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Original poster

Going on an ayahuasca retreat in Europe...will I be able to get travel insurance for the actual retreat?

134 replies

Sundiamondtree · 21/09/2023 16:35

I'm about to book to go on a weekend ayahuasca retreat in Europe, run by a very reputable centre who has places in Netherlands and in Spain. In the Netherlands, these retreats/ceremonies recently lost their legal status, but they are tolerated. And the retreats are open, and upfront online about country location.

I would like to get travel insurance, in the event I am forced to cancel for illness etc - but will I be able to get it for the retreat cost? And if so, where and how to go about it?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
BlurredEdges · 22/09/2023 09:53

PinkRoses1245 · 22/09/2023 09:42

Normal travel insurance should cover flight issues, if you get ill before going. No idea if it would cover you needing medical treatment due to the retreat. Most policies exclude high risk sports. Can you ask the retreat centre for advice? Although i guess they won't admit there could be adverse effects. But enjoy, ignore the negativity here.

Side Effects
When taken by mouth: Ayahuasca is possibly unsafe. Ayahuasca contains chemicals that can cause hallucinations, tremors, dilated pupils, increased blood pressure, nausea, and vomiting. Life-threatening side effects and death have also been linked with ayahuasca use.

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Ayahuasca is likely unsafe when taken while pregnant and breast-feeding. Along with causing hallucinations and other serious side effects, ayahuasca might be toxic to the fetus if used during pregnancy. Avoid using.

Anxiety: Ayahuasca might increase the risk of various mental health effects in people with anxiety. Don't use ayahuasca if you have anxiety.

Bipolar disorder: Ayahuasca might increase the risk of having a manic episode in people with bipolar disorder. Don't use ayahuasca if you have bipolar disorder

Yeah, can't imagine why an insurance company might not cover you.

beatrix1234 · 22/09/2023 10:02

BlurredEdges · 22/09/2023 09:34

I've taken LSD, magic mushrooms, mdma, salvia divinorum, ketamine, etc etc. Many many times in my teens and twenties.

so you will fail if you try to insult me by calling me a 'daily mail reader', 'pearl clutcher' or whatever.

What I find so stupid about your post is that you want to try to portray yourself as so edgy and cool, and at the same time, you're worried about travel insurance !

It's ridiculous and stupid, and the poster who described it as middle-class cultural appropriation is spot on.

Not once when I was taking hallucinogens / psychedelics did I worry about fucking travel insurance.

I mean, pick your lane. Either you're a crazy risk taker who's so far outside society's boring rules - or you're expecting to be protected by a fucking insurance company in the (quite likely) event of something going tits up.

Have the fucking courage of your convictions. Travel insurance for tripping? What a joke.

Those drugs seems to have plaid a number on you. No wonder you’re discouraging the OP.

(since when are psychedelics drugs incompatible with insurance?)

inadarkwood · 22/09/2023 10:17

(since when are psychedelics drugs incompatible with insurance?)

Hmm
Vermin · 22/09/2023 10:26

@BlurredEdges yes yes and yes

SomeCatFromJapan · 22/09/2023 10:37

I took acid recreationally a few times when younger. I was bulimic and that completely stopped after my first trip.
There's been a lot of recent interest into using psilocybin as a treatment for depression including clinical studies.
I appreciate the safety concerns around lack of regulation but so many people are on a cocktail of conventional pharmaceutical medications for mental health issues, with all sorts of side effects, and only varying degrees of success, so I don't understand not giving other ways some consideration at least.
And it's daft calling it cultural appropriation.

BoobyDazzler · 22/09/2023 10:49

There’s an incredible documentary on Netflix about hallucinogens called ‘how to change your mind’ I’d recommend some of the pearl clutchers on here have a watch.

OvernightBloats · 22/09/2023 10:57

Wouldn't recommend taking it if you have a personality that can get anxious in any kind of way. As you are asking about travel insurance for this, I suspect you have some trepidation (and possibly anxiety) about the substance.

