Ethnobotanicals Strange Insight from Iboga

[RhythmSpring]

So, I've been struggling with severe rheumatoid arthritis for 15 years now. Needless to say, I've experienced way more body pain than the average person. But I have been adamant on treating the root cause--extremely rarely do I take pain killers. I hate the feeling of things like percocet--the most I'll do is ibuprofen, and I swore off that last Summer.

3 years into the disease, I took an iboga flood dose. It was INTENSE. Wild, and extremely multifaceted.

Well, during that experience, I had an "insight" that I should take heroin or morphine (not at that moment). I brushed it off, knowing that, especially with Iboga, it would be dangerous, and of course there is so much stigma and destruction surrounding opioid use.

But that "insight" has come back in the various times I have taken iboga again, which has mostly been microdoses (a few mini-floods in there).

It came back last night, as I was in SO much pain from a flareup. "I should take poppy seeds or something to kill the pain. I deserve a breather."

It makes sense. I don't think I should take heroin, or get a percocet prescription, but iboga has essentially shattered my stigma around morphine-containing plants. Like, they're there for a reason, just be moderate and judicious with them--they're useful.

It's such a strange insight coming from a plant known for discouraging people from taking opioids, but I have to remember that I am a rare case--I have zero taste for opioids and other "hedonistic" drugs. I kind of have the opposite of an addictive personality when it comes to substances. I hate alcohol. I didn't enjoy weed until my late 20s. I have no interest in trying any of the other hard drugs. I am a bit of a strict monk when it comes to pleasure/pain.

But I think iboga is showing me that I should loosen up so I can be more functional, relaxed, and maybe eventually have a better shot at addressing the root cause of the illness later down the line.

 

[Kaleida]

There is indeed a reason that opium and its derivatives are some of the most well-established and thoroughly-ingrained medicines in the world. They work. In fact, if you take them at consistent, known-to-be-safe dosages and only as needed, genuinely stopping when you have gotten what you medically need out of them, they may be some of the least toxic and most useful drugs there are.

Just don't forget the 'if'.

I'm curious, have you ever used kratom? The opioid alkaloids in kratom, which are unrelated to the opiate alkaloids in opium, have substantial similarities, all things considered, to the active alkaloids in iboga. For example, here is mitragynine, the most prominant alkaloid in kratom.

For quick comparison, here is ibogaine.

Interestingly, a quality that both kratom alkaloids and iboga alkaloids share is both being what we would consider to be 'atypical' opioid receptor modulators with mixed agonist, partial agonist, antagonist, and functionally selective effects, and simultaneously binding to non-opioid receptors including monoamine receptors, as for instance 5-HT and alpha-adrenergic receptors at the least and possibly others are also thought to contribute to the overall effects of kratom.

I can tell you that my mother also has had rheumatoid arthritis from a pretty young age and also doesn't enjoy anything about opium-derived opioids other than the pain relief, having mentioned countless times the unpleasant feelings they gave her, but I've only heard her say good things about kratom.

Personally, opium-derived opioids concern me. I have described oxycodone as feeling like a black hole where consciousness goes to die, despite feeling extremely rewarding and relaxing. Admittedly, I didn't feel that way about hydrocodone, although I did notice a similar rewarding effect to a lesser extent. For comparison, kratom does have similar pain-killing effects for me, but that high that I would personally call what feels like what causes addiction to opium-derived opioids is not there for me, at least at the dosages I'm taking. I'm not saying you can't get hooked on it and have withdrawals and such with frequent use, but I imagine the motivations would be distinct. I don't feel like it actually can get me high in all the same ways as opium-derived opioids, but it's the 'black hole' feeling especially that's gone, and instead I get more of a psychedelic 'warm blanket'-like feeling at times, so that's nice.

Just my input.

I will say, logic should always come before social stigma. There are reasons that people think the ways they do and sometimes those reasons are valid, but if they are you can just take them into your own consideration. If something helps you, use it.

That's what I would do, anyway.