Meeting the Frog: Kambo, Autoimmunity, and the Sacred Art of Release

Kambo frog medicine is a deeply purgative ritual that clears stuck energy, outdated mental thought patterns, buried emotional pain, and physical toxins from the body. It stimulates the immune system, activates cellular intelligence, and connects you to your primal will to survive and thrive. Kambo brings you to the threshold — the edge where your system identifies what no longer belongs and initiates an unflinching release.

This release is not just physical. It’s the kind of purge that digs its hands into the roots of your being and pulls up grief, loss, truth, rage—whatever has been rotting quietly inside. It makes visible the unseen, the felt-but-never-spoken. The grief of disconnection from self or other. The soul-weariness of holding both order and chaos in one fragile body. The injustices we’ve swallowed too many times to count.

In that liminal space, Kambo becomes a teacher. It asks: Can you stay with yourself here? Can you trust what your body knows? Can you release what you’ve been too afraid or too conditioned to let go of?

The Call of the Frog

Kambo came to me the way medicine often does—through resistance, signs, and undeniable timing.

My friend Diego served me Kambo. Diego is a Medicine Man who became our neighbor and our friend. In the beginning, we resisted his kind spirit and gentle invitations. After so many years of struggling to find authentic mentors and peers on this path, our hearts were cautious. Hardened. Tired of false promises and charismatic projections. But Diego was patient. Unwavering. Real. And to him, I now say: thank you for your grace with us.

I had also been resistant to working with Kambo itself. Not because I didn’t feel its presence in my field, but because I did—strongly. Two years ago, in a dream ceremony where I asked for my name, I was given four words: Eclipse, Maracuya, Frog, and Glacier. I knew “Frog” wasn’t Bufo. I already had a relationship with toad medicine. This was something different, and I suspected it was Kambo. My resistance centered around the vomiting that comes with this medicine.

My History With Purging

I’ve had a tense relationship with purging. I was not a purger in the traditional eating disorder sense, though my relationship to purging was certainly entangled with a disconnected relationship to the food I was putting in my body. It was also deeply connected to my disordered relationship with emotions. I was a puker in the highly sensitive and overwhelmed-by-life sense. Certain foods sent me straight to the garbage can, and when I was deeply emotionally activated, I would have episodes of uncontrollable purging. And over time, I trained myself to suppress that reflex. To suppress my body's attempts to cleanse itself. To suppress the emotion that rose with it. Even in ceremonies like Ayahuasca, where purging is expected, I held it in. My body, having grown accustomed to overriding its own wisdom, simply clenched down.

So I knew what Kambo would ask of me. And I knew why I was afraid of it.

Still, the buildup came. My last macro-dose of mushrooms—ten grams in a very intentional potion—revealed just how much emotion a single body can hold. It was unfathomable. Ten grams only began to shine a light on the deep, dark well inside me.

And then it happened. A wave of grief so intense it made me want to puke. That was the sign. The threshold. The body saying, “Now.”

A Ceremony of Release

I didn’t come to Kambo to bypass the sadness. I came to honor it. To make contact with the deep well, unzip the intuitive stomach (a concept I’ve come to cherish through the work of Mary Shutan), and release what no longer served my soul’s evolution.

After the session, I was still sad—but I wasn’t drowning. I had space. I had access to laughter. My boundaries sharpened—but not out of fear or bitterness. There was compassion in them. A rich, embodied clarity about who I trust, and who I don’t. I appreciated the people in my life more fully. I was softer with myself. And most notably, I didn’t feel the need to express everything I noticed or sensed. Some truths could simply be, without the urgency to name them or act on them.

There’s more, of course. There always is. But you get the idea. These are the lessons that come when you walk near death—physical or symbolic. Kambo didn’t invent the truth, but it accelerated my meeting with it.

And that’s the beauty. For those walking an embodiment-based path, Kambo isn’t just a purge. It’s a teacher. A mirror. A guide.

