Ibogaine is a purified alkaloid that is either extracted from Tabernanthe Iboga or synthesized from the Voaconga Africana plant.

Ibogaine is most well known for its ability to break addictions, specifically those of opiate addicts. Ibogaine is able to dramatically lessen or altogether relieve an opiate addict of withdrawal symptoms.

Ibogaine works for breaking all addictions, not just opiate addictions. But it should be known that ibogaine will not help with the physical withdrawal symptoms of benzodiazepines nor physical addiction to alcohol. Alcoholics will have to be off of alcohol at least for 1 month if they have physical withdrawal symptoms. For benzo addicts, they need to also be off of benzos like Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, etc. for at least 1 month as well.

It’s is not quite known exactly how it works and this site is not a spot for in-depth scientific explanations of ibogaine, but I will lead you in the right direction below. Contact us if you want to get access to the full report

In layman’s terms, ibogaine works by going to the same receptor sites that opiates and other drugs attach to and removes the drugs from the receptors and fills them in with ibogaine. This is how opiate addicts are able to get past the acute withdrawal stage without full blown withdrawals.

The bottom line is that ibogaine works for drug addicts and allows them to move past the acute withdrawal and also post acute withdrawal symptoms (PAWS). Addicts are left with a window of opportunity and most do not have any craving for their drug of choice for typically 2 to 6 months. This is made possible by the ibogaine metabolizing in the liver into noribogaine. Noribogaine is what gives users an “afterglow” of contentment and stays in there to keep cravings away for a period of time. If someone lives cleanly, eats well, exercises and doesn’t drink alcohol it is believed noribogaine will stay in a person’s system for up to 6 months.

This is the window of opportunity.

If an addict goes back to the same people, same environment and doesn’t make changes for themselves during this period they will most likely go back to drugs. There is some rare cases where they just make it…but it is not the norm.

They have at least a couple of months to make changes in their life if they are administered ibogaine properly and have some aftercare regimen set up. If you are someone looking to get aftercare counseling and be led down the right road for recovery I can highly recommend Anthony Esposito of AwakenYourSoul.co

Aftercare is the most important part of recovery. We like to recommend people going to a clinic where they can stay for up to 1 month and several ibogaine or iboga sessions while receiving counseling during this time period.

In the proper environment, 1 month of intense recovery work as seen above is enough to change lives forever. I know and have been there personally.

 

Ibogaine Treatment Settings

Ibogaine is typically administered in a medical or semi-medical setting with at least a doctor present. Some also incorporate spiritual growth and Bwiti into their program.

We feel that a mix of medical necessities and a personal growth program involving Bwiti teachings is the best way to get the most consistent results with the medicine.

There is essentially 3 types of places to go for ibogaine treatment. They are in order from good, better and best from our experience.

 

  1. A clinic where you take ibogaine in a medical setting with or without aftercare counseling. Typically there is not a place where you can settle into to the “new” you. These programs last from 5-10 days
  2. A semi-clinical setting where the medical necessities are taken care of, but they are not run by doctors, but most like other addicts who have trained to work with ibogaine. They will most likely have some sort of counseling program in place. These are typically 7-10 day programs.
  3. A retreat type environment where the medical necessities are taken care of and run by Bwiti initiates or ex-addicts with doctors present. After the withdrawal phase, there is a heavy emphasis on counseling with the *Bwiti tradition. There is also a location to stay at after withdrawal treatment to have more iboga/ibogaine experiences and get at least a couple of weeks of clean under your belt. If possible they may allow you stay for 1 month and then have followed up remote counseling via skype once you get back home.
    These are typically 2 to 4 week programs.

         *The Bwiti tradition is about how to live life and be happy.

 

Here is a partial scientific explanation courtesy of;
Sweetnam, P.M., Lancaster, J., Snowman, A. et al. Psychopharmacology (1995) 118: 369. doi:10.1007/BF02245936

“The indole alkaloid ibogaine (NIH 10567, Endabuse) is currently being examined for its potential utility in the treatment of cocaine and opioid addiction.
However, a clearly defined molecular mechanism of action for ibogaine’s putative anti-addictive properties has not been delineated. Radioligand binding
assays targeting over 50 distinct neurotransmitter receptors, ion channels, and select second messenger systems were employed to establish a broad in vitro
pharmacological profile for ibogaine.

These studies revealed that ibogaine interacted with a wide variety of receptors at concentrations of 1-100 gM. These
included the mu, delta, kappa, opiate, 5HT2, 5HT3, and muscarinicl and 2 receptors, and the dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin uptake sites. In addition, ibogaine interacted with N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) associated ion and sodium ion channels as determined by the inhibition of [3H]MK-801 and
[3H]bactrachotoxin A 20-e-benzoate binding (BTX-B), respectively.

This broad spectrum of activity may in part be responsible for ibogaine’s putative anti-addictive activity.”