Another new member

Welcome to Ibogaine Club Sassyfras!  This seems to be a hot topic, as I have spoke to several of our more mature crowd about the same type of questions.  We are all still learning.  I am assuming the study you were speaking about, sometimes called dirty maintenance, is online somewhere in PDF format and I'll try and post it on the forums here.  Reset.nu does have a great reputation, so the bark should be great quality.  I am looking forward to hearing people's results using lower dosing regimens.  I have done several floods myself, and loads of boosters and low doses just for the numerous benefits it gives, not so much for a specific problem any more.  Glad to have you aboard, as this information will prove very valuable for others like you out there trying to do what they can with iboga, but safely.  I'll be looking forward to all you can share, and will keep an eye out for any relevant information I come across in my studies.  Working together, I think we can really find what it is each of us are looking for, or need. Again, glad to have you aboard!

sassy! Welcome, I'm glad you're here! Shamanic Extracts has had a pretty bad rep for rootbark in the past. I'd just chalk it up to experience. I wouldn't rule out a flood dose of Iboga yet, unless you are just set against it. It's a very healing experience, and doses are adjusted for age as well as other factors. On microdosing, keep in mind that RB is about 5% active alkaloids. Most people can 'feel it' working at about 100mg of active alkaloids. That's about 2g of RB. About two teaspoonfuls. I'd call that a booster dose, and not microdose. Just me, I don't think there's an 'official' dose chart, lol. Those who are sensitive to the Wood can also feel the much smaller microdoses. I use about a half teaspoonful/nickel (coin) sized pile/two capsules/300-600mg at a time, if that gives you any indication. I can always feel it, even at that dose. I have no active addictions besides tobacco. Roy on here can tell you about how a flood dose gives a 'discount on pain'. I think those are his exact words. He's also flooded and is in your age range...tmi, Roy? I have heard of sub flood doses Iboga being used to get off easier on one's drug of choice, but have not yet heard of successful addiction interruption on sub flood doses. Please do keep us posted! We all learn together when we share here.

Hi Sassy-- Thanks for the kind words and I am glad my joining got you out of the closet LOL...  I keep telling you that lots of clinics only want healthy addicts -- deaths are bad for business.  There are a whole host of us who aren't healthy and they will automatically say no to you.  They will run out of healthy addicts LOL-- we tend to end up not so healthy over time.  It's also a matter of training-- as an anesthesiologist with some ICU training-- things like a prolonged qt interval on an EKG don't throw me into a panic.... but some PHd psychologist running the program will for sure be changing his/her pants LOL...  I really meant it on that other board that I'd love to set up an ibogaine clinic-- and I wouldn't turn people like you away.  You get a sense of what you can handle in anesthesia training and so my threshold is a lot higher.  However, microdosing right now seems to be your only option and I think you too should try it.....

Thank you so  much for the warm welcome, everyone! I'm feeling pretty close to tears & I don't cry easily....but just the thought of there being some hope for me, (maybe even being able to do a flood?) is so precious to me. I've been feeling very much at the end of my tether lately, as if one road after another has come to a dead end. I'm sure most of you have felt that at some point in the rocky path off opiates! I think I was almost afraid of joining this forum and being told that Iboga cannot help me unless I do a flood & then what??? So I'm feeling a bit more hopeful again now and very determined to learn all I can about the most optimum use of Iboga for older addicts such as myself. It's good to know I'm not the only ancient one here too! Lynn, I've posted at our other forum and whatever went wrong should soon be straightened out. No way are we going to let you disappear!

Well thanks... I did get pretty bummed.  But you know me-- I firmly believe in things happening for a reason, karma and perhaps we two were meant to be here now for a reason....

