Magnesium–ibogaine therapy in veterans with traumatic brain injuries

Summary & key facts

Researchers gave a combined treatment of oral ibogaine plus magnesium and supportive care to 30 male Special Operations veterans who had mostly mild traumatic brain injuries. They measured everyday functioning and clinician-rated PTSD, depression and anxiety before treatment, right after, and one month later. On average, participants showed clear improvement in functioning right after the treatment and much bigger gains one month later, along with large drops in PTSD, depression and anxiety scores. The team did not see unexpected serious side effects or dangerous heart rhythm problems in this small group. Because this was a small open study without a comparison group, larger controlled trials are needed to know whether the treatment really works and is safe.

Key facts:

• Thirty male Special Operations veterans with mostly mild traumatic brain injury took part in the study.
• Participants received a protocol that combined oral ibogaine with magnesium and other supportive therapies.
• On the main measure of daily functioning, the group improved from a level described as mild-to-moderate disability before treatment to near no-to-mild disability right after treatment, and to no disability on average at one month.
• Clinician-rated scores for PTSD, depression and anxiety all dropped substantially by one month after treatment.
• The team reported no unexpected or serious adverse events and did not find clinically meaningful heart-rhythm problems in these participants.
• Participants received about 12 mg of ibogaine per kilogram of body weight; magnesium was included because it can lower the heart-rhythm risks linked to ibogaine.
• This was an open-label, uncontrolled study without a comparison group, so the changes could reflect placebo effects, natural recovery, or other treatments the veterans received.
• The authors say larger, controlled clinical trials are needed to test safety and effectiveness before this approach could be accepted as a treatment.

Abstract

< 0.001, d = 2.13) at 1 month after treatment. There were no unexpected or serious adverse events. Controlled clinical trials to assess safety and efficacy are needed to validate these initial open-label findings. ClinicalTrials.gov registration: NCT04313712 .

Topics

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Study Psychedelics and Drug Studies Treatment of Major Depression

Categories

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology Life Sciences Molecular Biology

Tags

Anxiety Depression (economics) Economics Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale Internal medicine Macroeconomics Medicine Psychiatry Psychology Traumatic brain injury

Substances

Ibogaine

Conditions & symptoms

Anxiety Depression PTSD Substance abuse disorder Anxiety or worry Difficulty focusing Poor sleep Sadness or low mood