Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca, also known as yage, is a blend of two plants - the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and a shrub called chacruna (Psychotria viridis), which contains the hallucinogenic drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT - and therefore ayahuasca - is illegal in the UK, the US and many other countries.

Special Precautions of Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca could have serious implications for somebody who has a history of mental health problems, warns the UK's Talk To Frank website. The drug could be responsible for triggering such a problem in those who are predisposed but unaware of it. Ayahuasca contains the potent hallucinogen DMT as well as harmaline, an alkaloid that allows DMT to quickly cross the blood-brain barrier. Unlike the short-lived effects of ingesting DMT in a pure form, ayahuasca intoxication can last up to 10 hours. While many take ayahuasca for its vivid and realistic hallucinations and the promise of insight into the mysteries of the mind, some are unprepared for the negative side effects of ayahuasca. These intense side effects virtually guarantee that ayahuasca will never be a popular psychedelic drug.

• Combining certain medical drugs with MAO-inhibitors (such as the ones found in Ayahuasca) is very dangerous, even lethal in some cases. This means that in order to safely consume Ayahuasca, one must not combine it with any contraindicated medicinal drugs, and those suffering from Diabetes, Epilepsy or high blood pressure are advised to refrain from this treatment. The more or less uncomfortable side effects from Ayahuasca, are greatly dose-dependent, and a smaller amount consumed for medicinal purpose can thus mean few, if any, side effects experienced.
• Nausea and Vomiting : The most reported side-effect of ayahuasca is nausea, followed by intense repetitive vomiting. For some, the vomiting comes early, while for others it occurs during the hallucinations. In ritual settings in South America, vomit buckets are often close at hand for this certainty, according to National Geographic writer Kira Salak in her 2004 article "Peru: To Hell and Back." Some users experience diarrhea as well. In the shamanic cultures where ayahuasca originated, these gastro-intestinal events are considered signs that the medicine is cleansing the body, mind and soul of impurities and toxins.
• Some users experience profuse sweating, tremors, increased blood pressure and heart rate, according to Peter Strafford, author of the "Psychedelics Encyclopedia." These effects are most likely due to DMT intoxication, which is also known in a pure state to cause hypertension, agitation, dilated pupils, dizziness and muscular incoordination. Neither ayahuasca, nor DMT, are addictive.
• Emotional Intensity : Ayahuasca, like other hallucinogens such as LSD and psilocybin, can sir up profound emotional states, including anxiety, fear and paranoia while, at the same time, providing profound depersonalization, so that the user may be more receptive to emotionally charged memories and past traumas. This profound and unsettling effect has attracted medical doctors to research the psychiatric value of ayahuasca. However, if ayahuasca is not taken in a safe environment with trained guides, these effects could be destabilizing. In the 2004 National Geographic article "Peru: To Hell and Back," ayahuasca expert Charles Grob, M.D., warns, "Ayahuasca is not for everyone. You have to be willing to have a very powerful, long, internal experience, which can get very scary."

Health Benefits and uses of Ayahuasca are

• Ayahuasca could effectively be used in treatment of ALS and other motor neuron diseases based on the fact that studies suggest uniquely antioxidative effects that seem to protect brain/nerve cells, targeting motor neurons through a unique biochemical transport system, and that it and other molecularly similar substances, also naturally occurring, stimulate neurogenesis – the development of new brain/nerve cells.
• In studies it has been found to reduce symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease : Ayahuasca is popular in research on potential cures for Parkinson's disease because of its effects on MAO-B, which deactivates dopamine (the neurotransmitter lacking in Parkinson's patients). A study reported in the 2010 issue of the Journal of Ethnopharmacology found that harmaline and harmine in ayahuasca are MAO-A and MAO-B inhibitors. It also found MAO-B inhibitory potential in the flavanols epicatechin and procyanidin. The strong MAO-B inhibitory action of ayahuasca point to a possible treatment for Parkinson's disease.
• Cancer researchers have also shown interest in B. Caapi, as its different alkaloids has shown to be effective against the growth of cancer cells.
• Depression : A new clinical study out of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil has tested the effects of the ayahuasca healing brew on six volunteers suffering from serious depression. The treatment demonstrated that a mild dose of ayahuasca was able to alleviate symptoms of depression from within three hours to up to three weeks.