I read a post above and wanted to defend S.E. . If anyoune has a question about what i said just spend the $25 and purchase 2 grams . It is stronger than anything i have had from and other distributer . It is stronger than sample that anyone has sent me . this is an exert from a email i wrote my friend today  ......... 3 grams of rb from SE is very very strong . I now know why i flooded so good the first time . i took 30 grams that was made into an excellent TA ! I killed my opiate addiction , killed it !  i tried  a boost yesterday  of 4 grams  - i still have 2 caps left ! 2 0f 5 ( 4 grams split up between ) though one is only half full and i took that too . what i am getting at is i still have 2 000 sized gelgaps left !!!   i actually only had taken about 2.6 or so and it really rocked my boat ! IT IS DEFFINATELY THE BEST RB EVER . i had 30 grams saved up for my 6 month follow up but didnt take it because i wanted to try lab TA and maybe better understand its prowess. yesterday is the first time ive tried SE rb since my flood 8 months ago. it is so strong stronger than anything ive ever had and ive had rb from 4 sources now and all different types of  materials. I strongly belive that paging $25 a2 gram baggie to grt up to your flood dose ( once you find that out) .  Its top notch. i order the 25 dollar stuff but the often send me the 30 stuff thats blessed by the bwiti - and i do not think that is a come on when they say that either. i think its the most real deal out there . Nobu said quality quality Rb can produce visuals at 8 grams .   I am going to tell you something you will understand that if you ever took 3 g of RB from SE and that is you would diffenately see visuals !!   I have taken up to 12 grams of the same RB you tried and though i felt alot it was not even close to the Quality of the SE rb !!   no clue till yesterday , no clue ! IB VOLCANA is a purple/lavender/pink (kinda like mimosa rb ) its easy to see the difference , easy - they can powder it to try to blend it though .   Thanks again ----- for all the cheer . I look forward to chatting again.   Much love and Mahalo   - bee PS  I told Aihab about it today and i am telling Ibogaworld soon as I  square things up with Michelle about another matter . - how good that bark was from SE !!

Good to know Shamanic Extracts is now giving quality bark, but at $25 bucks for 2 grams, it damn sure better be!  That is over double the highest price I have heard to date..  That's $1250 bucks, plus shipping for 100 grams.  That ain't much less than the price of a whole kilo (1000 g) from the best prices I have found through a few other suppliers..  It had better be 10 times as good as anything out there for me to consider it..

I used SE for my March booster-- and since I've done a flood- I do KNOW when I've gotten the good stuff or not-- and the SE stuff was good for me too.  I got a nice buzzing in my ears and some open eye visions from it.  Clearly it was good root bark....but then I kept hearing bad stuff about them, and it did take almost 6 weeks to get here, so I ordered from iboga world.  Let's hope I get good stuff there too....

I know $$$$ , I know $$$$$$ !!   I could not believe how strong it is !! ive taken 12 grams of RB for a boost after my flood . Though i spaced out the dosage then but the amount i took yesterday blew that 12 grams away !!! Blown Away  !! I agree its too expensive but its very , very good (9/10 maybe?) . I am looking at different RB out there . I am only going to buy rb from now on TA is too expesive . I can make a good TA (learned from the pros last December ) and i think thats the best most affordable way to go !  .... now i need a top quality RB source . - hp

its the same thing that continue to float around . If you havent tried something you shouldnt talk bad about it .  Thanks for your good word on them too they need some good things to be said about them. - hp

Good to hear of the positive experience HP.  I believe someone on the board had a bad experience with SE in the past, by receiving Voacanga root bark instead of T. Iboga RB.    Thanks for sharing the info HP.

Harvey, how much of this excellent bark do you think it'd take for a full on flood for someone like me?  I mean I realize you don't know my tolerance or whatever, but maybe judging from what I have described here in my dosages and stuff, how much do you think I'd need?

Really good to hear there's new info on the quality from Shamanic Extracts! I do know that sometimes suppliers don't know what they're getting, and send it out without testing for themselves. Love to support a good company. But, I gotta say, I'm happy where I'm at, and the price from SE seems very, very high. Great to have you women on the board!

Heya, sassy. I posted the link to the article you reference over on riverhaven's intro thread. It's great info, to be sure. Want to post it here, as well: http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v15n1/iboga21.pdf Nobu was talking about how microdoses are different than a flood, that it's the flood that resets. You cartainly CAN take RB before a flood. The effects are still being evaluated by many, we're all learning as we go. I have given RB to a handful of people now preflood, as an introduction to the spirit of Iboga, and as a way for the body to prepare, to recognize the chemical signature of Iboga. From my limited sample, I have seen 1/3 of the people (addicts and psychospiritual, both) say they feel no effects at all. Another third notices some effect, colors brighter, or an uplifted mood. The final third have a noticeable experience, auditory changes, psychological or spiritual revelation (the AHA! moment), intense thoughts, sleep interruption. The dosing on this has been between 500mg-1g RB. I'll be reporting on TA use at about 2g (approx 600mg in HCl terms) here in the near future, both for myself and a couple other people. No-one actively addicted, though two I intend to see through the experience have never taken a flood dose. I'll keep you posted. I know also that Claudio Naranjo used these mid size therapeutic doses with his patients...there's an article somewhere... Tia

Thanks for that article Tia-- answered just about every question I ever had on microdosing!

