Many times, to a guest taking Ayahuasca at Gaia Sagrada, death seems imminent when they are in the throes of the process. Yes, there is vomiting and there are bathroom runs for about 50% of the participants. Not everyone goes through that, but some do. Ayahuasca can feel like the little death in some cases, though.
It depends on how clean one’s diet is before taking Ayahuasca as to how strong the process is. People with very clean diets glide through the process of an Ayahuasca ceremony fairly easily. For those who need some major physical housecleaning, though, it will feel very much like a little Ayahuasca death.
It’s not unusual for someone to think, “I’m going to die!” when taking Ayahuasca but they won’t! Ayahuasca never killed anyone. A person would throw up before overdosing. It only happens when other things are mixed in that shouldn’t be there, certain pharmaceuticals or recreational drugs are involved, or someone is left alone in a dangerous situation, for instance near a cliff or a lake. The plant medicine itself never killed anyone though. One would eliminate it before he or she could die from it.
Of course, there are the precautions Gaia Sagrada and other Ayahuasca retreat centers suggest in order to avoid death. Serotonin syndrome is very real and quite dangerous so when a person is told to discontinue antidepressants it is a warning very important to heed. Serotonin syndrome can indeed cause death when taking Ayahuasca. It is because there is an overload of serotonin which causes breathlessness and heart palpitations, among other things.
So PLEASE discontinue all antidepressants before coming to Gaia Sagrada. Death CAN happen from serotonin syndrome. One could lie to us, but cannot lie to the Ayahuasca! Please heed all precautions with pharmaceuticals and recreational drugs because combining various things with ayahuasca doesn’t work. At Gaia Sagrada death prevention is something taken very seriously.
Things like blood pressure medicine, heart medicine, cholesterol medicine, hormones, insulin for diabetics, those things are fine to keep taking with Ayahuasca. Those things will not combine badly with ayahuasca, and won’t cause death. In fact, we encourage people to keep taking those.
Amateurs tell people to stop taking all pharmaceuticals but some drugs should NOT be discontinued, especially if one’s life depends on those medicines. At Gaia Sagrada death prevention has to do with what pharmaceuticals are continued, not just what is discontinued.
One way to assess what pharmaceuticals can still be taken with ayahuasca is to determine whether that drug affects brain chemistry, especially for alleviating depression. If the drug affects brain chemistry, you can be pretty sure that it should be discontinued. Even St John’s Wort, an herb, needs to be discontinued because enough of it can cause serotonin syndrome, and death.
Hopefully this clears up a little bit of confusion about what can be taken with ayahuasca and what cannot or should not be taken with ayahuasca. Be careful and heed these Gaia Sagrada death prevention guidelines. It is very important that everyone is safe!
Gaia Sagrada – Death Prevention, Serotonin Syndrome & Pharmaceuticals