Does kambo contain an opiate?

[lala]

Hello,

maybe someone can answer this question, and if the answer is a possible yes, then we should make everyone aware.
Fist, I gave a good friend of mine Kambo, several hours before giving him Iboga, he had a weekend pass from the salvation army, the only place he could get into for treatment for free at the time, the other places have a huge waiting list.  He has been an alcoholic for many years, he has also been a heroin addict but has quit that on his own for 8 years now, with one slip up two years ago.  He had a wonderful experience with the combo, that lasted until very early Sat. Morning, he also did not have the negative Iboga side effects right afterward ( he even had a healthy appetite) BUT he gets back to the salvation army and they drug test him, he came up positive for opiates, he saw the test and everything (he was worried they might throw him out being an Atheist) I had read that the close relative of Kambo that was used in the horse doping story contained a painkiller 100x the strength of morphine.  Now I know that he has NOT used any opiates, the result was a shock to him.  Is it possible that the Kambo could have made him come up hot? I really don't think the Iboga would.  If there is a chance of this people should be warned not to use it before a possible drug test, luckily it showed only small amounts and they like him so he is able to stay. I am concerned that I may have almost got him thrown out of his re-hab. 

[Kambogahuasca Panacea]

I would say yes but that is also a conjecture.  Yes the peptides in Kambo are really diverse and cover the whole gamut array of compositions and specifications.  One of the 9 main (known who knows what "scientists" might discover) peptides does contain the opioid. 

Here is a brief rundown...

http://www.pgorman.com/MakingMagic.htm

   MAKING MAGIC
This story originally appeared in Omni Magazine in July, 1993
A Westerner Glimpses One of the Secrets of a Tribe of Hunter-Gatherers in the Amazon
by Peter Gorman



One of the frogs died shortly after I returned home, and I gave its skeleton, along with part of the sample and some photographs, to the museum. The healthy dow-kiet!, along with a second sapo sample and similar photos, was sent to Erspamer in Rome. Six months later I received his report. He was very excited.

He identified the dow-kiet! as a phyllomedusa bicolor, a rare arboreal tree frog. The sapo , he said, was a sort of fantastic chemical cocktail with potential medical applications. “No other amphibian skin can compete with it,” he wrote. “Up to 7% of sapo’s weight is in potently active peptides, easily absorbed through burned, inflamed areas of the skin.” He explained that among the several dozen peptides found in sapo, seven were bioactive—which meant that each has an affinity and selectivity for binding with receptor sites in humans. (A receptor is like a lock that, when opened with the right key—the bioactive peptides—triggers specific chemical reactions in the body). The peptide families represented in the dow-kiet! included bradykinins, tachykinins, caerulein, sauvagine, tryptophyllins, dermorphins, and bombesins.

Based on the concentrations and functions of the peptides found in and extracted from the sapo sample I’d sent, Erspamer was able to account for all of the physical symptoms I described as sapo intoxication. On the peripheral effects Erspamer reported, “caerulein and the equiactive phyllocaerulein display a potent action on the gastrointestinal smooth muscle, and gastric and pancreatic secretions....Side effects observed (in volunteer patients with post-operative intestinal atony) were nausea, vomiting, facial flush, mild tachycardia, changes in blood pressure, sweating, abdominal discomfort and urge for defacation.” Phyllomedusin—a new peptide of the tachykinin family—strongly affects the salivary glands, tear ducts, intestines and bowels, and contributed to the violent purging I’d experienced. Sauvagine, causes a long lasting fall in blood pressure, accompanied by intense tachycardia—heart palpitations—and stimulation the adrenal cortex, which contributed to the satiety, heightened sensory perception and increased stamina I’d described. Phyllokinin, a new peptide of the bradykinin family, is a potent blood vessel dilator, and accounted for the rushing in my blood during the initial phase of sapo intoxication.

“ It may be reasonably concluded,” Erspamer wrote, “that the intense peripheral cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms observed in the early phase of sapo intoxication may be entirely ascribed to the known bioactive peptides occurring in large amounts in the frog material.”

As to sapo’s central effects, he wrote, “increase in physical strength, enhanced resistance to hunger and thirst, and more generally, increase in the capacity to face stress situations—may be explained by the presence of caeruelin and sauvagine in the drug.” Caerulein, in man, produces “an analgesic effect...possibly related to release of beta-endorphin...in patients suffering from renal colic, rest pain due to peripheral vascular insufficiency (limited circulation) and even cancer pain.” Additionally, “it caused in human volunteers a significant reduction in hunger and food intake.”