I just lost a long post because I got timed out while writing it and I forgot to copy it before hitting submit...& now I'm out of time so will catch up later. Losing a heartfelt post like that has to be one of the most frustrating things of all! Thank you, Tia, for that link! I got a lot more out of reading it this time, somehow I missed that part about the woman who was successfully microdosing Ibo even though she had never done a flood~~~that is such valuable info & I wonder why there is such a paucity of info about this way of working with Ibo...

Hello claudie_drifts - been having pc issues but wanted to welcome you aboard, thanks for joining the family! I'll try to catch up soon...keep on keepin on!

sassy, That's happened to me before, losing an hour's worth of writing. I like to think that it wasn't meant to be read, but honestly sometimes it's just my own mistake. I think one of the reasons we don't hear much on using Iboga without a flood is that the flood does such wonderful things, it's what most people aim for. The other reason that I'm certain of is that we are all just people, and many who may be working with the sub flood doses don't bother to write about it. Or, if they do, don't pursue putting it where it's easily accessible. I know how much knowledge I gain when I spend time with other providers, just through conversation I pick up so much that I've never seen written. Iboga is still in it's infancy in the west, and due to the legal status here in the US, it's difficult to disseminate information on a wide scale without fear of repercussions. This forum, and mindvox, are very unique. Tia

Thank you for the warm welcome Cal....I'm honored to finally meet the great "Cosmic Elf"! Always did have a weak spot for members of the Elven species... Yes Tia, when I lose a post I wonder if it just wasn't meant to be too, but more than that, what it's telling me is to wake up & be more "reliably present" in all my activities. When I walk around in a semi-unconscious state of mind I notice myself making way more mistakes & being generally forgetful. You're right, there are probably quite a few people out there successfully microdosing Iboga without even thinking of recording & sharing their stories. Maybe they don't even know this forum exists, I didn't find it until after I joined the Ibo List and saw the post about it in there. This IS a very special forum and I can see it becoming the most complete & finest emporium of everything Iboga related. So great to be able to come here with my concerns, questions, ideas, etc. and get such good information. I'm an ardent fan of information & experience sharing and am so grateful for these cyber connections! I can certainly understand the need for some discretion since Ibo is not legal in certain countries...please feel free to tell me if I'm speaking too freely....happily it IS legal where I live in Canada, so I might not be watching my P's & Q's as I should be. I'm still waiting for my empty capsules order to get here before starting my microdosing journey. Or I might try just eating it...when I have a bit of time & space so I can get a feel for the taste of this plant teacher...And I DO very much appreciate why a flood dose is so invaluable & I certainly haven't given up on that possibility. But I'm going to take my time and let Iboga itself tell me if it's the right choice.....as I gradually ingest more of it I'm sure I'll get a better sense of how much & how often is right for me. Ha, having said that, doesn't mean I won't be coming around here still trying to glean every bit of knowledge I can!

No problems sharing your experiences, sassyfras.  No one has to know where any of this takes place, as we all only deal with iboga in legal countries, anyways. Again, we're happy to have you aboard and sharing.  I have been taking iboga semi regularly since my last flood on March 2nd.  Often one 500 mg capsule of ibogaworld TA about once or twice every week or two..  It's enough to give me a nice little buzz and keep me happy.  Gives me better mood, makes me more conscious of my actions, and I can make better choices.  When I eat iboga though, I eat enough that it gives me a real head change.  Often mild "trails" when I watch something move across my visual field.  I have a definite nice body buzz, often a lil buzzing in my ears, that is kid of interesting.  It almost sounds like the instruments the Bwiti play during a ceremony..  I ate 4 grams of bark today and been hanging out having a great time all day.  I love iboga!!

Hi Sassy! Welcome to the forum! It took me a while, but I finally got to your introduction.  I have been planning on doing so ever since I saw your reference to the I Ching in your response to one of my posts.  I am an ardent I Ching fan and consult it pretty much daily. BTW, click the "forever" box when you logon and you will never be timed out. I have done several non-flood doses of iboga TA and found them to be very helpful, though I was not doing them for opiate detox.  Here's a link to the description of my first experience, the most interesting to date, which was only 1.5g and not in the least stressful:      http://iboga.pkeffect.com/index.php/topic,69.0.html I have literally been through dozens of cold turkeys, and you might want to consider just biting the bullet and going cold turkey yourself.  There are numerous things one can use to help minimize withdrawal.  Then, after a week when the major, acute symptoms of withdrawal are past, use iboga to restore your energy and eliminate the lingering depression, lack of energy, hot flashes, etc. For many years, my problem was not going through withdrawal, but was staying away from opiates during the dreary, leaden weeks that followed.  I see no reason why smaller doses (<=2g TA or <=600mg ibogaine HCl) would not have enabled me to stay off opiates. In a recent conversation with Sara Glatt, she recommended using doses of 200mg TA weekly or bi-weekly after an initial higher dose for depression, instead of daily micro doses.  That same regime might work to counter the lingering withdrawal symptoms that get so tedious. Again, glad you found our humble Forum.  I wish you every success in your healing journey! Peace, Love & Healing, guenevere_walks

