312. My Frog Medicine Experience

I sit here writing this with the slight desire to do it again. Which sounds… wild.

So what is frog medicine, or Kambo? From my quick recollection, it’s the outer part of a frog (I think the mucus) which is collected and then turned into a sort of “paste” which is placed on top of your skin. Matchsticks are placed on your skin so that there’s more room for the medicine to go. You are ultimately left with a slight scar, which depending on placement, fades over time. Kambo originated in South America and was evidently used by soldiers or warriors who used it as a means of thinking more strategically or clearly. I can somewhat understand this, as it does bring a sense of clarity to you, but not for a hot minute, and certainly not without pain in the process. Anyway, this is just a very brief summary of what Kambo is, but there’s lots of resources which you can find online which go into it further.

So what brought me to this decision? Well, a friend of mine was a practitioner, so there was a pretty easy entry point. When she described her own experiences with Kambo, as well as her knowledge and information as a practitioner, her description of what I understood to be a “biological reset” which purged negative energy intrigued me. I felt like I needed a biological reset. Not entirely sure why, but I guess whatever hints from the universe were being thrown at me… I wasn’t getting. I felt I needed some heavy intervention.

I admit I was totally scared before I went. I had to listen to the Pocahontas soundtrack on repeat just to calm me down. But once I was on my way there, the anxiety settled. Per her experience, the more nervous you are, the more likely. you need it.

The ceremony took about two hours, and I did it with my friend and personal trainer at the time. Much of the setup was talking about the history and information about Kambo, specifically. While we drank a liter of water. I don’t think I even got through half of mine, but admittedly, it was super important. And I was super slow. Not a strong water drinker, I guess.

Not sure if this was better or worse, but because of how slow I was, I went second for the application of the medicine. It looked like a grey-ish almost.. moldable powder substance. As I looked at my trainer who was receiving it, it truly looked like he was about to die. Was not a great starting point. He spent most of the time in the bathroom, while I sat on the main floor with a bucket. It took a few seconds or minutes to kick in, but then I started to feel the intensity. A rush of heat, and a ton of energy pooling to the top of my back. I guess I should mention that that was my specific intention. I asked Kambo to release energetic burdens in my upper back area. For all intents and purposes… it seemed to be working. There were a few brief seconds where I felt very ill. I don’t think I could have moved if I wanted to. But to be honest, it didn’t last for long. After purging about 3-ish times, I still felt nauseous, but I felt it was “done”. I laid there for a bit, but could hardly focus. Anything and everything nauseated me. I couldn’t bare to look at anything if it wasn’t water or fruit.

My trainer’s experience after the ceremony was great, per his explanation. He felt totally re-energized and revitalized. Mine… not so much. I think what ended up happening was that I was supposed to purge again, but couldn’t. So I laid in bed for quite some time, totally nauseous. I purged again hours later, which apparently is super unusual, and ended up falling asleep. But I felt pretty catatonic, with a gnarly headache. I felt deep down that my headache was due to caffeine withdrawal. My friend said that it wasn’t uncommon for medicines to be “purged”. Some of her clients reported tasting medicine in their mouth which they hadn’t taken for years. Caffeine was in this case… not a surprise.

Besides the odd physical feelings, the mental/emotional ones were even more bizarre. I felt totally stripped open and raw. In a way, I saw the world differently. Almost sickly and ill. That humans used unhealthy coping mechanisms, and were angry and upset. I felt so incredibly sensitive to things, so in that moment, it was kind of a shock to me. 

I avoided caffeine for quite a while, and ended up integrating back semi-normally. I did feel like a better, stronger person overall, and I do feel like some of my healthy habits changed and improved. However, life does happen, and I found myself back in a relatively similar-ish physical state. But certainly not mental or emotional, though. The experience absolutely broke a loop for me. I didn’t feel so afraid anymore. So fearful. I felt.. like my “old” self, but I didn’t even have an idea of what that was. Both my friend and I said that we felt “more like ourselves”. Maybe we simply did because we ended up purging so much negative energy. I wish I had some more hard-hitting/concrete examples, but I think the level of stress and anxiety due to fear released quite a bit. Same for him, as well. It just throws you out of your comfort zone so much, that if anything, that was the foundational reason for the change. Overcoming the fear of taking it to begin with. To sum up, we both had a very positive after-math experience, which lasted about 4-ish weeks. Of course, the long-lasting effects will last… forever. I can’t remember how often it’s recommended to do it, but certainly more than I’d like. I think I can only stomach once a year, if that, max.

While my experience taking the actual medicine was less painful, my aftermath was more so. And my friend, vice versa. I suspect that everyone has a very different, unique experience.

Now the question is… would I recommend it? I would say that if you’re called to do it, I would recommend it. If not, probably not. It’s a lot. But it’s also a very minute experience in comparison to the rest of our lives. And if the rest of your life is discomfort, pain or suffering, you may want to consider it. Ensure you do your research. There are risks, particularly if you have particular risk factors such as pre-existing conditions. There are lots of different shamanic techniques, some not even including medicine, and in my opinion, it’s a very healing, cathartic world. Consider what you need and do your research to discover what’s right for you. You never know.