> [...] Building on such research, some startups are working on drugs that mimic therapeutic effects without the hallucinations.
I understand not everyone wants the hallucinations, but man, scientists are just no fun sometimes.
Also, I dare to suggest, imagine not everything is about race.
Lot of interesting studies and anecdotes on its efficacy as an antidepressant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine
"The action of ibogaine at the κ-opioid receptor may indeed contribute significantly to the psychoactive effects attributed to ibogaine ingestion; Salvia divinorum, another plant recognized for its strong hallucinogenic properties contains the chemical salvinorin A, which is a highly selective κ-opioid agonist"
from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41883580/:
>Longitudinal analyses assessed cortical thickness, subcortical volume, and predicted brain age (pBA), estimated from T1 scans. pBA was significantly reduced at 1 month relative to baseline (-1.3 years). Cortical thickness analysis revealed post-treatment increases in 11 regions. Subcortical analyses revealed significant volumetric expansion in 8 regions. Magnesium-ibogaine therapy was associated with increased cortical thickness, subcortical expansion, and reduced pBA at 1 month.
Any study like this is nearly useless without a control group, unfortunately. There is no way to tell if the treatment caused the changes or if they naturally occurred over the study period.
PTSD is a trauma response.
Are you thinking of TBI? TBI is a cumulative impact of small and large head trauma.
for starters, she had to go through cardiac tests before they would even administer the stuff because it can cause serious cardiac symptoms, up to and including death. Somebody in her group was kicked out because they had been using meth the week of the trip (no pun intended). They were telling them that even too much caffeine could increase their risk of cardiac symptoms.
Then the trip itself was like 48 hours and it wasn't a fun trip like acid or mushrooms. The few things she would tell me about were awful, and she still won't talk about most of it almost a decade after the fact.
Some drugs don't need to be caught up in federal approval but ibogaine is absolutely a drug that needs the red tape and all the pomp and circumstance of FDA approval.
Not really true. There have been clinical trials for Ibogaine over the years in the US and abroad. The United States isn’t the only country capable of running trials.
A big blocker for ibogaine is that it’s cardiotoxic. Multiple deaths have occurred within clinical trials for ibogaine. It’s really hard to justify and get approval for additional clinical trials for a drug that has caused deaths even in small trials.
There are analogs of ibogaine being studied, too. These are designed to lack the cardiac properties of ibogaine and would hold much more promise. There’s a real problem of mistrust with “artificial chemicals” that causes this to be ignored while ibogaine gets the attention. I suppose that’s to be expected with politicians driving research.
Just frame it as "this drug lets you send scarred soldiers right back into the fray for pennies" and see that red tape dissolve
It is actually an old drug with a long history of being tried for different conditions and was once even marketed commercially in some countries. It goes through cycles where news stories are written about how it might be a treatment for problems which inspires some people to seek it out, but I strongly caution people not to do this. If you try one of the ibogaine clinics you may not even been given real ibogaine, and if you do you’re playing a dangerous game.
Anecdotally: I’ve known a couple acquaintances and their friends who tried ibogaine for different reasons. Among them, there was a 100% rate of feeling convinced it solved their problems in the weeks following their experience. There was a 0% rate of actual improvement in the problems after weeks to months. I think it’s good that this is being researched, but the claimed curative powers of the drug have also become enhanced through the mythology and mystery around it.
I’m sure someone will find some reason to dismiss or excuse these deaths, as anyone who brings up the negatives of psychedelics is usually shouted down on this site.
The cardiotoxic effects of ibogaine are well known, though. This is why analogs without the cardiotoxic effect are an active area of study.
Of all of the incredible claims about ibogaine in this thread it’s sad that the only one where sources are being demanded is for the high risk of death, which even among ibogaine communities is well known.
If you look at, at the one referenced study, there was a coronial inquiry and an investigation by New Zealand's Health and Disability Commissioner that found the doctor who was supervising was in breach of their duty of care.
Yes, there can and have been negative side effects for MANY drugs, but blaming the drug, when a government body has investigated the incident placed the blame elsewhere is an outrageous bad faith claim.
Additionally, that study was for Opioid addiction, and a person also died before even getting into the study (so, iBogain is probably the lesser of two evils).
As for the snarky comment about people finding excuses on this site, no, people actually just read citations on this site, instead of just trust me bro. When your citation claims a doctor is responsible, but you say it was the drug, do you see how one can only assume you are disingenuous?
The full Journal is here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00952990.2017.1...
Here is a relevant extract:
> A third patient of Provider 1 died during treatment before they were formally enrolled. Of 13 participants enrolled through Provider 2, one voluntarily left the study at eight months and a second was lost to follow up at 11 months post-treatment. The fatality was the subject of two investigations, a coronial inquiry and the second involving New Zealand’s Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC). The latter, completed first, described the treatment provider as being in breach of their duty of care but did not offer a medical explanation for the death.
I wonder about the editorial choice to use veterans rather than, say, women who have PTSD from assaults, which is a much larger group of people. (Approximately 4% of US men and 8% of US women experience PTSD every year across all reasons like accidents, sexual assaults, combat, etc.)
Presumably this treatment would help everyone? Or is it somehow supporting only vets?
We’re one step below “think of the children”
If dissociation is better than regular PTSD, then go for it. We don’t expect people with hip replacements to have 100% mobility. We don’t expect cochlear implants to hear better than healthy ears. Mental health interventions have similar tradeoffs.
It acts on the KOR receptors instead of the MOR receptor, which most openly act on. But it’s not like you’re going to be cured from opioid addiction. You’re just replacing one opioid with another that doesn’t affect the respiratory system.
Your comment also seems to imply that this treatment involves consuming ibogaine habitually or regularly
The protocol for ibogaine treatment, according to the article and the experiments being done, do not have this requirement.
Like other treatments involving psychedelics and hallucinogens, the protocol here is that a one-off treatment, a single dose, results in meaningful improvements in both addictive behaviors and PTSD symptoms a month later and potentially longer
This is not the same as something like methadone or naltrexone, which _are_ what you describe: replacing a more harmful opiate with a less harmful one.
Opioid use has been associated with numerous psychiatric symptoms, including dissociative symptoms.