Welcome sassyfrass....i'm new too...and a canuck as well.....

Thank you for the welcome, Mr. McKnighty! And for the link to your post...not only very interesting but very well written~~~I'm a little in awe at the quality of the posts here! I'm beginning to think that Iboga truly IS good for the human brain. Or were all you people just naturally talented & smart even before partaking of Iboga? I'm quite serious in asking this! I know that my poor old brain could use a good clean & a tune up....all in good time though. I'm on day 6 of microdosing root bark, 250 -300mg. per day, except on the third day I felt inspired to take a bit more and I swallowed 750mg. I was totally surprised when a half hour later I began to feel that familiar rushing throughout my body & mind that for me always heralds the onset of a psychedelic journey. I sure wasn't expecting that, I just wanted to get more Iboga in me. No visions, nothing heavy duty at all, just what I'd call a heightened state of awareness, flowers lit up from within, sounds, sights, tastes, tactile stuff all definitely enhanced...things having either more or less or different meanings than usual. Unfortunately I've been far too busy during these past 6 days to keep any kind of accurate record of my opiate usage. I feel as if my tolerance is down some, I've noticed mostly that I seem to be able to space my dosages further apart plus I'm definitely feeling more cheerful & hopeful. I'll try to keep better track, maybe pack along a notebook. I get so frustrated with people who don't keep good clear records of their herbal experiments & here I am guilty of just that... Hey ellyn87 (nice name!), I just posted to your thread. Always nice to find another person in a forum who knows where B.C. is....doesn't seem to happen very often.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I've been chewing the root bark instead of washing it down in capsules...just a small way of showing respect for this plant teacher. I chew it & hold it in my mouth ( & a bit under my tongue just in case it absorbs sublingually) until the taste reaches it's peak & then I swallow it with a bit of water. I usually meditate during this time, about half an hour. Although the taste is not one that would be considered wonderful by the decadent palates of most Westerners, I find it an interesting taste and am not repelled by it in the least......not like the taste of, say, kratom or kava...both of which literally gag me!

Well I ate 4g the 27th, as I said above.  Then I did 2 grams the 28th, 2 grams the 29th, then 4 grams on the 30th, took two days off, and did some LSD.  I did have a couple beers, but nothing for a buzz, just had a couple with what I ate, then ate LSD, and didn't want any more drinks..  I don't really like the effects of alcohol much, with iboga..  I do still get the urge to have a drink sometimes.  I mean I never had a drinking problem, but I am very cautious.  But, I feel wonderful, pretty much all the time.  Every day I wake up happy to be alive and interested in what the day might bring.  Iboga is like the fountain of youth or something, lol... BTW, I did chew some bark too, and after you do it a bit, it's not so bad..  But still, for more than a couple grams, it's much nicer to just toss and wash, and it has nothing to do with respect!  LOL

Haha, I'll definitely be using capsules once I work with larger amounts, Dad! Chewing 30 grams of root bark isn't on my list of fun stuff to do, I just wanted to be familiar with what I'm ingesting. Are you planning to keep on dosing with Iboga the way you're doing now? Do you think it's going to build up in your system to the point where you start feeling jittery...or will the days in between of not dosing be enough to prevent that? I've just never heard of anyone doing Iboga as often as you are, but you sure sound good!!!

"Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I've been chewing the root bark instead of washing it down in capsules...just a small way of showing respect for this plant teacher. I chew it & hold it in my mouth ( & a bit under my tongue just in case it absorbs sublingually) until the taste reaches it's peak & then I swallow it with a bit of water. I usually meditate during this time, about half an hour." Good on ya, sassy!

