Having dealt with depression for most of my life and not having insurance or the desire to take pharms I have searched for an alternative. I have limited experience with aya but it seems promising.Does anyone have any info regarding ayahuasca or other entheogens that may help? I have read some papers by Jayce Callaway and the maoi effects of caapi obviously have a positive effect ,in the short term at least. I regard aya and all true entheogens as medicine as much as anything else. Anyone with experience useing aya as medicine for depression?

Hello Pinche. Your situation is very similar to SWIM's situation a few months ago. He'd been meloncholic for most of his life, and it worked for him!

Ayawaska is said to be able to cure depression. SWIM was sceptical but tried anyway, and was pleasantly surprised at the results. He personally found ayawaska analog too much of a mental beating in one particular session, which is why he switched to freebase DMT. However, he has never tried ayawaska itself (the vine) because he was using Syrian Rue instead- the vine is said by many to be kinder than Rue, and it seems there are many people who prefer working with ayawaska to alleviate depression. I've been told by some people that they use it in daily microdoses as a supplement and believe that this helps them too.

I had just started a thread here with some relevent info on it before I saw your post:
http://www.dmt-nexus.me/....aspx?g=posts&t=3615

Also, there's lots of ayawaska-specific information here:
http://forums.ayahuasca.com/phpbb/

I personally haven't seen any medical studies into ayawaska use for depression (but I'm a relative beginner to all this).

Thanks for all the info and links. I think ayahuasca can be one of the best methods for healing. I find it interesting that smoked DMT could be useful on its own for depression, what a great molecule. Im glad to see the topic of healing brought up on this site, a lot of people seem to be focused on just having kicks, and thats fine for some. I personaly am in this to find out how to heal my mind and learn to enjoy this life. It would be nice to hear from others who are in this for more than just a wild ride.

I've read that ayahuasca is like having 40 years of therapy in a few hours.

To SWIM, it was more like 30 cause he's not that old yet. SWIM had anxiety and confidence issues, not quite depression, and it turned him around like that. Intense, full-body load, mentally gripping for a few moments. Then afterwards, you realize things as if your eyes were opened. Very intense, and not for everyone. But for depression, definitely can help.

Most definitely I would say that it works for depression. My first experience with the brew came when I was fairly depressed which I had been for a quite a few years before that, and it helped me to let go of things that I had accumulated and were causing my depression. Ever since I have been very happy and have done a complete 181 degree turnaround.

I believe this plant helps you to heal yourself by identifying problems and offering resolutions to them. The experience of entering another additional level of reality and communicating with it's inhabitants was enough of a kick in the pineal gland to snap me out of it. When time disappears you have plenty to mull over and to learn about the world. Extremely intense.

Think I'm about due for another purification.

It has been conjectured that true ayahuasca increases human sensitivity to seritonin by actually stimulating the growth of NEW seritonin receptors in the brain. Drugs like prozac do help deppression, but they flood the body with so much seritonin that the body can actually respond by destroying alot of receptors. So if ayahuasca really can stimulate the growth of new seritonin receptors, then it would make an extremely effective and long lasting treatment for depression, a cure, if you will.

check this out too

http://www.physorg.com/news153670865.html

I had read that prozac may promote grow of new neurons...

http://www.sciam.com/art...rozac-spurs-neuron-growt

On a side note, smoking freebase on a regular basis worsen my friend's depression.

There are many things about the human brain that we do not understand. Many studies prove inconclusive leaving researchers to study the work by the result and not the means that it was obtained. Being such a sensitive and easily damaged machine I'm sure that there are many test that cannot be performed upon living patients that would tell us so much. I personally am stongly considering making nueroscience my field of study. I find it exciting that so little is known about the brain and I love the idea of exploring a new frontier in human physiology.

SWIM found it to be more of a kickstart that ejected him from the rut he was in and re-installed him with a sense of wonder and excitement. He doesn't think it would've sorted him out if he hadn't also read the Feeling Good book.

I can understand that pondering BIG questions and mortality could worsen some people's depression... and the more regularly one smokes it, the more such questions come. SWIM only smokes weekly, fortnightly, or longer if he doesn't feel like he needs a divine kick up the backside.

