New Ways of Administering Kambo?
UPDATE (Feb 2013): The warning posted by KP, about the fact that snorting kambo can lead cause what the Indian's call "frog's disease", is one that should be considered.
UPDATE (May 2013): The following information about catching frog's disease from snorting/sublingual kambo was posted by Galega:
Frog disease is a viral type illnes that cannot be gotten rid of. It is unknown to the outside world. Amongst other things, it can apparently weaken the heart muscles and cause cardiac arrest and have some effects on the brain - he described it as 'eating the brain'!. Indians who snort snuff with kambo in it do so only very occasionally and always in conjunction with heavy kambo sessions so the live kambo acts as a kind of anti venom/viral. Even so, it is still considered risky he says and only for those with strong hearts and systems (eg, regular kambo users). His view is that kambo taken orally could also cause the same problem.
http://kambo.me/smf/index.php?topic=52.msg1395#msg1395
I am interested in discussing/innovating new methods of administering kambo (other than the traditional method of mildly burning small areas on the skin with hot smoldering ash, and then putting kambo on the burnt skin where it is absorbed transdermally at the burn).
What other ways might there be to absorb a dose of kambo?
Well, I believe that the peptides in kambo readily cross the
mucous membranes, since I have read reports of people successfully administering kambo intranasally (ie, snorting kambo into the nose). The nasal cavity is lined with a mucous membrane, and this is where the kambo would be absorbed. Mucous membranes are far more absorbent than normal skin.
Furthermore, there are several other useful mucous membranes to be found on the body, which should also absorb kambo. These mucous membranes include: the lining within the mouth, and the lining in the rectum.
I think it is these various mucous membrane areas that are most likely to facilitate successful kambo absorption.
There are also some normal skin areas that are more permeable than others, such as the skin of the scrotum, and to a lesser degree, the perhaps skin under the armpits. Many substances are absorbed transdermally through the skin, which is why you can get nicotine patches, testosterone patches, and so forth. However, my guess is these skin areas will not work for kambo.
Anyway, to get this discussion going, below is a list of places on the skin and the mucous membranes where kambo might well be absorbed.
Note that in any experiments on these areas of skin and mucous membrane, it is important to be cautious, and initially begin using a very low dose of kambo, just in case the method you use absorbs more kambo than you anticipated.
List of Experimental Kambo Administration Areas / TechniquesMucous Membrane Areas: Intranasal. Snorting up kambo powder via a drinking straw through the nose and into the nasal cavity, where there is a large mucous membrane. Test a small amount of powder in the nose first, to ensure it does not sting.
Note: for intranasal kambo insufflation (snorting kambo powder as snuff), see also
this thread on taking kambo snuff.
On upper gums. There is a reasonably large area of mucous membrane on the upper gums (above your upper teeth) and on the inner cheeks inside the mouth that may well absorb kambo. You could put some kambo on your finger tip, and massage it on your upper gum area. Lower gum area may also work, but there is more saliva in the lower gum area that may wash away the kambo before it gets the chance to absorb.
Sublingual. The mucus membranes under the tongue and on the lower floor of the mouth may well absorb kambo. You could put some kambo on your finger tip, and massage it into these mucous membranes for a few minutes (the massage should mechanically aid absorption). Though again, saliva may wash away the kambo before it has a chance to absorb through these sublingual mucous membranes.
Intraurethral. Not for the faint hearted! The skin lining the urethra is a mucous membrane. The male urethra is around 18 cm long; the female urethra is around 4 cm long. Sounds possibly painful to administer here, but note that the urethral mucous membranes are not quite as sensitive as the nasal mucous membranes.
Glans and foreskin. The glans of the penis is a mucous membrane, and the inner foreskin is a mucous membrane (the outside of the foreskin is a continuation of the skin on the shaft of the penis, but the inner foreskin is a mucous membrane).
Intravaginal pessary. Such pessaries are a well-known and highly effective means of absorbing drugs or supplements.
Rectal suppository. Conceivably, the correct dose of kambo could be placed in the rectum as a suppository capsule. The rectum is lined with a mucous membrane (and this rectal mucous membrane is larger in area than the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity).
Skin Areas: Transscrotal absorption. Whilst the scrotum is not a mucous membrane, it is more absorbent than other skin sites. Transscrotal absorption is employed by some transdermal testosterone patches, and scrotal skin permits 5 to 40 times greater absorption of testosterone than other skin sites. Perhaps kambo might be absorbed here?
