if it helps. Meth will always be waiting if you decide that you prefer life with it, but you owe it to yourself to give an honest shot at stopping

 

[Skorpio]

It is said that it can actually reverse the DNA make up of a person and delete the Addiction Gene.

This is not the case.

Ibogaine isn’t going to alter anything at the DNA level (and pretty much no other small molecule will). That is the realm of gene editing treatments like CRISPR or single base editors, and that technology is currently only applied for genetic disorders with a clear cause (like sickle cell malaria, caused by a single amino acid mutation in hemoglobin).

Addiction is a really complex process (I honestly don’t have any idea of what “the addiction gene” is, as so many influence risk of addiction), where changes occur at the circuit level (ie different groups of neurons strengthening or weakening their connections to one another), the cell protein expression level (proteins being more or less expressed altering the magnitude of a cell, and the epigenetic level (reversible modifications to DNA that make it more or less likely to be turned into RNA then protein).

Ibogaine seems to really do a good job at dealing with addictions, and its nuances are still being worked out, as it has a whole lot of ways it works. I have heard quite a bit less about Ibogaine for stimulant addictions, but it seems to broadly have at least some efficacy for a wide variety of addictions, so I wouldn’t expect nothing from it.

The main thing to keep in mind with Ibogaine, is that it can be fairly trying on the heart. People have died from cardiac events during Ibogaine sessions, and I would view any retreat which does not mandate cardiovascular screening beforehand with suspicion.

Back to your list of medications, adderall would be the best (as in least painful) substitute to keep you functional, but it should be viewed in the same manner as using kratom to get off a full agonist opioid habit; you are basically stepping down to a weaker version of the drug you are addicted to, and it will still cost some suffering to get off of it. However, if you are able to use adderall in a more sustainable manner than meth, it would likely be a step in the right direction, and you could switch to your other less abusable drugs once you stabilize. The danger is that you just stay on adderall or go back to meth.

One last thing is that you would benefit from getting off stimulants more quickly, as the longer you go the worse the kick will be, and adderall will certainly go on the same “withdrawal tab” that the meth has been racking up.