Yeah, I was even gonna eat some today, but I need to sleep off some of the left over buzz from the LSD..  I will probably eat some more bark tomorrow.  I don't get too much residual stimulation, and after eating it for days, I ended up sleeping just fine, even better than usual.  It seems to be fine taking a few days off, but I am pretty new, and still experimenting.  I am also the kind of person who isn't hindered in my daily activities, by tripping.  I don't drive, or anything, so I don't put anyone at risk, and I can manage doing just about anything tripping..  I'll keep everyone posted on how my experiments turn out, and how I feel..

Dammit, I replied then walked away, didn't hit 'post' now it's gone. NobuGuineaPig, love to you, and thank you for always being so free and detailed with your experiences. I would not now use just HCl with a person, I would consider it a disservice. I still find it very effective at blowing out opiates. Worked with one man with HCl, who has HCl boosters. Did fine, and is doing well with it. 6 months out now. But TA or RB would benefit in the extreme. So good to hear on low dose detox. That is something I currently have no direct experience with. Tia

Sassyfras has multiple medical issues and we have discussed it at length on another forum we are on.  She'd be a tough case to flood and I feel an ICU trained physician should monitor her-- which would be me-- we just need to schedule my trip in my new used RV up to beautiful Canada when it isn't too cold or my soulmate won't go and help us LOL...  She's been our group's lab rat on the microdosing and figuring out the dose that lets her drop her oxy dose.  Eon- I am not sure she can completely drop it-- there are chronic pain patients and she is one who will always need some dose of narcs.  What they don't need is the ever building tolerance and if microdosing can help her do that we have done her a big favor. We have several ladies on the board interested in an iboga detox which I am willing to monitor-- I'd be interested in all you experiences monitoring these, your dosages, how you give them etc.  I just have what I can google and what Sara did for me.

River is right, I'd likely be a bit of a worry to anyone without the level of medical training she has if I were to do a flood dose. I certainly haven't ruled out that possibility....but I'd want to have my gastrointestinal system in the best shape possible (for me that is) before doing this. That worries me more than potential heart complications, especially after my recent experience with aspiration pneumonia which landed me in the hospital for a week. I had been vomiting quite violently for over 2 hours & I actually passed out because it exhausted me so badly & that is when I must have gotten some in my lungs. ( I had my gallbladder removed in 2002 & I sure regret doing so now because I've had so many digestive issues since, esp. after I was started on opiates....the 14 months I spent on methadone being the worst for that!) But I've learned ways of controlling my gastro issues with diet & some supplements~~~I'm feeling surprisingly good lately & I wonder if the microdoses of root bark are helping with this too? Nobu, thank you so much for the interesting details in your post! I have decided to stay with the root bark and perhaps the TA somewhere down the road....I just have a better feeling about ingesting the whole spectrum of alkaloids. I am now on day 8 of eating 250 - 300mg root bark, taking it early each morning. Up until now I've been too busy to keep track of how this microdosing is affecting my opiate tolerance but I'm making an effort now to do so. So far today I've noticed that I'm definitely able to go longer between doses, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours longer & although I'm still taking the same amount, at the end of the day I will have taken less opiate than usual. I've also noticed that while I'm not getting that familiar little *buzz* from my opiate dose, I feel generally more even, more balanced. As if the extreme "spikes", the highs & lows of  the opiate use are kind of leveling out if that makes sense. So my idea was to continue doing this daily until I run up against that "wall" that was described in the microdosing article & then I'll stop taking the Iboga for 7 - 10 days before starting up again. Hopefully I will be able to get my tolerance way down doing this over the course of a few months~~~~and of course I would love to be able to stop the opiates completely, which may or may not be realistic for me, given the severity of the pain flare-ups I get. But I often have several weeks of relatively little pain so I'm not giving up on the possibility of being opiate free again! Have any of you ever heard of anyone who was able to successfully quit opiates by microdosing Iboga? And Nobu....please tell me if I should be doing the microdosing differently....it's all still very new to me. Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask about the differences between root bark from different sources. I recently got my order of 5 grams root bark from Gabon and another 5 grams root bark from Cameroon, both from "Reset Nu". Now the root bark from Gabon looks identical to the root bark I got from Shamanic X a few weeks ago, but the root bark from Cameroon looks (&smells) quite different. It is darker, almost with a reddish tint and it smells like some kind of incense...a very perfumey smell. Is that normal? ( The root bark from Gabon is a fairly light, tannish color.)