The sauvagine extracted from sapo was given subcutaneously to rats, and caused “release of corticotropin (a hormone that triggers the release of substances from the adrenal gland) from the pituitary, with consequent activation of the pituitary-adrenal axis. This axis is the chemical communication link between the pituitary and the adrenal glands, which controls our flight or fight mechanism. The effects on the pituitary-adrenal axis caused by the minimal doses given the laboratory rodents lasted several hours. Erspamer notes that the volume of sauvagine found in the large quantities of sapo I’d described the Matses using would potentially have a much longer lasting effect on humans, and would explain why my feelings of strength and heightened sensory perception after sapo use lasted for several days.

But on the question of the ‘magical’ effects I described in tapir trapping, Erspamer says that “no hallucinations, visions or ‘magic’ effects are produced by the known peptide components of sapo.” He adds that “the question remains unsolved” whether those effects—specifically, the feeling that animals were passing through me, and Pablo’s description of animas projection—were due to “the sniffing of other drugs having hallucinogenic effects,” particularly nu-nu.

With regards to sapo’s uses relating to pregnancy, Erspamer did not address any of the issues but abortion. “Abortion ascribed to sapo,” he wrote, “may be due either to direct effect of the peptide cocktail on the uterine smooth muscle, or, more likely, to the intense pelvic vasodilation and the general violent physical reaction to the drug.”

From the medical-potential point of view, Erspamer says, several aspects of sapo are of interest. He suggests that two of its peptides, phyllomedusin and phyllokinin have such a pronounced affect on the dilation of blood vessels that they “may increase the permeability of the blood-brain barrier, thus facilitating access to the brain not only of themselves but also of the other active peptides.” Finding a key to unlocking the secret of passing that barrier is vital to the discovery of how to get medicines to the brain, and could one day contribute to the development of treatments for AIDS, Alzheimer’s, and other disorders which threaten the brain.

There is also medicinal potential in dermorphin and deltorphin, two other peptides found in sapo. Both are potent opioid peptides, almost identical to the beta-endorphins the human body produces to counter pain, and similar to the opiates found in morphine. Because they mirror beta-endorfins, however, sapo’s opioid peptides could potentially function in a more precise manner than opiates. Additionally, while dermorphin and deltorphin are considerably stronger than morphine (18 and 39 times, respectively), because of their similarities to the naturally-produced beta-endorfin, the development of tolerance would be considerably lower, and withdrawal less severe, than to opiates.

Both phyllocaerulein and sauvagine possess medical potential as digestive aids to assist those receiving treatment for cancer. Other areas of potential medical interest in the peptides found in sapo include their possible use as anti-inflammatories, as blood pressure regulators, and as stimulators of the pituitary gland.

The only report thus far on sapo from John Daly’s team at the National Institute of Health (written with seven co-authors, including Katherine Milton, who recently discovered the use of the phyllomedusa bicolor among several tribes closely related to the Matses) was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Nov. 14, 1992), and concentrates exclusively on a newly discovered peptide found in sapo. One of the chemical fractions Daly’s team isolated is a 33-amino acid long peptide he calls adenoregulin which may provide a key to manipulating cellular receptors for adenosine, a fundamental component in all human cell fuel. “Peptides that either enhance or inhibit binding of adenosine analogs to brain ^t adenosine receptors proved to be present in extracts of the dried skin secretion,” Daly writes. According to an interpretive report on the Daly paper written by Ivan Amato and published in Science (Nov. 20, 1992), “Preliminary animal studies by researchers at the Warner-Lambert Co. have hinted that those receptors, which are distributed throughout the brains of mammals, could offer a target for treating depression, stroke, seizures, and cognitive loss ailments such as Alzheimer’s disease.”

Of course, medical potential only infrequently results directly in new medicines. Science may not be able to isolate or duplicate the peptides found in sapo, or side effects may be discovered that would decrease their value as medicines. But even if sapo's components do not eventually serve as prototypes for new drugs, sapo will become an important pharmacological tool in the study of receptors and the chemical reactions they trigger. Certainly the study of the unique activity of sapo’s bioactive peptides will advance our knowledge of the human body. Additionally, as possibly the first zoologically derived medicine used by tribals ever investigated for Western medical potential, sapo will help open the door to a whole new field of investigation.

