A Look at Ibogaine for Drug Treatment


 

Addiction treatment

=

There is not a single part of the globe that has not been impacted by substance abuse. In the United States alone, there are more than 20 million people who suffer with addition to alcohol or drugs, not including tobacco products. At least five million emergency department visits are caused by the use of illegal drugs or alcohol every year. As of 2014, it was estimated that more than 130 million people consumed alcohol regularly in the United States. That same year saw more than 20,230 people die in car accidents and another 47,055 people were killed by drug overdoses. It is hard to look at these numbers and not conclude that there is an epidemic of substance use in the country. This is one of the reasons that people are turning to ibogaine drug treatment centers for help.

To understand why people use ibogaine therapy for their drug treatment, you first have to understand what ibogaine is. For thousands of years, people have taken the plant, Tabernanthe Iboga which comes from West Africa, and used a compound found in it for spiritual development. In the 1960s, researchers looked at the compound and made a startling discovery. The active alkaloid, which come from the bark of the plant, has properties that can prevent the symptoms commonly associated with withdrawal from drugs. Since this discovery, scientists have found it works for a number of substances such as heroin, alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone and even nicotine. The ability to help people get off of methadone can be particularly helpful as many clinics just move people from an addition to heroin to an addiction to methadone. It may be better than heroin but not by much.

Ibogaine HCL, as it is known in clinical circles, works by resetting the receptors in the brain that take in the various drugs. While the exact mechanism for how this is accomplisher remains elusive to researchers, one thing they have all witnessed is people recovering from addition need only one round of treatment with ibogaine to become independent of their addiction. Once the treatment is successful, the formerly addicted person does not need to keep taking ibogaine. This is completely different from something such as methadone, which needs to be used every day to keep the person from backsliding to heroin.

Ibogaine drug treatment programs work by getting all of the substances out of the patient’s body. Once the brain chemistry has been reset, there is not backsliding to drug use, nor does the person experience the cravings that are so often associated with recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. It may take several days for the brain chemistry of people who were using alcohol or stimulants, such as cocaine and methamphetamine, to get back to the state they were in before the drugs were introduced to their bodies but it will happen. While the ibogaine treatment programs can be hard on the body, they are often easier than the pain that accompanies withdrawal, especially from alcohol. Alcohol withdrawal is not just painful, it can be deadly. Being under medical supervision, either in an ibogaine treatment facility or somewhere else is critically important for people who are trying to quit using alcohol.

Another problem that faces many people who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction lies within their brain chemistry itself. As people use these substances, the way the brain makes and uses certain neurotransmitters changes. The very important GABA (amma-aminobutyric acid) substance is very important for the functioning of the central nervous system. When a person overuses alcohol for a long period of time, the way the body produces this changes. Ibogaine can make the transition from using alcohol to not using it easier for the brain to manage. It also helps regulate the production of dopamine, endorphins, serotonin and adrenaline and gets the brain back to pre-drug and alcohol using levels.

By reducing or preventing the horrible symptoms associated with withdrawal, people who are looking to stop using their substance of choice, are much more likely to stick with the program.andnbsp;

Recovery from alcohol or drug addiction is possible with work and effort. Ibogaine drug treatment facilities can make the process easier and much less painful to get through.

andnbsp;

Leave a Reply