Felix Posted February 2, 2004 Has anyone had or heard of negative or positive effects from combining sceletium with other cacti? Is there a theoretical danger mixing mesembrine (or other SSRI) with some 'other' cacti alko's? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spaced Posted February 2, 2004 Mesembrine an SSRI? Pharmaceutical companies trying to get us to hate nature - well I did a bit of a search and it appears to be true. One interesting point I came accross and I'm wondering if I read it correctly is that "Pharmaceutical compositions containing mesembrine and related compounds" are now patented http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?...RS=PN/6,288,104 So now a deified member of the plant kingdom with a history of ethnobotanical use has been reduced to a pharmaceutical commodity to be used by shrinks and allied health professions in their war against consciosness. Well back to your question. Given that one active constituent of a plant has been shown to exhibit a single property on the human nerous system (not to say there aren't other alkaloids, artefacts included via extraction and that mesembrine may have other properties) the first issue that springs to mind would be serotonin syndrome - a condition arising when mixing SSRIs and other antidepressants / MAOI - you'd want to check what's in your cactus/i. Point 2 - in some instances compounds affecting serotonin levels have been shown to effect ADH levels in some cases leading to low sodium levels through a process known as SIADH - the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone. This has often been sensationalised in the media with cases involving people dying from "ecstasy poisoning" - in reality the ecstasy combined with a huge water intake as recommended by government health authorities lead to low sodium and hence seizures and ultimately death. Is this relevant? - well maybe in that your toying with serotonin, and vomiting due to peyote for instance could influence sodium levels. All this is of course theoretical. I wonder if such pushing of scientific boundaries are best left to Eli lily and recruitments of homeless alcoholics. [ 02. February 2004, 14:01: Message edited by: spaced ] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theobromos Posted February 3, 2004 I know of two cases in which polydrug use led to severe interactions with sceletium. In the first case a young man took sceletium, ecstasy and 2CB. He had a Very Bad Time. In the other case a mature male took a pipe of sceletium (of a particularly potent strain) while on a course of 5HT. He, too, had a Very Bad Time. Both of these Very Bad Times were probably due to serotonin syndrome. Sceletium is a rapid-acting drug and has the potential to precipitate crises, especially with other drugs with a steep dose/response curve like 2CB. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
friendly Posted February 3, 2004 Sceletium products can indeed generate episodes of Serotonin syndrome when combined with other SSRI's, MAOIs and serotonin precursors such as 5-HTP or Griffonia simplicifolia seeds. Serotonin syndrome has also been reported from the combination of St. John's Wort and SSRIs, although this seems to be idiosyncratic and occurring mostly in the elderly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nabraxas Posted February 4, 2004 out ov interest, how would taking sceletium go with taking dopamine blockers like stelazine? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
friendly Posted February 4, 2004 Memembrine is a dopamine agonist--it increases dopamine release. Not quite what you would want to take if taking a dopamine bloeker. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Felix Posted February 4, 2004 So its a dopamine and serotonin agonist? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
