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One of the most recent trends in alternative / fringe wellness circles is the use of extremely toxic frog poison to induce malaise and projectile emissions alleged to purge the body of toxins. The grueling experience is also credited as a psychological purgative that leaves one feeling much more positive afterward.
FULL STORY: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/style/self-care/kambo-tree-frog-detox.html
Can You Poison Your Way to Good Health?
West Coast wellness elites think kambo, an Amazonian frog poison drug, is helping them purge “toxins” from their lives. ...
Kambo, long used by some Indigenous tribes in South America as a sort of rainforest vaccine, is not a recreational drug. You don’t trip, in the tangerine-trees-and-marmalade-skies sense.
Instead, you vomit. ...
In taking kambo, the goal is to purge not only so-called “toxins” trapped in your body but also, devotees say, psychological trauma and bad juju in general. ...
The idea is to make yourself feel horrible so that you may, after, feel wonderful. Its proponents describe it as, essentially, a thermonuclear-scale raw celery cleanse for the body and the soul. ...
And users should be forewarned: transcendence comes with a price.
“It was the worst experience of my life,” Ms. Allison said. “And I can’t wait to do it again.” ...
Technically speaking, kambo is a glue-like toxic secretion released on the skin of a giant monkey frog, known by herpetologists as Phyllomedusa bicolor, when the amphibian feels threatened.
The Kachinaua, Kurina and Kanamari have used kambo to treat various illnesses, build stamina and ward off bad luck. ...
Health experts advised extreme caution, and said more rigorous studies were needed.
“Many medicines have come from natural products, particularly from places like the Amazon,” said Adam Perlman, the director of integrative medicine and health at Mayo Clinic Florida. “But at the moment, I don’t think the research into the pharmacology, not to mention the safety as well as the potential efficacy, is anywhere near where it needs to be before one would advocate using kambo in people.”
Even Dr. Rabin, a champion of psychedelic therapies including MDMA and ketamine, urges caution. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/style/self-care/kambo-tree-frog-detox.html