Kambo is a substance that comes from frog secretion, and for many indigenous cultures in the Amazon, this purgative, immunity-boosting medicine is very important. Known in Portuguese as the “vaccine of the forest,” it has also gained renown outside of the Amazon as a powerful treatment for chronic pain and drug dependence.

Kambo is powerful substance and shouldn’t be administered except under the care of an experienced practitioner. A practitioner can help guide you to gain the maximum benefits from a kambo application, helping you to set an intention before the ceremony, ensure proper set and setting during the ceremony, and integrate the experience afterward.

Possible Benefits of Kambo

Research conducted since the 1980s has shown the chemical makeup of kambo to contain short chains of amino acids, known as peptides, that affect gastrointestinal muscles and blood circulation as well as stimulate the adrenal cortex and pituitary gland in the brain. While there are no clinical studies that definitively back up kambo’s efficacy, the properties of kambo peptides suggest it may be a promising treatment for the following conditions:

Depression
Migraines
Blood circulation problems
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
Vascular insufficiency
Organ diseases
Cancer
Fertility problems
Deeply rooted toxins
Chronic pain

Addiction to opiate or prescription painkillers (Kambo reduces physical pain, thus helping people kick their addictions to other painkillers)
Fever and infections
Negative energies (traditionally known as “panema”)

How Kambo is Administered

In the Amazon, kambo is traditionally collected early in the morning, when the Phyllomedusa bicolor—the giant monkey frog from which the secretion is derived—are singing and can easily be found. Without harming them, a shaman scrapes secretion from the frog’s skin with a stick. The secretion is then administered to a person via small holes that are burned into the top few layers of their skin, usually on the arm. Because of its purging and cleansing properties, kambo is often used as a precursor to an ayahuasca ceremony, which is also used by many of the same tribes.

Undertaking a kambo ceremony can be an intense experience. In addition to burning holes in the top layers of the skin, it can cause a strong reaction in your nervous system, including side effects such as muscle cramps, swelling, vomiting, and a strong emotional reaction which is intense in the moment, but leaves you feeling relaxed after about an hour. While the experience is not for everyone, Kambo’s cleansing effects begin within minutes of administration, and it leaves most people feeling less pain in the days and weeks after treatment.

Proper Conditions for Use

It’s always advised to take kambo with an experienced practitioner to support a positive experience. By treating this sacred frog secretion with respect, many people experience a powerful cleansing of negative energies, decrease their physical pain, and treat a wide variety of physical and psychospiritual ailments.