I took it about 30 years ago when I was in Ecuador with an ex boyfriend. Thankfully I was with a person who I fully trusted and felt safe with because I didn't particularly have a good time on it. It made me paranoid, anxious and nervous and I was so relieved when the effects were over. My ex, on the other hand, enjoyed it and even wanted to (and searched for) strangers to talk to whilst on it.

We took it at some hotel in a beautiful part of Ecuador and not as part of some spiritual ceremony. To be honest, I didn't know much about the drug (stupidly) before I took it and basically just took it as part of an 'experience'. I was very naive and in my early twenties, and definitely took more risks then than I do now.

If you still decide to go ahead with this, do it with someone you trust. There is no guarantee what experience you will have on it.

NaughtyBoyGeorgeMichaelJacksonBrown · 22/09/2023 14:48

Jeremy Dooms-Patterson 😆Thoroughly decent chap!

There is a lot of research into hallucinogens and how they can help mental health. Really interested in it. I don't think I'd dare if I wasn't sure there would be close and affordable health care if necessary, though.

Do come back and tell us how it went. Best of luck.

RampantIvy · 22/09/2023 15:02

I’d recommend some of the pearl clutchers on here have a watch.

Let me amend that for you

I’d recommend some of the risk averse on here have a watch.

If you want to offend people by having a dig at those who don't want to try hallucinogenic drugs then keep calling them pearl clutcher/boring/unadventurous by all means. If you want the more cautious posters (like me) to have a more open mind then there is no need to be so rude.

ontheup23 · 22/09/2023 15:04

People are such brats with these replies

Open a Revolut account? Their travel insurance is top stuff

minipeony · 22/09/2023 15:42

BoobyDazzler · 22/09/2023 10:49

There’s an incredible documentary on Netflix about hallucinogens called ‘how to change your mind’ I’d recommend some of the pearl clutchers on here have a watch.

I mean there are ways of saying it tbh. If you genuinely want people to watch with an open mind and consider it in a different light then using the "pearl clutcher" trope is not the way to do it.

minipeony · 22/09/2023 15:43

ontheup23 · 22/09/2023 15:04

People are such brats with these replies

Open a Revolut account? Their travel insurance is top stuff

Do you know if they cover taking drugs or are you just guessing?

Original poster
Sundiamondtree · 22/09/2023 16:01

Thanks for the varied replies. Interesting to read.

In retrospect, I was totally stupid to ask about insurance. It was a knee jerk post and one I regret. It's made me look foolish.

But for the record, I didn't use the pearl clutching trope, it was someone else. But I do think there's a rude strand of intolerance here. I guess being anonymous gives people some nerve. I get that it's not everyone's bag, but why come on here and be so strident with your opinions? I just don't get that. Just ignore the thread, no? Or do you just want to pick and judge?

FWIW, it's not remotely about getting off my nut, wearing feathers etc, as people have rudely suggested. I haven't been drunk in over 30 years. I don't drink, I'm not into drugs, I don't even really do sugar! It's a curiosity, it's an interest in plant medicine, and from the many people I know around the world who've done it, none of them went off their nut or insane or whatever else has been levelled at me. I'm really, really sorry for the poster who knew someone who had died. That's terrible. But it really isn't the norm, despite what people on here would like to tell me. I can assure you I've done far more extensive research than they have.

I'm not looking for a fight. I am just stating that i know the initial question was stupid, and I won't make that mistake again, but the level of vitriol aimed at me because you don't agree with what I'm doing is just a bit odd.

OP posts:
Ace56 · 22/09/2023 16:04

Why not just go camping with a group of friends and take some LSD?

Original poster
Sundiamondtree · 22/09/2023 16:11

Ace56 · 22/09/2023 16:04

Why not just go camping with a group of friends and take some LSD?

Er because LSD is a recreational drug

OP posts:
cimena · 22/09/2023 20:31

Aright, firstly blurrededges I do love you a little bit.

