Bufotenine

(5-HO-DMT, Bufotenin, Dimethylserotonin)

TrippyWiki score: 6.2/10

What is Bufotenine?

Bufotenine (5-HO-DMT) is a psychedelic substance of the tryptamine class. It can be found in a variety of plants and several species of psychoactive toads. The 3 best-known sources of Bufotenine are Yopo, Vilca, and the Bufo Alvarius toad.

Why choose Bufotenine over other psychedelics?

Bufotenine…

Doesn’t cause much if any damage to your organs and there is no known lethal dose
Has been used for at least 6000 years
Allows you to have cleaner thoughts than if you were to take magic mushrooms, for example
Is not addictive at all
Has a relatively short duration
Is less intense than other psychedelics

Long-term benefits & side effects

Many of the benefits will only occur if you follow the tips below.
Most (if not all) of the side effects are preventable and they will not happen if you follow the Safety checklist.

Bufotenine…

May be an effective way to treat depression and PTSD
Can lower your levels of stress and anxiety, including social anxiety
Might help you form positive habits, such as meditation and exercise
Likely increases neuroplasticity
Is being used to cure addictions
Makes you more creative and open-minded
Helps you look at your life from a different perspective
Allows you to heal your childhood trauma and forgive people who’ve hurt you
Makes you more conscious and loving
Can help you transcend the fear of death
Gives you insights into the nature of reality
Makes you appreciate nature more
…

Can lead to heart problems if you are predisposed to them
Has led to self-harm by people who took it in an unsafe environment
Might speed up the onset of schizophrenia if you’re genetically predisposed to it
Can cause HPPD and physical damage if you combine it with other substances (such as alcohol or stimulants)
Could cause you trauma due to bad set and setting
Might lead to drug-induced psychosis if you’re predisposed to it
Can cause seizures in rare cases
Is illegal in many places and you might get arrested for getting involved with the substance
…

How to take Bufotenine

Administration

Bufotenine can either be smoked or snorted.

To make the effects last longer, you could also plug the substance but this method may not be safe.

If you are using the seeds or beans of some Anadenanthera plant (such as Yopo), the best route of administration is creating a snuff.

The snuff is either snorted or blown into the user’s nostrils by another person. In ceremonies, they use a bamboo tube for this purpose.

The inhalation is painful but the pain will go away within minutes.

Blowing the snuff is less painful and the substance will absorb slightly better.

Technically, you could also smoke the beans/seeds but they would not absorb nearly as well and the experience would be a lot weaker.

Some tribes take the beans orally but this can be dangerous, especially when you eat high amounts. In moderate doses, you would feel very nauseous and unpleasant.

Banisteriopsis caapi can, as a source of MAOIs, double the potency of Bufotenine. The tribes sometimes use these two plants together.

Dosage

2 mg = Threshold
You will likely notice little to no effects at this dose
5-20 mg = Light dose
The best dose to start with
20-40 mg = Regular dose
The insights you’ll learn are easier to retain and incorporate than if you were to take higher doses
40-60 mg = Strong dose
This dose is likely to be unpleasant
60+ mg = High dose
The benefits of a heroic dose are similar to a strong dose while the risks are higher so do not take this dose unless you have a great reason for it, Bufotenine may not be safe at high amounts

Do not start with a strong dose if you don’t have a trip sitter nearby.

Even if you do, starting with low doses is still recommended because you cannot know how sensitive you are to the substance.

There is no known lethal dose but even though high doses are likely safe physically, they are often mentally challenging.

Keep in mind that the higher the dose you take, the more important it is to be in a safe environment.

Some people are more sensitive than others. There are people who can take a high dose and feel nothing. This mainly happens to people with autism. Otherwise, it is rare.

Safety checklist

Maximize the benefits

Keep in mind that integration is even more important than the trip itself. Taking the psychedelic would be almost useless if you didn’t retain any lessons in your day-to-day life.

