Tips for success: Ibogaine therapy success rate

Ibogaine is often described as a substance that interrupts addiction. Although ibogaine success rate worldwide averages around 50-70%, we cannot guarantee 100% that the participant will cured with one ibogaine treatment. In fact, the idea of “success” will always remain vague when dealing with personal or transformational events because mileage varies from person to person as there many contributing factors and elements to an addiction. 

After ibogaine experience, you have an opportunity to restart again, but you also have an opportunity to make the same mistakes over again and fall back into familiar patterns, which include drug use and addiction if you are not prepared for the life-long recovery process  ahead. In order to experience a life-transforming experience of staying clean post ibogaine, we wrote this article based on own past experiences in treating opiate addicted guests. This is a must read for anyone who wants to consider ibogaine therapy in dealing with their addiction.

Ibogaine is a addiction interruptor: not magic pill! 

Before deciding to do a ibogaine therapy, an addict must truly believe in giving up drugs on their own terms. This usually happens when the addict hits rock bottom and is sincerely sick and tired of being sick and tired.  After an ibogaine opiate detox, one  will feel greatly reduced or has minimal withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings. The person may also have a better understanding of why he/she used drugs in the first place and why he/she fell into harmful behavior patterns. To make the most of your ibogaine treatment, we recommend that guests follow up the experience with some form of continuing care addiction treatment or therapy – to ensure that the gains won through an intense entheogen experience will solidify into lasting life-changes in the real world.

Severity/Nature of addiction

How serious is your problem? For example an individual's medical and psychiatric state from a 10 year heroin addiction with a violent childhood vs a individual taking cocaine from time to time would be very different. For someone who is heavily addicted for a long time, he/she will need continuing therapy to tackle the emotional aspect of their addiction after ibogaine treatment. Often iboga microdoses help to mitigate post addiction blues and has a beneficial effect on their well-being once the individual is back in his/her home environment post ibogaine treatment.  

 iBogaine treatment may be appropriate to individuals if they meet the following criteria.

• your readiness to make a real change for yourself
• your physical health condition
• sober or stable home environment
• do not have co-occurring mental illness
• able to deal with post-recovery insomnia holistically 
• have made previous attempts at sobriety with outpatient/rehab treatment without success

Please note the above criteria is just general advise. Each addiction guest will need to be  individually assessed before being admitted for treatment.

Ability to follow our guidelines properly 

At ibogaine thailand, we have developed strict protocols which we follow precisely before, during and after ibogaine treatment. While they are not complicated or hard to follow, guests need to do exactly and not be stubborn in their own ways and go against our advise whilst under our care. Our instructions to you is critical for your own safety and long-term success of your treatment. 

Managing your ibogaine expectations

If you come into a ibogaine treatment expecting that ibogaine will do all the hard work for you, then your sobriety will only be temporary. On a physical level, ibogaine works to rebalance the brain chemistry to level out dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, adrenaline to a pre-addicted state. During your ibogaine treatment, you will be able to heal some of your past old emotional wounds, but some individuals need to seek professional help post ibogaine to address all their emotional root cause of their addiction.  The temptation of addiction isn’t a constant pull that diminishes over time; it ebbs and flows corresponding with the powerful emotions that lead to addictions in the first place. The concept of triggers is very important to understand; certain events, places, people and emotions serve as a catalyst to invoke the temptation to fall back on one’s progress of sobriety. Recovery from addiction involves the mind, body and spirit to heal.  Please be mindful and seek professional follow up for your mental healthcare post ibogaine treatment. 

Pain management for physical pain

If you have been taking opiates to help deal with physical pain, there is a risk that physical pain will return once the opiates have been detoxified from your system through the action of the ibogaine. If you have physical pain requiring medication after your ibogaine treatment, we recommend that you seek out help for this from your medical doctor or other pain management specialist. It is strongly considered that a actionable pain management plan in place before your ibogaine therapy to prevent a relapse.

Change your old environment to build a clean fulfilling life and surround yourself with positive social support.

Eliminating the friends and environment that encourage or enable the addiction is important. Having a good support system is critical.  A positive social support network can greatly increase the chances of an individual making a lasting recovery from addiction. Such a network may be made up of friends and family, or it could include membership with an addiction support group. These people will be able to offer emotional support, feedback, and advice. Most importantly, learning to love and honour yourself is very also important step towards your recovery.  

Healing the body with proper nutrition

Substance abuse and poor nutrition often go hand-in-hand, with one issue exacerbating the other. These nutrient imbalances often can make cravings for alcohol and drugs intensify, and can worsen depression and anxiety. A whole foods diet and supplements can serve as an important link to long-term wellness.  A whole foods diet is simply summed up with this perspective by author Michael Pollan: Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. Avoid overly prepared, frozen or prepackaged foods that have limited nutrients. Stay away away from refined sugar, preservative, sodium, as well as artificial colours and flavours. 

If necessary, consult with a registered dietitian nutritionist, particularly ones that have training and expertise in the addiction population. 

Examples that can be implemented include:

1. No sweetened beverages (sodas, sports drinks, etc.) including “diet” drinks
2. No candy (or highly sweetened foods)
3. No fried foods (i.e. chips/fries)
4. No refined grains (eat whole grains only)
5. Cereals should have more grams of fiber than grams of sugar
6. Dessert should only be served as dessert (once per day)

Exercise/ Regular Workouts

Any kind of physical activity — can be an integral part of your efforts to stay sober. Research even backs it up: Studies suggest that adding exercise to addiction treatment (which typically means counselling, self-help support groups, proper nutrition) can strengthen the effects of recovery. Exercise can give you a natural high to replace the artificial ones you’ve been chasing. When an addict is trying to recover, body and mind crave the endorphins that lead to the high he or she is used to.  A vigorous sweat session can cause the release of those same endorphins, along with endocannabinoids; together, these biochemicals can produce a feeling of euphoria, making it easier for someone in recovery to cope with daily life. If you’ve never worked out before or haven’t exercised in a long time, consider starting small. Go for a walk every day and see how it feels. 

Sort out your personalised after care plan post-ibogaine treatment as soon as possible

Ideally this should be done with the help of a counsellor or therapist. It is far easier to deal with things that have been planned for. It means that the individual will not fall into a panic and become indecisive – instead they just follow their plan.

A personalized aftercare plan can be defined as a strategy for dealing with any challenges that the individual is likely to face once they are clean. It will also contain commitments to engage in activities that will help to promote sobriety. Each individual will have their own unique needs and aspirations, and this is why the plan needs to be personalised. If the individual just tried to follow some generic aftercare plan they might struggle because it does not fit their requirements.

By putting energy into these preparations  proves that the individual is taking their recovery seriously. Initially the idea of making such a plan may seem unnecessary, but the individual does it because they are prepared to do whatever it takes to stay clean.

If you’re ready to get out of the cycle of drugs or be free from trauma we’re here to help.  

Email us at info@ibogaine-thailand.net