Ayahuasca’s Adverse Effects
A research article recently analyzed data from an online survey of 10,836 people who reportedly took Ayahuasca (though it’s unclear how many were at Ayahuasca retreats or under the care of trained facilitators).
It details how 69.9% of respondents reported “acute physical health adverse effects” – though it might amuse some experienced medicine drinkers to know that this somewhat ominous way or wording things was primarily describing vomiting.
Puking is of course a normal – though not universal – part of the process, and it seems odd to refer to it as an “adverse effect”, especially since it’s very much part of a cleansing and detoxifying process.
Scientists have also suggested that vomiting and diarrhea from Ayahuasca could be a result of higher levels of serotonin, particularly in the gastrointestinal tract, which can cause direct stimulation of the vagus nerve.
But here’s a breakdown of the percentage of other physical adverse effects reported:
- 62% Vomiting or nausea
- 17.8% Headache
- 12.8% Abdominal pain
- 7.5% Aching muscles
- 7.3% Breathing difficulties
- 4.7% Chest pains
- 4.1% Fainting
- 3.3% Coughing/wheezing
- 2.2% Stiff/swollen joints
- 1.3% Fits or seizures
That’s interesting to know, but a statistic that seemed more important to me was the 2.3% of respondents that reported the need for subsequent medical attention. It’s hard to know what to make of that without knowing the circumstances surrounding those situations though, and one has to wonder if medical attention was actually needed or if people just felt that way.
I’ve personally seen at least a couple people panic and freak out in-ceremony because of something they’re experiencing in the medicine. And without a doubt, if you had asked them in that moment, they would’ve said that they needed medical attention – though the episodes were clearly more mental and emotional in nature as opposed to physical.
Either way, the experience was clearly still unpleasant for them, and in fact, I’ll even add that one time, I was fully convinced that I was dying. It felt like I had to ‘manually’ take every breath, and that each breath took effort, so I had to ‘try’ to stay alive.
In fact, I eventually came to terms with it; surrendered to the experience of dying; and let go (quit ‘trying’ to breathe). I clearly didn’t pass away, though it was a rather unpleasant experience altogether.
Also, I was later diagnosed with asthma, so that certainly had a hand in it.
The next morning, I was feeling rather agitated for having such an unpleasant experience. So being somewhat still in the medicine, I spoke to Mama Aya rather irreverently and angrily (something I didn’t dare to do before), wanting to know just what the hell I’d done to deserve such a thing?!
Mind you, I was asking this of plant spirit who was at least previously loving, gentle, and nurturing, and who told me that I deserve to be happy, and that I deserve to be loved. So I felt very close to her emotionally, so to then be smacked in the face with such an experience was unnerving on various levels, and even felt like a betrayal of sorts.
I’m roughly paraphrasing here since it’s been years since this happened, but she said something to the effect of “I’m sorry you feel that way, but you needed to know what it felt like to die in order to be reminded of who is important enough in your life to think of them on your deathbed.”
Honestly, I was still upset when she explained that because I had already had such an experience many years prior, and I already knew how important my family is to me.
But I digress.
More to the point, this research paper we’ve been talking about went on to describe how physical adverse effects were related to:
- Older age at initial use of ayahuasca,
- Having a physical health condition,
- Higher lifetime and last year ayahuasca use (?),
- Having a previous substance use disorder diagnosis, and
- Taking ayahuasca in a non-supervised context.
Likewise, mental health adverse effects were positively associated with:
- Anxiety disorders;
- Physical health conditions; and
- The strength of the acute spiritual experience
Of the people who reported adverse mental health effects,
- 21% Felt disconnected or alone;
- 19.2% Experienced nightmares, disturbing thoughts, feelings, or sensations;
- 18.9% Felt nervous, anxious, or on-edge;
- 16.6% Felt down, depressed, or hopeless;
- 15.3% Felt like they weren’t able to stop worrying;
- 14.8% Reported little interest or pleasure in doing things, and
- 12.9% Reported difficulty knowing what is real and not real
Notably, in the category of ‘altered perception‘, 14.9% reported feeling “energetically attacked” or a “harmful connection” with the spirit world. I guess that could be one way of describing a difficult experience though, so come to your own conclusions on that one.
In summary, the paper concluded:
While there is a high rate of adverse physical effects and challenging psychological effects from using ayahuasca, they are not generally severe, and most ayahuasca ceremony attendees continue to attend ceremonies, suggesting they perceive the benefits as outweighing any adverse effects.
Indeed, I didn’t turn my back on Mama Aya – far from it! – but amidst all the glowing reports you may come across on this site, which really warm the heart to hear of, it’s important to note that Ayahuasca retreats aren’t all rainbows and unicorns.
And while you may have the most transcendent experience of your lifetime, you might also have a very difficult experience which may not even make any sense to you at the time. And it may be helpful to have after-care assistance in integrating your experiences into your life.
I’ll also add that even in the cases of difficult experiences, I don’t think I’ve heard of a single instance when there wasn’t some lesson to be had, and I’m a firm believer that it’s never difficult just for the sake of being difficult.
Sometimes I feel like I’m speaking into a void, not knowing if anyone is actually connecting with what I say here, but if you’re reading this and feel like sharing your own experiences with difficult mental or physical effects from Ayahuasca, please feel free to share them and any lessons that may have come from them in the comments below.
Until next time,
Tim G.
AyaAdvisors.org
