FAQ
Q: Does this have anything to do with Ayahuasca?
A: NO. Ayahuasca is not used in the treatment of the severe chronic illnesses that PlantMed aims to treat. PlantMed patients will work a host of non-psychoactive medicinal “master plants” while under our care, but will never be permitted to drink Ayahuasca. While there is a colloquial Western association between the phrase “Amazonian plant medicine” and Ayahuasca, the actual Amazonian clinical tradition is that Ayahuasca is only for practitioners and not patients.
Q: What is the interaction between Western pharmaceuticals and traditional Amazonian treatments?
A: We have zero anecdotal or documented evidence of contraindications between Western pharmaceuticals and the Amazonian plant treatments prescribed to patients. While under the care of PlantMed, patients may continue taking prescribed Western medications, and as symptoms change may consult with their GP to make any appropriate alterations.
Q: What is the role of Western medicine at the clinic?
A: The clinic is not opposed to western medicine, and in certain treatments it may play a complimentary role. We advise that patients continue to take any prescribed Western medications when they arrive at the clinic, and consult their physicians to discontinue any medications as their conditions improve.
Q: How long do most treatments take?
A: Natural medicine takes time. Evidence has shown us that severe autoimmune disorders and chronic infections are, in the most optimistic cases, resolved in a matter of weeks, but more commonly consist of months of treatment. In the most severe cases we’ve observed, treatments have taken over one year (these longer treatments have typically consisted of patients spending two or three multiple-week trips in the Amazon, followed by strict adherence to the TAP’s dietary and medicinal plant prescriptions while at home).
Q: Is treatment safe? Are there any side effects? What are the risk factors for patients?
A: No PlantMed patient has ever experienced a serious medical emergency or serious negative side-effects from Amazonian medical treatment. However, patients should expect to experience significant changes to their system while working with Amazonian medicine. As such, PlantMed’s clinic will be equipped with the ability to provide Western emergency care in the unlikely event that it’s necessary, and it will also offer counseling to help guide patients through the treatment process.
Q: What do patients eat while on ‘dieta’?
A: Generally, patients must eat a healthy, organic, mostly bland diet in which certain foods that interact negatively with the plant treatments - such as pork, refined sugar, or salt - are proscribed. Most patients’ existing dietary regimes are easily compatible with the ‘dieta,’ as a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry are permitted.
Q: Are the practitioners ‘shamans’?
A: The word “shaman” is used as a catch-all to describe a vast array of indigenous healers, herbalists, gurus, medical practitioners, mystics, and charlatans. The term does not accurately represent the work of Traditional Amazonian Practitioners, who should be viewed the same way as they view themselves: as doctors. Their work is highly clinical, rigorously studied, and is not based in ‘magic.’
Q: What type of illnesses will PlantMed treat?
A: As discussed earlier in this document, PlantMed will initially focus only on autoimmune disorders and chronic infectious diseases. This concentration may expand in the future, but initially we will not be treating disorders that do not fall into those categories (i.e. cancer).
Q: What type of patient is right for PlantMed?
A: Generally speaking, any patient struggling with an autoimmune disorder or chronic infectious disease. That said, our experience has shown us that patients who have tried many other treatment options unsuccessfully (or who have interest in or positive experience with “natural medicine”) generally have a greater willingness to consistently adhere to prescriptions and protocols, and see their treatments through from diagnosis to cure (a process that often takes many months). Amazonian medicine requires that patients invest in the curative process via temporary changes in diet and lifestyle, and while this does take time, it pales in comparison with the investment required to manage a lifetime of symptoms via Western treatment.