I wouldn't think smoking freebase would do anything to help depression. At least not if done often. Although, the first time I smoked a bit I got up and felt like doing a jig I was so happy.

But aya truly is something special. I just drank a brew a couple days ago and I'm feeling pretty darn good now. There was one time though where I connected so well with my wife on oral dmt that it was like I was missing something afterwards. So that would be the only thing that I would say to be conscious of. Otherwise, I think it's just like anything else. All things in moderation.

I am not a doctor, just sharing my personal experience as I have had depressions and anxiety for sometime. The best way to get over anxiety and depression is to take a break from your regular schedule, go out, and take good sleep. This helps in clearing the mind and try consulting a specialist who can suggest you as how you can get over your problem. Rather than going on drugs, one should look for the reason behind there problem . Keeping yourself busy and changing the schedule also helps sometimes to get over stress and depression.

Thanks for the advice...so I think I'm not going to buy Xanax as offered in your signature.

Aya has certainly helped me out. Its given or rather reinforced an internal feeling of reassurance and warmth, which I carry with me now.
Now I want to give it to some of my friends!! They need to be ready tho. Caapi-only brews are good start.

I think it is one of nature's best anti-depressants, among other things... I do not think of it as a 'drug' either.
Some might not subscribe to this, but I believe it is a sentient plant that is here to help and teach us, like some other plants found on our planet.

I think most of us get down sometimes...but yeah clean living is the way to go...good food, sleep, exercise, ayahuasca and may be a bit of meditation...I'm no expert on this though, but I like the 'au natural' path, not keen on pharmaceutical pills...they just act as a mask, treating the symptons rather than the core problem.

Exercise though can have a POWERFUL effect on ones mood...I know it requires a bit of 'get up n go' attittide whoch can be low when depressed...but exercise, as well as keeping your body fit, increases seretonin and dopamine levels, releases endorphins and encourages growth of neurones in the brain.

Yeah man you cant be peddling you rip off membership on this site

Whoa, read this and just now tried some exercise as a means to improve my mood... I suppose I shouldnt have had mescaline for lunch, 'cuase I found myself deep in the forest, raining, whilst tripping, at night.
Several times I distinctly heard tribal drumming and chanting, I followed the sounds-mostly expecting to find a clearing and some aboriginals having a barbie and drumming/singing. I followed this eerie tribal music deep into the forest, until I no longer heard anything but the sounds of frogs and birds. Then darkness started to fall... Thank god for my unshakable sense of direction, I was about to set up camp when I came upon a familiar area and found my way to my car...

Next time I think I'll stick to the neighborhood block for my exercise. It did serve to improve my mood though, I'm so damn happy to be back in my warm bedroom, spending the night alone in the forest with rain pouring down on me is not my idea of a mood improver!
Ahh!

SWIM is not suffering from depression any more, but he tried microdosing by making a cup of tea out of a little aya today and yesterday and letting it sit overnight... definite mood life, I think Acolon_5 could be right about microdosing. Could this be the herbal answer to the pharmaceutical pusher's products?

EDIT: I found the microdosing thread http://www.dmt-nexus.me/...ts&m=76251#post76251

For me it does wonders. Unreduced Caapi tea is wonderful with a bit of honey, very tasty. Big Pharma would probably try and make the plant illegal in the US if they knew just how well it worked without any of those pesky side effects that SSRI's have (you know, loss of sex drive, inability to orgasm, suicidal thoughts, emotional outbursts, SSRI withdrawls when it's time to stop, all good stuff I have to admit, but not what I want in something that's supposed to HELP with depression).

The worst side effect from Caapi tea is probably dirreah. Strain your tea well, you don't want it muddy, even better to an egg white filtration on it, then you'll have golden colored tea.

Like I said before, with micro doses you don't have to worry about MAO Inhibition, you just aren't getting enough MAOI's in your system for full inhibition, and RIMA's don't need dietary restrictions anyways, so yeah, it's a good way to deal with depression. Excersise, sunlight, and diet also play an important part in treating depression.