What will help you the most is contemplating about the experience – be it by journaling, thinking about the trip, or sharing your memories with a trusted friend.

Distracting thoughts can get in the way, which is why you want to spend the day after your trip without TV, social media, and other distractions.

If you can, spend time in silence and solitude. Meditate, go for a walk, contemplate the experience.

Duration

Onset = 15-90 seconds
Come up = 15-60 seconds
Peak = 1-5 minutes
Come down = 5-10 minutes
After effects = 10-60 minutes

You should notice the first effects within 40 seconds after you take the psychedelic
You will reach the maximum effect around the 2-minute mark
The whole trip usually lasts for 10-20 minutes, followed by around 30 minutes of after effects
At heroic doses, your trip may last for even longer
If you eat before your trip, the substance will take longer to kick in
If you take the substance orally, the trip will last for 2-3 hours

What does Bufotenine feel like?

The most notable effect of Bufotenin is the increase in the intensity of a person’s sense of touch and their awareness of the physical sensations across their body.

Bufotenin can give you the most intense and overwhelming physical sensations out of any psychedelic.

You will likely notice tingling and numbness throughout the body and an increased heart rate.

Other than that, the effects of Bufotenine are somewhat mild.

Colors become enhanced and shapes appear to morph, although not as much as with most other psychedelics.

Nausea and general bodily discomfort are common, especially towards the end of the trip.

Bufotenine is usually less pleasant than other psychedelics.

Other common short-term effects include:

Euphoria
Increased creativity and open-mindedness
Mindfulness, being present
Higher capability for love and compassion
Pain relief
Feeling one with all that is
Seeing life from a different perspective
Appreciating small things
Higher energy
Increased awareness
Stamina enhancement
Feeling your emotions more intensely
Memory suppression
Time distortion
Inability to sleep
Visual effects (enhanced colors, seeing patterns in everything, distortions, …)
Getting stuck in a thought loop
Confusion
Nausea
Headache
Inability to focus
Increased body temperature
Increased heart rate
Worse thermoregulation
Difficulty urinating
Anxiety, paranoia
Vulnerability

The higher dose you take, the more intense these effects will be.

With that said, it is impossible to accurately describe the experience through human language.

The psychedelic affects each individual differently and no two trips are the same. Therefore, there is virtually no way to know what your trip will feel like.

The only way to truly know what Bufotenine feels like is to take it.

Unlike many other psychedelics, Bufotenine is not going to give you a pleasant experience in most cases. The trips often feel like getting poisoned and it is common to experience a bad trip on the substance. With that said, there are some ways you can prevent them from happening.

Bad trips

Bad trips often happen because people take the substance irresponsibly. If you take this psychedelic the right way, there is a much lower chance the experience will be unpleasant.

In case it still is, that’s good! A “bad” trip isn’t always bad, it can actually be the most healing and insightful moment of your life!

During a “bad” trip, negative emotions are coming up from your subconscious mind. They have always been there whether you are aware of it or not. They have been damaging your life and a difficult trip is an opportunity to process these traumas and unpleasant feelings and let go of them.

The more painful the experience, the more you can heal.

So instead of calling bad trips bad, call them challenging.

If you understand that bad trips are awesome in the long run, not only will you feel more comfortable diving into these challenging states, it will actually excite you!

Why they happen

The most common reasons for getting a bad trip are:

Tripping in an unsafe environment (in public, at a party, even nature doesn’t feel safe if you take higher doses)
Facing difficult times in your day-to-day life (a break-up, death of a loved one, …)
Rejecting to let go and trying to hold on to your ego and control the state
Being afraid of the trip (either because of the stigma around psychedelics or because you are not sure how pure your substance is)
Mixing the psychedelic with alcohol, weed, or other drugs
Expecting a bad trip (it can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy)

How to cope with a bad trip

Do not perceive this experience as something bad, remember that facing these difficult emotions is extremely healing
Fully surrender to the experience, do not try to feel good
If you’re alone, call a trusted friend to come over and keep you safe

