During Treatment

Before administration, agree on how to summon staff and whether a short phrase or simple signal would help when speaking is difficult. Keep practical needs concrete: a dry mouth, cold feet, nausea, needing the toilet, wanting quiet, or wanting someone nearby. Staff should be able to help without requiring you to explain the meaning of the experience.

If you feel overwhelmed or want the experience to stop, tell your facilitator what is happening and remain in a physically safe position. Ask for help before standing or moving, especially if your balance or coordination is impaired. A short statement such as “I am scared” or “The music is too much” gives the team a place to begin; you do not need to work out the cause yourself.

Once ibogaine is active, its effects cannot simply be switched off. The intensity can change over time. If the setting remains safe and the team finds no medical or psychiatric reason to change the plan, try to stay calm, use the support available, and remain in the supervised treatment setting while the acute state runs its course. You do not have to solve or interpret everything while it is happening.

Tell the team what might make the next few minutes more manageable. You might want less sound, more space, a familiar person, or an explanation of what staff are doing. Opening your eyes may help you feel more connected to the room. Some people need more light or orientation when darkness increases fear; others prefer quiet presence and fewer words. These adjustments may reduce distress while the drug remains active.

A concern about actual mistreatment, coercion, unwanted nonemergency touch, threatening behavior, recording, or another boundary violation still deserves direct attention. Tell the team what happened and ask for another staff member or the program’s advocacy contact if needed. Your rights continue during an altered state, and a report about staff conduct must be assessed on its own terms.

One person may speak calmly, orient you to the room, explain a necessary procedure, or sit quietly nearby. Another person may prefer more distance and fewer words. You can change a preference when it is safe to do so. Staff should avoid crowding, unnecessary movement, or pressure to disclose personal material during peak impairment.

As the intensity eases, your practical needs may change before your physical abilities fully recover. Continue asking for help with movement until the team has reassessed it. Rest, food, washing, and conversation can return gradually according to your condition and preferences.

Discuss light levels, music or silence, eye coverings, temperature, scents, and touch. Strong incense, loud music, repeated conversations, or people entering the room may become difficult to tolerate. A preference you usually enjoy may feel different during treatment, so an adjustment can remain an option.

Staff cannot always tell which stimulus has become uncomfortable. Speak up early and be as specific as you can: “The music is too much,” “The lights are bothering me,” “I need quiet,” or “That smell is making the nausea worse.” You can also say, “There are too many people in the room,” “I need more space,” or “I need someone else to sit with me.” Those details give the team something concrete to change while keeping necessary monitoring and access for care available.

Other useful requests include “I do not want to be touched,” “Moving is making me more nauseated,” “I am scared,” “I do not trust what is happening right now,” “Please explain what you are doing,” and “I want to open my eyes.” You do not need a complete explanation before asking for an adjustment. The facilitator can help clarify what is happening and bring in clinical support when needed.

Ask staff to explain necessary sounds or procedures when they become confusing. One familiar voice and fewer simultaneous conversations can make communication easier. If reduced stimulation does not help, or confusion and distress are increasing, tell the team so they can assess more than the environment.

Reports include dreamlike scenes, autobiographical material, altered sound, unusual bodily sensations, changes in time or self experience, and periods with little imagery. Some people encounter remorse, grief, relationships, symbolic stories, or spiritual themes. The presence or absence of a particular kind of imagery does not by itself establish whether treatment has succeeded.

If a scene feels threatening or you feel trapped in it, describe the immediate difficulty to your facilitator. Opening your eyes, orienting to the room, changing stimulation, or having a familiar person nearby may help. Staff should also pay attention to your ability to follow the conversation, your behavior, and your physical condition. Increasing confusion, loss of responsiveness, or inability to remain physically safe requires assessment.

Vivid imagery can feel deeply significant. You can record it later without deciding immediately whether it is literal memory, symbolism, or something else. A facilitator should not supply a compulsory interpretation or press for confession, forgiveness, or major life decisions while you are impaired. You retain authorship of what the experience comes to mean.

Ordinary staff conversations, equipment, redirection, or touch may begin to feel threatening during an altered state. You might say, “I cannot tell what you are doing,” “I need more distance,” or “I would feel better speaking with someone else.” The team can respond to a concrete concern more effectively than to an assumption about what you mean.

A familiar person can take the lead, explain actions before they happen, reduce crowding, and give you room where it is safe. Arguing over an interpretation may increase tension. Support can focus first on what you are experiencing and what would make the immediate interaction clearer.