The Legal Landscape

🇲🇽 Kambo in Mexico

Kambo is legal and widely practiced in Mexico. There are no national laws prohibiting its use, sale, or ceremonial administration. Many Indigenous and mestizo healers, as well as Western-trained practitioners, offer Kambo throughout the country. However, it remains unregulated, which means the safety of your experience depends heavily on the skill, ethics, and trauma-awareness of the practitioner.

🇺🇸 Kambo in the United States

In the U.S., Kambo is legal at the federal level—it’s not a controlled substance and there are no federal bans. However:

• It is not FDA-approved for any medical use.

• Some states and counties may regulate it indirectly through health codes or business licensing.

• There have been isolated legal investigations when Kambo was administered unsafely or without informed consent.

So while it’s technically legal, the U.S. landscape calls for caution, especially if you’re serving others.

What Is Kambo, Really?

Kambo is the secretion of the Phyllomedusa bicolor tree frog, native to the Amazon rainforest. It is not psychedelic, but it is bioactive—meaning it acts on the body in immediate and powerful ways. Indigenous tribes use it traditionally for cleansing, hunting preparation, spiritual protection, and vitality. Westerners tend to encounter it through detox, trauma healing, or autoimmune work.

Kambo’s secret lies in its peptides—small chains of amino acids that interact with our body systems. It contains over a dozen unique bioactive peptides with wide-ranging effects on the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems.

The Peptides: Scientific Allies in the Frog

Here are a few of the most relevant peptides for those with autoimmune concerns:

1. Dermorphin & Deltorphin

• Natural opioid peptides that bind to delta and mu-opioid receptors.

• Provide pain relief, mood regulation, and anti-inflammatory effects.

• May support the neuroimmune loop, which often goes haywire in autoimmune states.

2. Phyllocaerulein & Sauvagine

• Influence the gastrointestinal tract and vascular system.

• Reduce inflammation, support digestion, and modulate blood pressure.

• Helpful for those with leaky gut or gut-related autoimmunity.

3. Adenoregulin

• Regulates adenosine receptors involved in immune response and inflammation.

• Can help balance immune signaling—ideal in conditions where the immune system is both hyperactive and misdirected.

4. Dermaseptins

• Antimicrobial peptides that fight bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses.

• Strengthen the detox pathways, which are often sluggish in people with autoimmune conditions.

  
  

Kambo and Autoimmunity: A Holistic Lens

✅ Immune Modulation

Kambo doesn’t suppress the immune system like pharmaceuticals do—it modulates it, inviting balance rather than blunt force shutdown. That’s crucial in autoimmune healing.

✅ Nervous System Reset

Autoimmune conditions are often accompanied by chronic fight-or-flight states. Kambo temporarily activates the sympathetic nervous system, but afterward, a profound parasympathetic calm often follows—a window for true reset and repair.

✅ Gut and Liver Support

Kambo promotes detoxification through vomiting, urination, and bowel movements. It helps flush the liver and gallbladder, improving bile flow and digestive resilience—key areas in autoimmune recovery.

✅ Emotional and Energetic Detox

Grief. Rage. Shame. Fear. These emotions are not abstract in autoimmune clients—they’re somatized. Kambo helps unearth and move them, often with cathartic intensity.

⚠️ Proceed with Respect

• Kambo is not a cure for autoimmune disease.

• It should be avoided during flares or in those with adrenal insufficiency, Addison’s disease, serious cardiovascular issues, or kidney/liver compromise.

• Only work with skilled, ethical, trauma-informed practitioners who understand screening and emergency care.

  
  

🌿 Closing Thoughts

For those of us on a path of healing, Kambo isn’t just about purging what’s in the gut—it’s about clearing what’s been lodged in the soul. The body is wise. It knows what it’s ready to release. Kambo simply brings it to the threshold and says: Now. Let it go.

And if you’re willing, it will show you what you’re truly made of—not in the pain, but in the power that remains after the release.