Hi Sassy, My apologies that I did not read your posts closely enough to realize that you are unable to totally eliminate opiates. Back in the days when I was using opiates, I found that DL Phenylalanine (DLPA) was helpful for extending the duration of their effects.  It is thought, as I recall, that it works by increasing natural endorphins by blocking their enzymatic degradation.  It seemed to work with opiates, too. If you do try it, be sure to take it on a completely empty stomach and wait an hour before eating so the DLPA is not degraded by digestive enzymes. That's all I can suggest for now, and seeing how actively you are working on the subject, it is likely that you have already tried it. ~et

No worries, Eon, it's taking me a while to figure out who everyone here is and where they are in their journeys re opiates, alcohol,etc. & with  Iboga too. I guess I have a kind of "reverse" denial in that I don't want to believe that I will need opiates for the rest of my life, lol....and yes, I've been pretty actively seeking ways of getting free by gentler, perhaps more gradual methods...or at the very least lowering my tolerance as much as possible. I haven't tried DLPA yet, so thank you for that suggestion!

heyyall,i took about 2-3oomg of aihab's TA as an experiment yesterday ,as i am getting ready to detox off about a 4 month habit,and i was floored,literally,i even got ataxia from it,no visuals,but some audio distortion too,lasted 4 hours. i havent done ibogaine in 5 years.i want more-shell

Sassy, It makes me feel good to think that something I have written might be of help to you! While DLPA is fairly well know for its pain relieving properties, its ability to potentiate opiates is not.  That is just my observation based upon personal experimentation. I had never thought that DLPA's opiate potentiation would be a good thing to share here on the Forum, since most come here to off of opiates. I have done a fair amount of investigation and work with precursor & amino acid treatments  --  if I can be of any help, please let me know. ~et PS to koko  --  Glad you found our humble forum, WELCOME!     ~Eon

Well Eon, I think it's perfectly acceptable to share info about DLPA here, since anything that potentiates opiates can be used to lower the amount needed. I find it interesting that Iboga is not potentiating the oxys in the sense of giving them more of a *buzz*  at all, but simply by levelling out the highs & lows & allowing me to go for longer between doses. I'm very grateful for that....I'm SO tired of that damn opiate roller coaster effect with it's attendant anxiety! I love it that I can go for hours now without even thinking about my next dose.... Are there different kinds of DLPA? Any you would suggest? Is there a good internet vendor or should I just get some from my health food store? I really do appreciate your knowledge & advice, Eon. I hope you are experiencing less anxiety too, as that is one of the worst symptoms for me, esp. when my opiate levels are getting low. I can't even imagine what my life would be like today if I hadn't started learning about various ethnos & supplements, I would very probably be back on methadone because that's what happens to people here if they come in for early refills. Learning about kratom saved me from that, and now learning about Iboga is saving me from kratom, lol & possibly opening a door to eventual freedom from opiates. I am convinced that most, if not all of my debilitating symptoms are due to messed up neurotransmitters, causing dramatically increased pain perception & extreme fatigue.....I believe that the condition known as chronic fatigue syndrome is actually just a state of down regulated dopamine production, so I am hopeful that Iboga will help re-balance things for me. I would love to hear more about your work with precursors & amino acid therapy too. I've mostly worked with various ethnos and supplements such as kava, rhodiola, maca root & am presently using a very nice couple of products for healing digestive issues called RevitalX & Detoxitech. Since most of our opiate receptors are in our digestive system I believe it's a good place to start the healing process.

Well ya know, sassy, maybe I was hesitant to bring the subject up since I had used DLPA to maintain my jag... Only one kind of DLPA, to the best of my knowledge.  It is, however, different from L-phenylalanine.  LPA does NOT do the same thing re: opiates or pain. DLPA is a 50:50 mix of the D and L isomers.  Just plain phenylalanine is usually just the L isomer and you don't want that. I go to iherb.com for most of my supplements, they are cheap, fast and reliable.  Now and Jarrow are good brands. AWK!  Just got a call from an old 'friend' selling 15mg Dilaudid  --  And I said "None of that shit for me!"  I'm so proud of meself!  Maybe I am learning... I have tried boosting dopamine levels with a combination of tyrosine and phenylalanine (both the L and DL varieties) and had very mixed results.  Sometimes the pleasurable dopamine effects would be felt, other times I got stimulation without any rosy glow at all  --  which could be downright unpleasant.  Tyrosine is also a precursor for norepinephrine. It seemed that I would only get the pleasant dopamine effects if I was already feeling pretty good.  When I was feeling low-down and no-good, I would end up on the other end of the spectrum. DLPA, though, definitely helped with low levels of pain and helped to maintain a good mental state.  The problem with it is that it must be taken on an empty stomach daily for effects to build up.  I have stopped taking it post-iboga since I want to rely only on my unmodified transmitters/receptors on a day-to-day basis. ~et

