Many people know that ibogaine can be an effective treatment for substance use disorder to help people who are dependent on drugs or alcohol to break free from their addictions. However, many people do not yet know that ibogaine can be helpful for people struggling with bipolar disorder as well.
It’s true! Several published, peer-reviewed studies and a number of personal experiences have recently demonstrated that this innovative, natural treatment can be a big help to individuals who suffer from bipolar disorder. More and more people are turning to ibogaine to help them find relief from and to aid in the management of this challenging diagnosis.
Read on to learn more about the ways that ibogaine can help people with this condition. You might be amazed at what you find.
Understanding Bipolar Disorder and Its Challenges
Bipolar disorder is a challenging diagnosis. People who suffer from bipolar disorder experience extreme mood swings that range from extreme happiness to extreme depression, that can lead to self-harm and even suicide. This mental health condition is challenging to manage because these extremes can manifest at any time. Someone might be feeling comfortable and happy one moment and then switch to feelings of darkness and self-hatred the next moment. Little warning can come between these changes.
When someone with bipolar disorder is feeling happy, even the happiness can be extreme. This type of elevated state can sometimes be described as mania or hypomania. During these periods they may speak rapidly, feel euphoric, and take dangerous risks. On the flip side, when they experience a depressive episode, they may feel worthless and irritable and may lose interest in activities they usually enjoy.
The extremes of this condition make it difficult to manage. On one hand, an individual with bipolar disorder may feel like they can do anything, like they can take on the whole world. On the other end of the spectrum, they may feel like they should end their lives and that the world will be better without them in it.
People with bipolar disorder often have difficulty functioning. Many people with this condition struggle to keep a job, maintain relationships, or even take care of themselves. Sadly, there is no cure for bipolar disorder, and individuals who are diagnosed with this condition must work hard to manage it throughout their lives.
Bipolar disorder must be managed through a combination of therapy and medication. Most people who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder must work hard to manage this condition for the entirety of their lives.
What is Ibogaine and How Does It Work?
Ibogaine is a substance that is taken from the iboga plant that is a shrub that is native to central Africa. For many years, it has been used by the people of this region for religious rituals. It offers a variety of psychoactive effects including visual and auditory hallucinations as well as sedative effects. The people of central Africa use it for its psychoactive effects when facing difficult emotional obstacles.
Over the last century, researchers have learned that this substance can be used to help people overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol. Through ibogaine experiences under medical supervision, people wishing to break free from drugs and alcohol dependency are able to go deep inside themselves to discover the root causes of their addictions. After completing an ibogaine experience, many report no further desire to use the substance to which they were addicted. Ibogaine treatment has been successful for many in this realm. Many people who use ibogaine to overcome addictions never return to substance abuse again.
Exploring Ibogaine for Bipolar Disorder: Theoretical Benefits
In recent years, doctors and addiction recovery professionals have begun to explore the applications of psychedelics not only for success in addiction recovery, but also in the treatment of mental health conditions. Many mental health professionals have found that substances like psilocybin or ketamine can help people struggling with issues like depression and PTSD to work through some of their challenges and treatments like these are becoming more widely accepted for mental health treatment nationwide every year.
Because of successes with these substances, many people have begun to wonder if ibogaine treatment can also help people who have been diagnosed with mental health conditions too. Since many people sing the praises of ibogaine treatment for addiction, might it also be able to help people with bipolar disorder?
Theoretically, ibogaine treatment might have impressive and long-lasting results for people with bipolar disorder. Because ibogaine offers the potential to “reset” the nervous system and can contribute to the healing of the brain, it may be able to help people with bipolar disorder to level out by offering a balancing effect to the extremes that these people experience due to their condition.
Scientific and Anecdotal Evidence
There has been little research thus far into the applications of iboga for bipolar disorder. However, there have been some studies on ibogaine treatment for bipolar disorder and the results show promise.
In one study from 2022, a 47-year-old female patient who had been diagnosed with bipolar type II twenty years earlier was given microdoses – 4mg each, twice a day – of ibogaine over a sixty day period. She reported “mental clarity, organized thinking, and positive prospects regarding the future,” even after tapering off the mood stabilizers she was taking before the study. These benefits continued even after she stopped taking ibogaine.
