Half a flood
Hi all,
I recently sat for a friend who was a complete beginner to plant entheogens and wanted desperately to flood on Iboga. She has been going through a very hard time, and was in a depression. I wanted to recount her tale partly to share the experience with the forum.
We started the day before with a small 100mg dose to test any allergic reaction. This was the first time my friend had ever had anything like this, and she was slightly freaked out. Instead of taking any more that day, I let her get used to it and decide herself whether to continue. She told me the next day that she was ready, and was happy that she'd tried it before hand so she was better prepared. For people who have never tried any plant medecines, not even weed, then this pre-trial is essential I believe.
At 7pm the next day, we decided to go for it, (it was already dark - this is in another country) and she took 3 capsules of Ibogaworld TA. She was told that it was about 60% Ibogaine alkaloids. She was very very scared, and I thought she was very brave to leap in. She told me that she couldn't have done it without me - ie. someone she trusts 100%. Her heart beat was elevated but nothing to worry too much about. After half an hour, the experience started for her. She was clutching my hand very tightly, but as the experience continued for her, her grip relaxed, her heart rate decreased to normal, and she started getting used to the feeling. The fear of the unknown was the scariest thing for her, but once she got into it she was fine.
45 minutes later she took a 4th capsule. She was now at 16mg/kg. She continued her trip and was severely ataxic, and could hardly speak. She could make sense of what I was saying but was slurring her speech and whispering answers. I thought she was already deep under, even at 16mg/kg.
After another 30 minutes she threw up violently, and the soup she'd eaten at lunch (despite me telling her not to eat anything that day) came up. I decided not to give her a 5th capsule until later. After an hour, I gave her a 5th capsule but as soon as she'd taken it, she threw up again (I recovered the capsule so as not to waste the TA inside). That was it, I wasn't giving her any more, and she seemed so deep in the experience, barely able to talk, that I decided she was well on her way.
However, after about 5 hours, she started coming around, telling me she felt the experience was over. I told her that it had only been 5 hours, and that she would probably get the remainder of the experience in due course. That had been my experience: start off strong, until the effects wore off, then throw up and move onto the next phase of introspection and clarity. But no, she actually feel asleep after about 7 hours, getting start/stop sleep til morning. When she woke up, she felt the ataxia still affecting her but nothing more.
We talked and she reported that she'd had strong visuals, a constant display of random images from her life (especially when she was young), and some sexual imagery too (such a penises and vaginas - even animal penises!). Her thoughts were negative, as seems to be the case at the beginning, and it all calmed down and didn't develop into any additional phases. the next day she told me that she wasn't thinking any more - the constant, repetition, negative thinking that had led to her depression had disappeared. This lasted the whole day, and into the next day, and gradually she started to become normal again. She said the 'not thinking' was reference point that she could go back to, that now she knew how to reach that state and not work herself up into a negative state. A few days later, she felt she was clearer on the direction in her life.
I'm now of the opinion that no one should eat at all during the day of a flood. I'm pretty certain that the Minestrone soup she ate hastened the vomitting as she had a full stomach. Secondly, I also believe that it's probably safe to take a fairly large dose at the beginning in one go (I think I could have given her the 5 capsules we were planning on at the beginning (20mg/kg), with an extra capsule taken her to 25mg/kg if she wanted it a couple of hours later).
I was surprised that she only got the negative, chaotic phase of the trip, and none of the other effects. This was not my experience, but then I had been microdosing (some would say sub-flooding actually) one month before hand. I wonder if taking Iboga in microdose amounts is a good way to prepare. I have read/watched testimonials (Especially from Iboga House in Costa Rica) where they do two floods in 3/4 days (the first being the cleanse, and the second being the full-on experience.
Over a week later, and my friend is doing well. She has come out of her depression, but I should mention that she had completely changed her surroundings a week before, and been surrounded by dear friends, which definitely made a big difference.