Hi there Sassy! You too, Koko! Eon, you hit on the very question I am asking myself tonight!  Do I continue with my amino therapy ( I'm newly opie free ) while I explore the healing properties of Iboga?  And I do include DLPA in my 2x daily amino regimine.  Today I re-started micro-dosing RB and it almost felt like my amino's somehow didn't resonate to well with the Iboga. I'm thinking I should stop all aminos/supplements that I take for PAWS and let the Ibo do its job? Thanks for letting me post here Sassy....

hi frostydeer!!-koko

Hello frostydeer I am glad you are here . - hP

Woohoo Haley is here!!! Well once again-- DLPA will increase serotonin as will ibogaine-- although not so much with microdosing.  Plus Haley is on other serotonin enhancing products.  You run into the possiblity of serotonergic syndrome which is NONE too fun...Trust me-- been there, done it.  You think you are dying.

Hi Haley and welcome! I hesitate to suggest what treatment plan you should follow.  While there is some research that has been done re: the effects of iboga on neurotransmitters, it is still in its infancy and of course was performed on lab rats, not human beings. Similarly, research into amino acid precursor therapy is sketchy.  Some depressed people have been found to have significantly lower levels of tryptophan in their blood, but what does that mean for you? I am, however, happy to tell you what I have been doing and why.  I have stopped using tyrosine and L-phenylalanine for raising dopamine levels because they weren't consistently effective and because research indicates that iboga restores healthy dopaminergic function by increasing levels of GDNF, a hormone that stimulates growth of dopamine receptors.  I just wanted to let the iboga do its work without muddying the water, so to speak. Plus, there were times that the tyrosine and phenylalalnine combination would aggravate anxiety that I have been struggling to deal with. Since I am not in pain, I also stopped using DL-phenylalanine so that opiate/endorphin receptors could recover to the natural state. I still use L-tryptophan on occasion for sleeping. I am afraid that I am not a good iboga poster boy because even though it did help immensely, ongoing situational anxiety has cost me a fair share of the progress I made.  Once the external triggers of anxiety and depression have been resolved, though, I expect to get back on track. Hope this helped!     ~ Eon

I have no experience with amino acid therapies or anything, but I do have a little with iboga.  Iboga in a proper dose does seem to try and balance the brain chemistry.  Seems to reset all the screwy things we've done to our brains, and if given the chance, will fix a whole lot of our problems.  The microdosing, and stuff seems to be beneficial, but I think it all works best if you can, and do, get a proper flood, then just microdose, or take small boosters as needed for whatever ails you after, aside from physical injuries..  I am not a doctor, or a scientist.  I am not a shaman, or a medicine man, but I do plenty of experimentation on myself, so I can tell you how it seems to work for me only.  I hope iboga can assist you the way it has me..

Yeah River, that experience sure turned you off the CF5's! But I don't think it was ever determined that it WAS actually naltrexone in those....we were thinking that it might be some kind of a "naltrexone like" herb, maybe an herbal opiate antagonist/partial antagonist like cat's claw or something that would have a similar effect. So that means you've never actually tried using naltrexone in it's low dose form, right? Something else you might want to experiment with some time maybe. Too bad we didn't learn about LDN before starting opiates!!! Roy, ALL of the tests they ordered for me came back negative too, every last one. Even the psychiatrist I went to see told me that I was basically normal & that my depression was "situational", in other words I was depressed about feeling so horrible & not knowing why or what I could do about that. ( My doctor didn't send me to the psychiatrist until all the tests came back negative....I don't blame him for maybe thinking my symptoms were just "all in my head"! At that point I wondered too if that might be it, at that point I didn't care anymore WHAT it was....I just wanted to get better.) This was getting very frustrating for me and my doctor both so I finally decided to go for another opinion. I told the new doctor about all my symptoms, all the tests, the visit to the psychiatrist & he then said to me, " It sounds as if you might have "Myalgic Encephalomyelitis". I had never heard of that. He told me that it's also called CFS & gave me a couple of internet sites where I could find more info. I was so excited that someone finally had a "name" for what was going on with me, that I went out & bought my first computer shortly thereafter.... My story is pretty much like most people's who have CFS, only some ( Lord only knows how many!) never do get a diagnosis. A diagnosis only happens after all other possible diseases have been tested for and ruled out, and it only happens if the doctor the person is seeing KNOWS what CFS is. Many still don't and many don't consider it a "real" disease. CFS is like the "elephant in the room" of the medical profession. If getting a diagnosis is important to you, Roy, I would suggest finding a good website about it and print out the criteria for CFS & take it to your doctor. Tell him/her that it sounds an awful lot like you!