Another study, also in 2022, found that a combination of antidepressants and ibogaine in one patient resulted in a reduction of symptoms of bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, paranoia, anxiety, panic disorder, mania, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Although these are just two studies that focused on single individuals, these results are promising. Clearly, much more research must be done before ibogaine can be offered to people with bipolar disorder in general, but these initial findings offer some hope to people suffering from this challenging condition.
Risks, Considerations, and Contraindications
Of course, ibogaine for bipolar disorder or for any condition comes with a set of risks. It’s crucial that this type of treatment be administered under a doctor’s supervision in a medical setting for a number of reasons. Most risky is the fact that ibogaine’s sedative effects means that the drug reduces heart rate and blood pressure. These vitals must be monitored at all times during an ibogaine experience to ensure the patient’s safety during use. Cardiac arrest is possible during ibogaine use, as is respiratory depression.
Furthermore, in some cases, ibogaine can stimulate feelings of mania. In one review of case studies, researchers found that three individuals who took ibogaine independently – two to self-treat for addiction and one seeking a unique psychedelic experience – experienced feelings of mania after use, despite never being diagnosed with bipolar disorder prior. Since these individuals, who were not diagnosed as bipolar in the past, experienced mania, one might wonder whether ibogaine may stimulate mania in individuals with existing bipolar disorder as well.
What to Expect from Ibogaine Treatment for Bipolar Disorder
If an individual chooses to pursue ibogaine treatment for bipolar disorder, he or she should reach out to an ibogaine clinic that has experience and past successes in treating people with ibogaine. Unfortunately, ibogaine treatment is illegal in the United States, but it is legal in some other countries including Mexico, Australia, Finland, New Zealand, and Uruguay. It is also available to patients with a doctor’s prescription in Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Hungary, and South Africa. Interested individuals can find ibogaine clinics in all of these nations and would need to travel to them to get treatment of this kind.
For ibogaine treatment for any kind of condition, an interested individual will first speak to professionals at the clinic to determine whether or not ibogaine treatment is right for them. Then, they would likely speak to therapists at the clinic for pre-care assessments before traveling to the clinic. Upon arrival at the clinic, they would work with these therapists further to prepare for their ibogaine experience, as well as be evaluated by a physician.
Once cleared for treatment, the patient would then be administered ibogaine treatment in a medically supervised setting. Treatment lasts three to five hours. Once the ibogaine administration is complete, it’s followed by an introspective, integrative phase that lasts between twelve and thirty-six hours.
This phase will be followed by work with on-site psychotherapists to aid in understanding of the experience and the effects of the treatment. In some cases, a booster dose will be administered later on before the patient returns home.
The effects of ibogaine treatment are long-lasting and ongoing therapy will be required to further integrate the experience and to continue to encourage its effects after the individual returns home.
Ethical and Legal Considerations
Of course, as with any type of treatment, there are ethical and legal considerations to consider. More research will be needed to determine whether this type of treatment is effective and therefore ethical for people with bipolar disorder. Legal issues primarily surround the fact that this type of treatment is not currently legal and acceptable in the United States; unfortunately, the fact that people who wish to seek this type of treatment who live in the United States need to travel to other countries for it can be cost-prohibitive for many.
Transcend Ibogaine
If you or someone you know has developed a dependency to drugs or alcohol, or struggles with a mental health condition, help through ibogaine treatment is available. Many people overcome addiction every day and go on to live happy, healthy, successful, drug-free lives. However, many users find that its difficult to overcome addiction alone. Furthermore, some people who have been diagnosed with mental health conditions can find relief through this kind of treatment.
At Transcend Ibogaine, we can help. Our innovative ibogaine treatment can help you or your loved one to break free from dependency on opioids or on other addictive substances and habits and can help them manage their mental health conditions.
Our friendly and experienced staff is standing by to answer your questions about ibogaine, our facility, and our methods. Please give us a call today. We can’t wait to meet you and to provide support to you so that you or your loved one can take the first steps on a clean, sober, and drug-free path to a better future.