Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Whether you live with MS or you are reading this for a partner, a mother or a father, you are welcome here. In animal research, iboga's main alkaloid touches some of the signals the brain uses to repair the coating of its nerves. It is early theory, not a cure, and it never replaces your MS treatment. What we offer is a traditional Missoko Bwiti ceremony, a physician on site day and night, and a medical team that reviews every file and plans the retreat around your MS.
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Room to Breathe
Multiple sclerosis: the ceremony, the numbers, the research and how to prepare.
How we can help
MS is more than a scan. It touches walking, energy, sensation, the bladder and mood, and it brings an uncertain future into everyday plans. A retreat with us works on all of it at once: the medicine and the ceremony for the mind and the spirit, a medical team for the body, and three months of follow-up so that what opens during the stay has time to settle into daily life.
In rats and mice, ibogaine and the substance the body makes from it act on signals linked to repairing myelin, the coating of the nerves. In people with MS, this has not been tested.
About one person in three with MS lives with depression, and about one in five with anxiety. Fatigue is one of the hardest symptoms to treat. The ceremony works on mood and outlook, though no study has tested iboga for them in MS.
The ceremony's life review gives room for fear, grief and the question of how to live well with an illness that comes and goes. Many guests leave with a clearer sense of what matters.
We will not promise to cure MS, repair myelin, or stop it progressing, and no one honestly can. Iboga does not replace your disease-modifying treatment, your neurologist or your therapy. In the tradition you come without expectations; what we can promise is careful preparation, a team at your side all night, and honesty about what is known.
The mechanism
In the brain and spinal cord, nerve fibres are wrapped in myelin, a fatty coating made by cells called oligodendrocytes. It lets signals jump quickly along the nerve. In MS, immune cells cross from the blood into the brain and spinal cord and attack the coating, leaving inflamed patches called lesions. Where the coating is stripped, signals slow down or fail. The brain can rebuild myelin with its own repair cells, but repair becomes less efficient with time and fails in many long-standing lesions.
Iboga's main alkaloid, ibogaine, is turned by the liver into noribogaine, which lasts much longer in the body. In rats, ibogaine raised the brain's messages for growth factors, and in mice one of those growth factors, BDNF, was needed to rebuild myelin. Noribogaine acts on the kappa opioid receptor, and other drugs that act on that receptor helped myelin repair in mice. None of this has been tested with iboga in MS. The animation shows the idea, step by step.
The alkaloids in iboga root bark
The main alkaloid, and the one studied for growth factors. Cleared mainly by a liver enzyme called CYP2D6, which matters for some medicines.
Made from ibogaine by the liver, and long-lasting. In cell tests it activates the kappa opioid receptor, the receptor linked to myelin repair in mice.
Present in the whole root bark, less studied. One reason a ceremony with the root is not the same as a pill of ibogaine.
A nerve fibre, in motion
Step 4 · Repair signals, in animalsThe brain has its own repair cells (gold) that can rebuild the coating. In rats, ibogaine raised the messages for growth factors; in mice, one of them was needed for repair, and drugs acting on noribogaine's kappa receptor helped it. None of this has been tested with iboga, so the new coating is drawn dashed. Two people with MS were described after ibogaine; two cases do not prove it works.
The science in plain words
None of what follows proves that iboga treats MS. No one has tested ibogaine in an animal model of MS, and there is no clinical trial. It explains why the question is being asked, and why we describe it as theory.
Growth factors such as BDNF and GDNF help the cells that rebuild myelin to arrive, mature and survive. In rats, a single dose of ibogaine raised the brain's messages for both, 24 hours later. At the protein level the rise was smaller: only GDNF went up, in one brain region. In mice whose myelin had been stripped, BDNF was needed for the brain to rebuild myelin proteins.
In cell tests, noribogaine activates the kappa opioid receptor. In mice with the standard animal model of MS, other drugs that activate this receptor eased the disease and helped the repair cells rebuild myelin. Whether noribogaine, at the levels reached in people, does the same has never been tested.
In rats given morphine for ten days, ibogaine given afterwards raised two markers of myelin in the brain's white matter. Ibogaine alone did not raise one of them. This was a study of opioids, not of MS.
A man with relapsing MS had one brain lesion measure 71% smaller on MRI after ibogaine, with less fatigue and better bladder control; his vertigo stayed. A woman with progressive MS reported small gains in walking, bladder and bowel, but her muscle stiffness got worse during dosing and she stopped at half the plan. The clinic that treated them funded the report and the authors work with it; there was no control group, and the authors say the effects cannot be confirmed to be specific to MS.
The brain repairs its myelin best early on; with time, repair slows and fails in many old lesions. That is why we favour people whose MS is stable and at an early stage.
Read it honestly
There is no registered clinical trial of iboga or ibogaine in MS, and no study in an animal model of MS. The repair findings come from rats and mice; the human evidence is two cases.
We found no published evidence that iboga calms the immune attack in MS. That is the job of your disease-modifying treatment, and it stays in place.
The research used purified ibogaine or noribogaine. A Bwiti ceremony uses the whole root bark, in doses set and paced by the practitioner, under our physician's limits.
We cannot tell you whether your walking, fatigue or numbness will change, for how long, or at all. Some guests feel more energy and a lighter mood; others notice little in the body.
If you read elsewhere that a clinic "reverses" MS or "regrows myelin", ask for the published data. We would rather tell you less and be right. See iboga vs ibogaine and how iboga works.