Staff should take a report about actual conduct seriously while also checking for physical or psychiatric causes of an abrupt change. Increasing confusion, inability to follow simple safety instructions, severe sleep loss with unusual activation, or escalating unsafe behavior may require additional medical support. The descriptive term used in this guide is project language, not a diagnosis of the person.

Some people find that opening their eyes reduces closed eye imagery and helps them reconnect with the room. If you want to try this, tell the facilitator and take a moment to notice where you are. You can also request a different light level, less sound, a pause in conversation, or a familiar voice. A change should remain voluntary and reversible when medically safe.

Ask for a clear explanation of the next physical action before staff touch or move you. If balance is impaired, remain supported rather than trying to ground yourself by walking. The useful question is whether an option helps you feel more oriented and able to communicate; it does not need to carry a spiritual interpretation.

Word of mouth from indigenous iboga practice describes offering banana to reduce visions when they become too intense. If a facilitator offers it, they should explain this purpose. You can accept or decline; staff should first check that you can swallow safely and that eating fits your care plan.

Discuss who may help you transfer, use the toilet, change clothing, or clean up after vomiting. Tell staff about preferences regarding touch, exposure, gender of the helper, door position, and whether you want an explanation before each step. Ask what equipment or alternatives are available if walking becomes unsafe.

A short explanation can make care easier to follow: what the person will do, where they need to touch, and what you can do to help. You can ask for a pause or adjustment when medically safe. Staff should use the minimum necessary exposure and avoid having unnecessary people present.

Urgent care may require actions that could not be discussed in advance. The team should explain as circumstances allow and give you an opportunity afterward to understand what happened. An altered state does not erase a concern about disrespectful conduct; ask how to contact another staff member or advocate if needed.

Ataxia means impaired coordination. You may know exactly what you want to do while your arms, legs, or trunk do not carry it out reliably. Sitting up, reaching, walking, turning your head, or moving to a toilet can become unexpectedly difficult. Tell staff about any balance difficulty you had before treatment so new findings can be compared with your usual function.

Keep the call method, water when permitted, and emesis supplies within reach. Discuss transfers, toileting options, clothing, and privacy beforehand. Ask for assistance before sitting up or standing, and allow staff to coordinate a slow transition. Avoid making a second movement while the first is still provoking spinning or nausea.

Describe whether you feel spinning, imbalance, weakness, or a sensation of impending fainting. Report a fall, head impact, new focal weakness, severe headache, or sudden change in awareness immediately. Staff should reassess unexpected or worsening findings instead of assuming every difficulty is the expected coordination effect.

Spinning or a sense that the room is moving suggests vertigo. Difficulty coordinating a movement or staying upright is different from spinning. Feeling lightheaded, dim vision, weakness, or a sense that you may pass out can suggest presyncope, meaning near fainting. Several sensations may overlap.

Tell staff whether it began at rest, after turning your head, when sitting up, or when standing. Describe nausea, a racing or irregular heartbeat, chest discomfort, breathlessness, or any loss of consciousness. Those details help the team consider movement sensitivity alongside blood pressure, heart rhythm, hydration, and neurological causes.

Remain supported and call for assistance rather than testing your balance alone. Slow, necessary movement may be more tolerable than repeated attempts to reposition yourself. A new or worsening sensation, fainting, chest symptoms, or an unexpected neurological change calls for clinical reassessment.

Before treatment, place permitted personal items within reach and discuss clothing, bedding, room temperature, oral comfort, and toileting. Tell staff if a position is painful or if you need help changing it. They can cluster necessary care to reduce repeated movement when motion worsens nausea.

When swallowing is safe and the clinical plan allows it, small tolerated amounts may be easier than a large drink or meal. Tell staff what you have managed to keep down. Repeated vomiting, minimal intake, and bowel difficulties affect the care plan and should be recorded.

You can ask for an explanation before intimate care, fewer people in the room, a covering, or a preferred helper when available. Staff should protect rest while still completing necessary observations. You do not need to turn every quiet period into conversation or psychological work.

For some people, turning the head or changing position can abruptly provoke nausea. Keep an emesis container within reach and request help before sitting up or going to the bathroom. Staff can reduce unnecessary movement and coordinate essential care more slowly.

Tell the team when vomiting occurs, whether you can keep any fluid down, and whether there is abdominal pain, worsening dizziness, choking, or unusual sleepiness. Repeated losses can affect hydration and electrolytes. If you are too drowsy to swallow or protect your airway, food and drink need to wait for assessment.

Antinausea medicines differ in their cardiac, sedating, and interaction effects. Let the clinician choose treatment in the context of the ECG, other medications, and your current condition. A comfort measure such as a cool cloth or an agreed change in stimulation can accompany care; persistent or complicated vomiting still needs medical reassessment.