How do the effects of ibogain on addiction work? what mechanisms does it trigger? I´ve been reading raports of people who where fighting addictions with the aid of ibogain and the very remarkable thing is that people to their own surprise not only find that they no longer need the substance for wich they took ibogain to get of from, but also discover that they no longer need stuff as sugar or cigarettes. It almost seems that ibogain can help people break with every habit including habits of wich people wheren´t even aware they had them, like unhealthy food, etc.

It can not just affect a mechanism that´s specific for opiate addiction. It must work way deeper than that. It must realy affect the very neurological pathways involved in forming habits, on the most basic level.
How can it do that?

they dont really know how it works...but it works on many other addictions other than opiates...its used for alcohol..cocaine...opiates...food...nicotine.....it also helps people that have OCD...

Could it be something like a 'shock-therapy'? that it sort of 'resets' the mind?

that seems to be the general consensus from the users and practitioners..and it does seem to...in the past three days i have been processing a lot of memories..and it seems like once i think about them i dont have to think about them anymore...and this is only from very low doses

I have heard Iboga compared to electroshock therapy, but personally I think Iboga(ine) works in a multifaceted fashion. It

- provides an intensive personal experience that allows one to examine the roots of their addiction

- the Ibogaine rapidly converts to norIbogaine, which remains in the body tissues and exerts influence at the formerly drug-addicted receptors for some time (many weeks or months)

- BUT most importantly, I believe, is Ibogaine's long term influence on glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) expression. This is a neuroprotective protein that not only appears to protect neurones but also exerts considerable anti-addictive effect. I think Ibogaine actually has the potential to heal receptors that have been subjected to drug addiction. At the moment I'm researching the potential of Ibogaine's influence on GDNF levels in the brain as a potential treatment for chronic neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and motor neuron disease, its fascinating stuff.


A few studies that may be of interest:

He, D. Y. & Ron, D. (2006) Autoregulation of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor expression: implications for the long-lasting actions of the anti-addiction drug, Ibogaine. The FASEB Journal, 20, 2420-2422.

Ron, D. & Janak, P. H. (2005) GDNF and addiction. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 16, (4), 277-285.

Carnicella, s. & Ron, D. (2008.) GDNF – A potential target to treat addiction. Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 122, (1), 9-18.

Love, S., P. Plaha, N. K. Patel, G. R. Hotton, D. J. Brooks, and S. S. Gill. (2005) Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor induces neuronal sprouting in human brain. Nature Medicine 11, 703-704.

Kirik, D., B. Georgievska, and A. Bjorklund (2004) Localized striatal delivery of GDNF as a treatment for Parkinson disease. Nature
Neuroscience 7, 105-110.

Pardon my asking, but could we be a bit more rigorous with our use of the term "shock therapy" please? The therapeutic use of electroshock therapy does NOT come from the electricity, but from the seizure that is triggered by the electricity. For some reason, seizures tend to alleviate severe depression, especially depression with psychotic features. Back before they used electricity, they would give people high doses of insulin to drop their blood sugar down to a low enough level to cause seizures, then bring the blood sugar back up with an injection of dextrose.

I doubt that ibogaine therapy for addiction shares any mechanisms with using seizures to treat depression. It seems to interrupt the reward pathway, in addition to the effects that Bancopuma mentioned.