What to do?

I am beginning tp feel that perhaps my medication will stop me from following my Psilocybin dream

Here is an excerpt from the Dutch company I mentioned last week. It offers Psilocybin experiences but clearly isn’t comfortable with people on medications, even healthy people on medications like myself. “When I looked into your application I have found the following contraindications: High Blood Pressure and Episodes of Atrial Fibrillation: even though your doctor can attest to your good health we are afraid we cannot fully mitigate risks associated with both your high blood pressure and the episodes of atrial fibrillation.”

I am beginning to feel that my journey my not be attainable. They wrote that Psilocybin is known to be able to increase blood pressure which made me realize that if I go forward I will need to near emergency medical care. This became abundantly clear when they raised their concern over cardiovascular problems that be induced or increased due to my medications.

They refused my admittance and told me that “Both of your conditions are official contraindications in most of the contemporary research into psilocybin.”  They did so, however, it a a compassionate, understanding manner in which they put my safety first and expressed their regrets.

All this reminds me of when my Father was restricted to a wheelchair and as I took him places my eyes opened to the physical barriers that wheelchair bound people face.

My body has become my barrier. I understand that why they cannot allow me to participate. I do not hold it against them. I’m sure if they could help me that they would. Nonetheless, there must be a way, perhaps a situation where the facilitators are more capable of dealing with people like myself.

In addition, I applied for an Ayahuasca experience and was faced with a similar barrier when they stated in their reply letter “Most medication cannot be combined with Ayahuasca. When you are using medication, you have to check with your physician/pharmacist as soon as possible if these can be combined with a MAO-inhibitor (as in the Ayahuasca).

If they cannot be combined, you need to consult with your physician if it is possible to stop temporarily with the medication. Your physician determines if and how many days in advance you have to stop with the medication before you drink the Ayahuasca. We would like to be informed if this is the case. Anti-depressants and medication for high blood pressure are a contra indication for drinking the Ayahuasca. 

In case you might use drugs we ask you not to take any drugs for at least one month prior to the ceremony with Ayahuasca. This way the intelligence of your body and mind open up to the ceremony and you can connect with the Ayahuasca in the purest way. Wait with taking any drugs at least one month after the ceremony with Ayahuasca. This way the Ayahuasca can integrate in your body and mind without the drugs overruling the work of the holy plants. Some drugs are even life threatening dangerous to take in combination with Ayahuasca, like GHB.”

What to do? I have not given up but I will need to consider my options and perhaps become a little creative.

I contacted my pharmacy and asked them to check my medication in combination with a MAO-inhibitor and whether or not there was any heath concerns with my suspending my medication. After a few hours I was told that such a determination was beyond their comfort zone and suggested I approach my doctor.

I’m not surprised that my health care providers are not comfortable stepping outside the pharmaceutical umbrella that is more and more effective at replacing a healthy lifestyle. Ironic, isn’t it, that although medication’s purpose is be life sustaining, life extending the quality of that life is equated with longevity, not a life well lived.

In Western medicine it seems that I can have a longer life but not a life well lived or a death humanely orchestrated.