Who can come
MS changes the medical picture: the heart, balance, heat, the bladder and several MS medicines all matter for iboga. Our physician reviews every application before anything is confirmed, and decides with you whether and how a retreat can be planned. Sometimes the answer is no, or not yet, and we will say so plainly.
Never stop or pause a disease-modifying treatment on your own. Stopping fingolimod, for example, can cause a severe rebound of MS activity, sometimes worse than before treatment. Our physician plans with you and your neurologist; sometimes the safe answer is to keep your treatment and change the plan, or to wait.
Relapsing or progressive, when you were diagnosed, and the date of your last relapse and last steroid course. A relapse in the last months usually means waiting: stress is linked to relapses, and a ceremony and long travel are demanding.
Fingolimod, siponimod, ozanimod and ponesimod slow the heart, as ibogaine does, and the effects could add up. If you take one, a cardiology review is needed, and it can be a reason to decline. Tell us the date of your last infusion too, if you have them.
A blood panel, and a recent ECG with its medical report, no later than one week before your start date. Ibogaine affects heart rhythm: how we protect your heart.
Fampridine for walking can cause seizures, and iboga's effect on that risk is untested. Some antidepressants, such as fluoxetine and paroxetine, block the liver enzyme that clears ibogaine and can raise its levels. Include supplements.
Iboga makes walking very unsteady for a day or two, on top of any balance problems MS brings. You stay lying down during the ceremony, with someone beside you whenever you need to stand. Bring your walking aid.
Heat slows signals further in nerves that have lost their coating, so many people with MS feel worse for a while when they get warm. Cancún is hot and humid; tell us how heat affects you, so the team plans cool rest and fluids.
Urgency or trouble emptying the bladder, any difficulty swallowing (vomiting is common with iboga), and how fatigue shapes your day, so the nights and the days after are planned around them.
Someone to travel with you to Cancún and home again. Tell us early, so we can plan for them.
Talk with your neurologist about your plans, and share their latest letter, your recent MRI report and their contact details so our physician can reach them.
These requests help us prepare; they are not medical promises. The physician's review decides how the retreat is planned for you. More on preparation and the medical protocol.
For partners, sons and daughters
Many of the people who first contact us about MS are a partner or a grown child of the person who lives with it. You are welcome on every step: on the discovery call, in gathering the records, and on the trip itself as their companion. The decision stays theirs, and the medical review is the same for everyone.
Ask every question, side by side. Book a discovery call.
The neurologist's letter, the latest MRI report, the medication list and a recent ECG.
Our physician reads the file and tells you plainly whether a retreat is safe to plan.
Who holds it
Practitioners initiated in Gabon hold the ceremony. Our physician and psychologist hold the body and the mind, and Lisa is your one contact from first call to flight home. Meet everyone on the team page.
Your stay
Medical review of your file, your neurologist's letter and MRI report, an ECG and bloodwork, a plan for your medicines, and a call with the psychologist.
The root is given in steps, the practitioner watching you before giving more, the physician in the room all night. See the ceremony.
Rest out of the heat, gentle movement at your own pace, talking through the night's life review, time in nature at the cenote.
Four integration calls over three months, specialist follow-up at one and three months, and a summary for your neurologist if you want one. Your MS treatment, exercise and usual care carry on: they remain the best-proven way to live well with MS.
Dates
Ten or fourteen days on the neurological program, from the same arrival date, eight guests each; full list on the schedule. Apply early: the medical review of an MS file can take a little longer.
The neurological program
Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis each need more than a standard retreat. On the neurological program, specialists in your condition join our physician before you travel, while you are with us and after you go home, and they work with your own neurologist. Ten or fourteen days, in a private room, so there is time to settle, adjust and be observed.
Neurological program · US dollars, per person
Everything in our standard program, plus the specialists and care listed here. The $500 deposit is refunded in full if our medical team cannot clear you.
With every neurological guest: our physician around the clock, a cardiologist for the ECG before and the heart monitoring during ceremonies, and our psychologist, Tania González.
Questions about MS
No one can promise that, and we will not. In rats and mice, ibogaine and noribogaine touch signals linked to myelin repair, and one published report describes two people with MS after ibogaine. No one has tested ibogaine in an animal model of MS, and there is no clinical trial. It is a hypothesis, not a proven treatment.
Never on your own. Disease-modifying treatments reduce relapses and new lesions, and stopping some of them, fingolimod in particular, can bring a severe rebound. Declare every medicine on your health form; our physician decides with you and your neurologist what continues and how the retreat is timed around it.
Possibly not, and it needs careful review. Fingolimod, siponimod, ozanimod and ponesimod slow the heart, and ibogaine does too. They also cannot simply be paused. Our physician will ask for a cardiology review and your neurologist's view, and may decline; if so, we explain why.
For safety first: balance, the bladder, swallowing and medicines are usually simpler early on, and a recent relapse adds risk. And for the science: the brain repairs myelin best early, and repair fails in many old lesions. People with progressive MS can apply; in the one published report, the woman with progressive MS had more stiffness during treatment, and our medical team reviews these files with extra care.
It can be. Many people with MS feel their symptoms flare for a while when they get warm. Tell us how heat affects you; the team plans cool rest, shade and fluids, and watches for fever.
Iboga makes everyone unsteady for a day or two, so you stay lying down during the ceremony, and someone helps you every time you need to stand or go to the bathroom. Your room is prepared for safe movement, and the team stays with you through the night and the next day.
Then your deposit is refunded in full, and we tell you why. Sometimes the answer is a later date, after a stable period, a medicine plan or more tests.
Sources
You've carried this long enough. Start with a conversation with our medical team.