Interactions

Qualia Mind
This nootropic is comprised of 28 ingredients designed to support and maximize your brain function. These ingredients act synergistically and many of them will protect you from the potential neurotoxic effects of the psychedelic. Qualia will also make your trips more pleasant and help you retain more benefits from them.
Green tea
Tea makes you both more alert and calm at the same time. It also contains neuroprotective antioxidants, such as EGCG.
Herbs
Herbs can help calm you down. Herbal teas (chamomile, lemon balm, valerian root, …) are especially helpful.
CBD
CBD has a calming effect.
5-MeO DMT
5-MeO DMT and Bufotenine are both find in the Bufo Alvarious toad venom and the combination is not dangerous. With that said, the amount of Bufotenine in the venom is small and 5-MeO DMT is the strongest psychedelic substance, so the experience of smoking the toad venom is almost identical to that of smoking synthetic 5-MeO DMT.
Weed
Marijuana will greatly intensify the trip.
Nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide will multiply the intensity of your trip.
Dissociatives
Combining dissociatives with psychedelics won’t necessarily cause you harm but it can be confusing and lead to bad trips.
Benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax, …)
Benzos will end your psychedelic experience within 40 minutes but using this method may cause you side effects in the long run.
Alcohol
Alcohol minimizes all the potential benefits of a psychedelic experience. It also greatly increases your chance of having a bad trip.
SSRIs or MAOIs
Not only will these antidepressants greatly decrease the intensity of your trip, but they can also lead to long-lasting side effects.
Lithium
Combining psychedelics with lithium significantly increases the risk of seizures and psychosis.
Stimulants
The combination can easily lead to heart problems, even if you’re a healthy individual.
Tramadol
Combining the two can cause seizures.
St. John’s Wort
This combination may lead to serotonin syndrome.

Legality

As of 2021, Bufotenine is a Schedule I drug in the US. It is also banned in the UK, Germany, and Australia.

However, Yopo and Vilca, plants that contain a significant amount of Bufotenine, are not scheduled in the US, the UK, and Germany.

Sources of Bufotenine

Bufo Alvarius
The Colorado River Toad contains some Bufotenine but the effects almost purely belong to 5-MeO DMT, which is a much stronger psychedelic.
Yopo (Anadenanthera Peregrina)
Yopo is a tree that grows mainly in the Caribbean and South America. Its seeds contain around 7.5% Bufotenine.
Vilca (Anadenanthera Colubrina)
Vilca contains 10-12.5% Bufotenine.

FAQ

Since we don’t know about the safety of long-term bufotenine use, it may not be a good idea to take the substance more often than 3-4 times a year. As your trips get more and more intense, you will not want to trip nearly as often anyway. Becoming addicted to bufotenine is virtually impossible.

Bufotenin is a partial antagonist of the 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A receptors.

With that said, the only way to truly know what this psychedelic does to your brain is to try it yourself.

Most importantly, you need to trip in a safe place where there are no strangers around.

Whether you should take Bufotenine at home or in nature will depend on your priorities.

Tripping at home is safer and likely better for personal growth while taking psychedelics outside will help you develop a strong connection with nature.

Try both and see which one you like more.

If you are a mentally stable individual who does not suffer from psychosis or have a predisposition to schizophrenia, there is virtually no way you would develop any mental illnesses because of taking the psychedelic.

Keep the Bufotenine-containing seeds in a cold dark place, preferably with no air.

When you store them well, they will last for years or even decades.

It is not recommended to eat before the experience.

Eating before your trip can cause nausea and even make you vomit.

So stop eating at least 3-4 hours before taking the substance.

Pregnant women
Immature people who are not willing to follow the safety guidelines
People who suffer from psychosis
People who have a familial history of schizophrenia
Those who suffer from HPPD
People who are going through a manic phase of bipolar disorder
If you’re going through extremely challenging times, you can take psychedelics but the trips might be unpleasant, beware of that

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