Hi claudie_drifts, I never got a 'real' diagnosis of CFS and it would be nice to have a label to put on it.  But it really doesn't matter since there is nothing they could do about it.  I can see a Dr point - if ya don't test positive fer it you ain't got it and if we can't test fer it we can't help ya.  Guess you have to learn to live with it the best ya can.  Did CFS have you waking up every day nauseated and with diarrhea and very weak.  One Dr thought it was my pancreas and gave me some enzymes that worked very well.  Now, I went to the health food store and got some pancreatic enzymes and they seem to be working.  I had my CFS back in the 80s and never felt all that great since but what I am going through is about 1/2 as bad.  Have you got any better since you first experienced it?  cinderpath

No Sassy-- my lab showed there was naltrexone in the CF5s along with the puffer fish poison.  Neato combination-- let's try to control the addiction you get to the powerful puffer fish toxin by modulating it with nal.  I tell you, Alex and company, were quite the bunch of charlatans...

Wow, River, I guess I never read that part about them actually finding naltrexone in the CF5! Still, it WAS an interesting formula & it DID help quite a few people quit their docs far more painlessly than anything else they tried. I sometimes miss it, but knowing now what was in it it's probably a good thing it's not around anymore. Roy, I woke up the same as you, with the endless diarrhea, nausea & weakness....I've never felt that hopeless & alone in my life. I couldn't believe the way opiates took away ALL those symptoms. Although my doctor prescribed them for the physical pain I had from a combination of FM and severe back problems, the pain was not what was destroying my life...the CFS symptoms did that. I think I probably would have found ways to deal with the physical pain, but so far I haven't come across any really effective ways of treating CFS, except for LDN.( Amino acid therapy seems to help to a degree for some too.) I recently discovered a really excellent couple of products that work like magic for healing gut troubles. Since the majority of our opiate receptors are in our digestive systems, it's not at all surprising that gastrointestinal problems are so common in people with downregulated dopamine production. That includes people with all the immune system illnesses from CFS to AIDS to people who are detoxing/recovering from opiates. The digestive system seems like a logical place to start the healing process. The products I found are called " RevitalX" and "Detoxitech", made by "Natural Factors" in Canada. Everyone I know who has used these say they are the best thing they've ever tried. Just google those to learn more about them. I like it that they were designed on the basis of solid medical/scientific research, but more than that I love the way they work. If you are feeling very bad you can use them as a meal substitute full time & when you feel better you can start adding in other foods & just using it once a day. I found that only a week on those was enough to put me back on track. My other favorites are "Natural Calm"magnesium, any real good EFA, Vitamin D-3, niacin and a wonderful Vitamin E formulation made by "Primal Force" called "Accel". You said that your symptoms now are only about half as bad as they were before, Roy. What do you attribute that to? So you have any kind of regimen that you stick to? Has Iboga helped you?

Hi claudie_drifts, I first started feeling it when I went back to Houston from the Detroit area.  I was working and going to the gym and working out pretty good for a 33 year old, arms looking nice.  Then it was all over, I could not ever change the oil in the car - extreme fatigue.  Why do I feel better now, I would say time can help, it first noticed it back in '86 or '87 but I have never been as strong as I was before it hit me.  I take vitamins like a one a day type (no iron) then a C, B, D can Calcium w/  D.  I never told anyone that things got better if you took an opiate.  I never knew it helped others.  Your the only one who mentioned it to me and it surprised me - I thought I was the only one and would never mention something like that to my Dr. for I was also suffering back pain.  It is kind of funny, you can't tell a Dr I feel OK as long as I am taking opiates and get sick when I don't take them - bad idea. lol. Every morning I would wake up nauseated, runs and so weak.  Now, it seems that I have having problems with the digestive track.  Done been CT'd  and MRI'd and Ultra sounded and blood tested and everything seems to come out OK with a slight elevated blood count.  I think it is the pancreas or gallbladder but  the scans say everything is fine.  If that is the case maybe it is he ole HCV bothering me. It really is good to know that I am OK, that other people experienced the same thing.  If I were a Dr and a person told me opiates help CFS I would think oh man how did he get in here?? Nice Talking with You,  cinderpath