I've spent a great deal of time here at the Nexus reading, learning etc. I've decided its about time I actually start posting & interacting with the other members. Its especially important due to a friend of mine....swim is an artist & he's struggled with an opiate addiction for the last few years of his life. In the darkest time of swim's life, to the point of almost giving up hope, through entheogens he was able to wake his soul up & find a new found hope for his life. He stopped the drug use(painkillers etc)but was put on suboxone by a doctor. Swim took an Iboga flood dose last year he said it was a great experience & changed his life but due to being on suboxone over 6 months & its long half life, a few weeks post Iboga he relapsed due to Post Acute Withdrawl Symptoms(PAWS) of the suboxone. Basically swim couldn't function normally & had severe depression, lethargy, insominia etc & of course using opiates instantly relieves this. Swim wasn't aware at the time he did his flood that it takes 21 days or so for suboxone to actually clear the blood & leave the system, or of the horrible PAWS that follows. Swim now knows after plenty of research that to realistically stop suboxone one needs to taper down to a low dose of suboxone before stopping & switch to a shorter acting opiate for at least 2 or 3 weeks prior to the Iboga flood.
So swim has tapered down to a low dose of suboxone & will be stopping the suboxone this month. His plan is to switch to Tramadol for a few weeks before doing his Iboga flood. Swim hopes to share his experience with others here, he is anxious to be off the suboxone & get back to living life!

Welcome to the Nexus!

PAWS is a serious challenge to overcome and is more protracted with the longer acting mu agonists (especially methadone); buprenorphine is only a partial agonist but it binds the receptors with a passion.

I dont know if switching from a low dose of suboxone to tramadol would be the way to go.I agree, switching to a shorter-acting mu agonist for a few weeks before taking the iboga would be wise, but tramadol is quite a weak mu agonist (one of its metabolites is more potent in this respect) plus has effects on serotonin and noradrenaline receptors which have their own distinct (and by all accounts, unpleasant) withdrawal effects.I think making this switch would cause more immediate 'lack of satisfaction' then say switching to compounds such as morphine, oxycodone or heroin.I personally would choose one of these three, depending on availability.

I also think that its not established clearly how iboga alkaloids would affect someone who had their mu, serotonin and noradrenaline receptors 'fatigued' by tramadol.I would strongly advise that this be borne in mind.

Best of luck.

Welcome to the Nexus! I also can't advise you on the drug addiction issue, but as has already been said, be careful and use caution. It seems like you're already on the right track, especially with your friend researching and understanding what happened. Often, entheogenic trips will have powerful effects, but every person is different. Some people have gone through so much hell in life that one single Ibog or DMT trip is not going to magically turn their life around and live happily ever after. Transformation is a process.

Thank you! I appreaciate your perspective/information on switching to tramadol before Iboga, epecially about the effects on serotonin and noradrenaline receptors, swim wasn't aware of this & its definitely something for him to take into consideration. Swim really wanted to avoid taking any strong opiates(especially heroin)& the rituals & people that go along with them. It would be tough for swim and risky after being on suboxone & being clean from opiates for close to a year. Even though the buprenorphine in suboxone is a strong opiate itself swim does not get any kind of high from it, & he is on a very low dose(less than 1/2mg daily) Also, even if swim did want to try switching to oxycodone, morphine etc, it would be very hard for him to even be able to afford to buy a few weeks worth of it, or possibly even obtain it at all.

Tramadol was considered especially since it is weak. Swim really became interested in using tramadol for this proccess because he has a friend who did it successfully. She went from 3 years on suboxone & she tapered down to .2mg suboxone daily, then switched to tramadol for a few weeks. It worked out well for her, she chose to do small weekly doses of Iboga after stopping tramadol instead of a flood dose, since she wasn't able to take a whole week to do the flood. She has had success with this method, & has been completely clean & sober for over 6 months feeling good, also she has had no PAWS since taking Iboga.

Thank you. Yes I agree. One has to be ready & willing to make a true change in their life. I believe Iboga & other Entheogens are tools which will aid in that transformation, but the transformation truly needs to come from within.