Ayahuasca & Health Precautions
Ayahuasca vine cuts cooked with Chacruna leaves to prepare the sacred medicine
Photo Credit: Francesco Sammarco
Not everybody may drink the sacred brew of the Amazonian shamans…
People affected by chronic heart conditions, severe high blood pressure, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, suicidal tendencies – as well as other psychiatric/dissociative conditions – must not take Ayahuasca and may not be accepted in our centre. Those under treatment with anti-depressant drugs like Prozac, Seroxat, Zoloft, Effexor, Paxil, Welbutrin (bupropion) – also sold under the trade name of Zyban as aid therapy to the urge to smoke – and similar, must not try Ayahuasca, unless their treatment has already ended – under medical guidance – for at least 6 weeks. Depending on length of administration, type of medication and individual response times, it may take up to 6-7 weeks for the system to clear from the prolonged use of certain anti-depressants pharmaceutical drugs. You are required to always inform your doctor and get professional medical advice on the potential risks involved in taking a Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor (MAOI), in conjunction with your medical prescriptions. The Ayahuasca concoction is a MAOI, albeit weaker than most pharmaceutical drugs available on the market today.
Those who are currently on – or have recently finished an – antibiotic therapy are equally required not to drink Ayahuasca to avoid potentially strong adverse reactions. Also, if taking phenylalanine, non prescription drugs like antihistamines, systemic vase-constrictors or decongestant – both natural (ephedrine) and synthetic formulations (pseudo-ephedrine and other similar formulations) – normally used in case of cold & flu, asthma inhalers, or drugs with high content of caffeine, please discontinue their use from at least a week before until a week after your Ayahuasca retreat.
Other medications non-compatible with Ayahuasca include: narcotics, sedatives, tranquillizers, anti-hypertensive agents (used to treat high blood pressure), analgesics like Meperidine, anti-Parkinson drugs (medicines used to reduce the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease) like Levopoda, drugs used to treat heart conditions, like Dopamine (brand name: Intropin), neurological prescriptions like Carbamazipine (a drug that eliminates seizures, but has also severe side effects), and sympathomimetic drugs (substances that mimic the effects of the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline) like amphetamine and tyrosine. People affected by Addison’s Disease must not take Ayahuasca (as well as any other medication/medicine that would alter their hydro-electrolytic balance).
If you are a user of any substance – like dope, cocaine, heroine, crack, mescaline – or Phenethylamines (homologues of amphetamines), you must please inform us immediately. Most of these substances are, on top of been illegal, incompatible – at various degrees – with a safe taking of the Ayahuasca medicine. Equally, if you have any alcohol dependency, please inform us beforehand. Strictly, people with diabetes must not take Ayahuasca, as for the consequent sudden alteration in blood sugar levels that the taking of the brew may (or can) cause. If you are affected by Chron’s Disease and/or Intestinal Ulcers, you may not take Ayahuasca for *at least* the first three months of your retreat and will be required to do a *minimum* of four months plant diet instead (at the beginning of the fourth month of diet, you may start – depending on the progress you have made – to take small quantities of Ayahuasca, on a once or twice a week basis).
For the safety of all participants and personnel, we regret we are unable to accept guests carrying any infectious disease to any of our retreats.
If any of the above condition apply to you, please seek appropriate professional medical advice before contacting us. You are kindly reminded that the responsibility of taking accurate and timely health precautions – alongside professional medical advice – remains entirely with you. You are the exclusive agent responsible for the following of these precautions and the liability for any adverse effect that may result during the taking of the Ayahuasca medicine, in the contest of a retreat organized by El Mundo Magico, remains – with no exceptions – entirely with you.
This list of conditions incompatible with a safe taking of Ayahuasca is not exhaustive. Please ultimately refer to your Practitioner for official and extensive professional medical advice. If any of the above conditions apply to you, first and foremost inform your doctor on the compatibility of your health status with MAO Inhibitors (which Ayahuasca – effectively – is), and then – upon favourable response from your doctor – us and our shaman of your conditions, to ascertain whether it would advisable or not for you to drink the Ayahuasca brew. Any disclosure re. your health status will kept in the strictest confidentiality. In certain cases, we may require a written letter from your Practitioner, before accepting you on the retreat (being it Ayahuasca or Plant Diet retreat). Thank you for your co-operation.
Women in their menstrual cycle normally should have no problem with the taking of Ayahuasca, but again please refer ultimately to the shaman you will conduct your ritual with, for this matter. The way this is approached by our maestros in Ashi Meraya is that they will sing special protective icaros for those ladies who wish to partake to the Ayahuasca ceremonies.
Pregnant women on an advanced stage of pregnancy – from their seventh months onwards – cannot take Ayahuasca, as for the possible risk of miscarriage.
Pregnant women at the initial stages of pregnancy and up until their sixth month, may still join our Ayahuasca retreats but may only take part to Ayahuasca ceremonies twice a week (instead than four times a week) and need to take a reduced amount of brew (up to half a cup), during each ceremony.
Last but not least, please familiarize yourself with the information on recommendations and food to avoid for the Ayahuasca diet!!
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