Unfortunately, while science catches up to the natural medicines of tribal peoples, time is running out. That Pablo was the only man at San Juan still able to draw a response from the dow-kiet! is an indication that most Matses no longer rely on it. And we have no way of knowing how many other medicines the Matses—and others—once used but have abandoned, which might also have been valuable to us.

We do know that nearly 80% of the world’s population continues to rely on natural medicines for their primary health care. Investigations into a small portion of them have already provided us with hundreds of drugs, from aspirin and atropine to digitalis and quinine. Fully 70% of the anti-tumor drugs used in the treatment of cancers are derived from traditional medicines as well. Yet our investigations have hardly begun. Obviously, there is much to learn from peoples like the Matses before acculturation strips them of their traditional knowledge. It remains to be seen whether the discoveries that have begun to be made in connection with sapo spark the interest of investigators while there is still time to learn it.

[Kambogahuasca Panacea]

Sorry I forgot the most important part...

Dermorphin and deltorphin are potent opioid peptides 4000 times stronger than morphine and 40 times stronger than endogenic b-endorphines.

PS
I honestly doubt Kambo caused him to fail the drug test.  This is because I used to get tested when I was starting my Kambo treatments for like the first 4 months and at that time I was doing it up to once per week.  I never failed any test.  So unless your friend has some very intensive testing going on, I'm gonna have to say it's not the Kambo. 

[caiano]

It could be that kambò drew out old toxins, releasing them in circulation into the blood stream  ?
It's a common consequence of many systems of purification.

[lala]

I think I forgot to mention he also failed with methadone in his system, which he HAD taken a small dose off three weeks prior and I was thinking that maybe the Kambo could have brought that to the surface in his system, but he hasn't done any other sort of opiates for at least six months, maybe longer.  He also did an Ibo flood a few hours later, He had the best time, there were no problems,  There is the possibility that he has damaged his liver with years of drinking, but he had gone over three months without it before the combo, he had done Kambo once before, but didn't get the full effect.  This last time he didn't so much feel the Kambo in his head, but felt it in his stomach area, I was thinking it may have been working on his liver, he also had the urge to urinate yet couldn't easily, like he used to when he was using opiates frequently and  of course drinking a LOT, but that problem went away again the next day.  I just want to also say that he said today, that the thought of drinking alcohol over the last week( since flooding), for the first time ever, seems disgusting to him! Yay!!!  I am SO glad he didn't get kicked out of his program, I think the tests they use are pretty standard home test type though they did just "up-grade" them recently, it showed only traces of BOTH methadone and opiates.  Could the Ibo also bring old drugs to the surface? even if he hasn't done them for six+ months?  I would have thought it would have detoxed any traces of it away, if he had them in his system.  I was thinking that maybe had he not done the Iboga it would have been a more definitive fail.  He is having his liver checked next week.  but even if his liver is having problems metabolizing things,  I still doubt it would take six months to take VERY recreational use of morphine to show up.   This has me concerned,  He is pretty sure it is the Kambo, and maybe the Kambo  or Iboga brought to the surface the methadone.  It should be a consideration anyway ,maybe some more research.  If someone is trying to heal with Kambo, but may be on probation or as in his situation, a roof over his head could have been taken away.  Hmmmm...  if anyone else knows about this chime in please 
Thanks Lala

[mycotheologist]

Yeah. It contains dermorphin which is a mu opioid agonist around 4000 times as potent as morphine. It also contains dermorphin, one of the most selective and potent delta opioid receptor agonists known to man. Selective mu and kappa opioid agonists have been known for a long time but selective delta agonists are relatively new. I think the first one discovered was dermorphin. Now they have plenty of synthetic ones. Interestingly, it inhibits the respiratory depressant effects of mu opioid agonists so they could be added to opioid analgesic preparations to make safer opioid drugs. When people die of opioid overdoses, its due to hypoxia (since they stop breathing).

[caiano]

Yeah. It contains dermorphin which is a mu opioid agonist around 4000 times as potent as morphine. It also contains dermorphin, one of the most selective and potent delta opioid receptor agonists known to man. Selective mu and kappa opioid agonists have been known for a long time but selective delta agonists are relatively new. I think the first one discovered was dermorphin. Now they have plenty of synthetic ones. Interestingly, it inhibits the respiratory depressant effects of mu opioid agonists so they could be added to opioid analgesic preparations to make safer opioid drugs. When people die of opioid overdoses, its due to hypoxia (since they stop breathing).

WOW ! thank you for these infos.

[mycotheologist]

Sorry I meant deltorphin is the potent delta opioid agonist, not dermorphin.