But OP. Are you saying you’ve never done recreational drugs? Cos I actually have some serious concerns about this if that’s the case

theduchessofspork · 22/09/2023 20:37

budgetingnovice1993 · 22/09/2023 07:13

You'll be regretting it when you're purging and puking. You'll wish you booked for a week in Benidorm instead! EnvyConfused

she probably won’t do as much puking as she would on a week in Benidorm, TBF

NeverDropYourMooncup · 22/09/2023 20:52

LavishAlice · 22/09/2023 08:10

Tell me you have never been to an Ayahuasca retreat without telling me……!

Ayahuasca is ritually used by tribes in the Amazon, so South America. Spirit guides are a belief of Native American people, so North America, you are confusing groups and continents. Not to mention being as offensive as possible. I wonder who these tribes consider more culturally offensive - the person who shows up to an Ayahuasca ceremony with great reverence and respect for their scared plant medicine, or the person who ridicules it and attacks it with no knowledge or experience of it whatsoever.

Show quote history

That was exactly my point - a pick and mix of multiple cultural practices for wealthy white people.

I've endured people like that in the workplace, elephant trousers, prayer scarves, Zafus and advocating Sage smudging all at once.

MrsTerryPratchett · 22/09/2023 21:04

There are also no reliable studies into the safety of chamomile tea during pregnancy either. In reality that means no one could get funding to research this because no pharmaceutical company could see a way of making money from it.

Since there are places in the world where people legally use it during pregnancy, breastfeeding and give it to children, you could actually do some useful studies. Just for a start, testing BM for amounts.

It would be correlation, not causation but there are plenty of studies like that.

And to all the people extolling the virtues, I have no doubt there are some. It is a powerful drug with powerful effects. I think hallucinogens have been maligned in medicine, particularly ones which would be difficult to patent. However, there is NO drug with powerful effects that doesn't have side effects. The bigger the effect, typically the bigger the side effects. Pretending any powerful drugs doesn't have side effects is just plain dumb. To the person whose bulimia was cured with LSD, my friend went into serious psychosis and had to be detained under the MH legislation after a bad trip. Another friend (exBF) basically hallucinated for six months on and off. That's quite the coin to flip.

And no, travel insurance won't flip that coin with you. Why on earth would they? If there are no proper studies, their risk assessment is based on generic 'intoxication' which won't be covered. Nor should it be. And I have travel insurance which covers me for everything from camel riding to scuba diving.

minipeony · 22/09/2023 21:09

I haven't been drunk in over 30 years. I don't drink, I'm not into drugs, I don't even really do sugar! I'm not sure this is the best idea OP. Hope it all goes OK

NeverDropYourMooncup · 22/09/2023 21:16

LavishAlice · 22/09/2023 09:35

There are also no reliable studies into the safety of chamomile tea during pregnancy either. In reality that means no one could get funding to research this because no pharmaceutical company could see a way of making money from it.

Show quote history

A fair bit of evidence that it could increase the risk of miscarriage, premature labour and lower birth weight, however.

It would be unethical to run a trial on pregnant women to see how many lost their babies and work out whether it's a statistical anomaly or not, though.

That's the thing. Natural or Herbal does not equal safe.

Lammveg · 22/09/2023 21:17

Not sure re travel insurance OP but what a fantastic thread for a Friday evening

BlurredEdges · 22/09/2023 22:04

cimena · 22/09/2023 20:31

Aright, firstly blurrededges I do love you a little bit.

But OP. Are you saying you’ve never done recreational drugs? Cos I actually have some serious concerns about this if that’s the case

Aww thanks. I appreciate that. ❤️

But yes - the prospect of someone who doesn't drink alcohol or take 'recreational drugs' (what does she think the difference is?) going abroad to take a very powerful hallucinogen with strangers is... worrying. To say the least.

The reason ayahuasca is no longer legal in the Netherlands is because it contains DMT, which is prohibited under the opiates law. And DMT is one of the strongest, weirdest, most frightening psychedelics out there.

Travel insurance really is the least of it.

SomeCatFromJapan · 22/09/2023 22:04

Er because LSD is a recreational drug

It isn't just recreational - it can be used similarly to psilocybin. Admittedly it is more fun generally than ayahuasca!

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