Does anyone know the long-term effects of using ayahuasca?

Question

My husband read on various sites that ayahuasca is a beneficial brew that has great spiritual value. I, on the other hand, am very afraid that he could lose parts of himself on this "mystical journey." Do I have a valid reason for my fears? Finding any info on long-term effects of entheogens is hard to come by...

Answer 1

Other Physical Side Effects
Nausea, purges and retching are closely associated with use of beta-carbolines, but physical coordination is otherwise hardly impaired. In most accounts, it actually seems enhanced.
When Weil met him, Luis had been preparing yagé weekly for curing sessions over a long time, having first drunk it twenty-two years earlier. Weil described Luis as youthful for his age, a typical comment about ayahuasqueros, who have been noted for possessing much energy and unusually smooth skin. Weil records much physical movement on the part of this old man:

"In the course of the evening Luis drank nine cups of the stuff. Each one sent him to the jungle for further purging, but his animated chanting continued without pause. With each cup he became more energetic. Finally, Jorge helped him into a heavy necklace of jaguar teeth and a fantastic headress of parrot feathers. Then, palm-leaf rattles in his hands, Luis began a stomping, turning dance around the house, all the while uttering the sounds of yagé .. . . Luis went out to vomit too but I could barely hear a break in his chanting ....

He would dance our the door and we would hear him chanting and singing off into the jungle, circling the house, disappearing into the night. Then he would burst through the doorway in an explosion of feathers and palm leaves, growling like a jaguar."

Aside from the vomiting that frequently accompanies every cupful of the drink, the body's main physical responses include slight increases in blood pressure and heart rate (unless Datura, Brugmansia or other scopolamine containing substances have been added, which make the yagé more potentially dangerous). Some users feel a buzzing in the ears, pricking of the skin at the extremities, giddiness, profuse sweating or tremors. When Schultes first tried yagé, he had severe diarrhea the following day.

After taking large amounts of yagé natives often become frenzied, displaying agitation for ten or fifteen minutes. More generally, users exhibit lassitude and drowsiness and become withdrawn.

Harmaline is about twice as toxic as harmine in most lab animals; the half-lethal dose (half the animals die) of harmine in dogs and mice is about 200 mg./kg. of body weight. No human deaths have been reported from these compounds. Weil writes:

"Luis gives yagé to anyone who wants it, to young and old, men and women, sick and well. He says it cannot hurt anyone, and though he gives it to pregnant women, young children and people with high fevers, no one suffers bad effects. Victor and he are both in good shape after taking enormous doses for years.... And many of the patients say they are helped. I talked with people in Mayoyoque who say that visits to Luis cured them of various ills."

Answer 2

youre a f###ing fool. you of course havent nonetheless appropriate to the hazards. do you think of its sturdy on your sufferers to have a substance dependency? could you desire your existence in the palms of somebody severe on ketamine? and in case you dont care approximately human beings a minimum of think of approximately your self. or are you basically going to tell all your alcoholic sufferers to alter to ketamine too? heavily, your a med pupil and think of its a sturdy thought to interchange alcohol abuse with a damaging time table 2 drug? i had a pal basically such as you at school who have been given himself addicted to stimulants. he have been given away with it for a pair years yet faster or later that is going to seize as much as you basically like it did to him, you wont get away with it for 30-40 years till retirement. after which you will lose your license and recognition. basically flow to AA or another place to get help, thats the long term answer. if youre no longer prepared to give up now, there is not any way you would be prepared to give up later as your tolerance rises and you're able to take further and extra and greater, till some thing undesirable occurs. if youre embarrassed you're able to in all threat basically call them and tell them youre a pupil interested in dependancy and desire to observe, i had to flow to a pair conferences for a variety so theyre used to pupils and in all threat wouldnt even suspect something

Answer 3

http://www.biopark.org/peru/ayahuasca-courts-sircus.html