Under armpits and underside of arms. The skin here is thinner and more absorbent than other areas of body skin. A shaved armpit is useful here.
Sonophoresis. Sonophoresis is a standard technique for increasing the transdermal absorption of vitamins, drugs and other compounds through the skin. Sonophoresis uses the ultrasonic vibrations of a small metal plate to push vitamins and drugs through the skin. Ultrasonic massagers which have a vibration frequency from 1 to 3 megahertz (MHz) can be used to perform sonophoresis. These ultrasonic vibrations cause temporary microscopic pores to open in the skin, which help the skin absorb compounds.
——————————————————————————Safety Warning——————————————————————————
Warning: There have been accounts of incorrect use of kambo leading to death. To quote a Machineri Indian: "Our healers know how to use the frog's secretion. Now, it is being used in other places incorrectly, and this has led to the death of patients." Reference:
here.
This should sound a
strong warning to anyone considering experimenting with alternative routes of administration of kambo: you may be entering uncharted and risky territory.
Though I have been unable to find the particular details on why these deaths occurred, my guess is that
these fatalities may have been caused by accidentally administering too much kambo.
Anyone who is going to experiment with alternative routes of kambo administration, such as the intranasal route, should buy a
sensitive digital scales that measures down to 1 mg (= 0.001 grams) before they begin any experimentation, in order to measure doses accurately. You can buy such a scales for as little as $15.
If you don't feel confident about your ability to precisely weigh out tiny milligram amounts of kambo in an accurate manner, then you should not experiment with alternative routes route of kambo administration.
This is because, when using alternative routes of administration,
there may be a very real danger of an overdose of kambo if you do not measure your kambo dosage precisely, using a sensitive digital scales that can weigh down to 1 mg.
Kambo contains the highly potent opioid compounds dermorphin and deltorphin. Dermorphin is 30 to 60 times more potent than morphine when taken orally, and 200 to 300 times more potent when taken intravenously. (As little as 200 mg of morphine can be fatal.)
Just 1 mg of intravenous dermorphin will kill you instantly. Reference:
Exotic Frog Drug Boosting Racing Horse’s Performance.
One might assume that the potency of dermorphin taken intranasally will be somewhere in between its oral and intravenous potency; so one might hazard a guess that intranasal dermorphin is say 100 times more potent than morphine. Therefore, as a rough guess, perhaps around 3 mg of dermorphin taken intranasally would kill you instantly. This is just to give a very rough idea of how tiny the lethal dose of dermorphin is.
I could not find any figures for the percentage dermorphin content of kambo, but if we knew this, we could work out what the lethal dose of intranasal kambo is, from the dermorphin perspective at least.
If you read
this account by a person named "SuperJunky" injecting himself with pure dermorphin, you will see he used a tiny dose of 100 micrograms of dermorphin, and found this was as powerful as heroin. Dermorphin is extremely potent stuff.
The deltorphin component of kambo is another issue, as are its other active constituents.
So be very careful with measuring out your kambo doses, if you decide to experiment with taking kambo by alternative routes, such as the intranasal route.
Remember, when you are using the normal burn method of administration of kambo, this
burn method has a built-in safety mechanism, in that each burn area will I think only absorb a limited amount of kambo. So I would think you cannot easily overdose with the burn method, because the total kambo dose administered is related to the number and size of the burn areas you make and use.
By contrast,
if you are taking kambo powder by alternative routes, such as snorting it into the nose, there is no safety mechanism at all that prevents you from taking too much kambo, because everything you snort into your nose will be absorbed by the nasal mucous membranes. So it is entirely up to you to precisely measure the dose you take, and make sure you don't administer yourself a lethal dose.
Therefore, it is crucial to weigh the exact amount kambo powder in milligrams before you snort it.
It may well be that doses of 50 to 100 mg of kambo powder taken intranasally might be a lethal for some people. But this is purely a guess, because we don't know the lethal dose of kambo; we need to find some reliable info on this. It seems that 15 mg of pure kambo powder taken intranasally is a tried and tested dose for one person: Romanesco has taken this 15 mg dose level several times intranasally (see his posts on page 1 of this thread). But going much beyond that dose is probably not advisable.
This reference provided by KP on page 1 of this thread says the Kaxinawa Indians snort Kambo as a snuff, but the this reference does not provide dosing information.
Finally, if you are going to experiment with alternative routes of administration of kambo, such the intranasal method, remember to observe the normal preparations before taking a full dose of kambo, which requires being on diet without solids or salt for at least 12 hours. Reference:
Kambô, The Spirit of the Shaman.
