Ergonovine, also known as ergometrine and lysergic acid propanolamide is a medication used to cause contractions of the uterus to treat heavy vaginal bleeding after childbirth.[6][1] It can be used either by mouth, by injection into a muscle, or injection into a vein.[6] It begins working within 15 minutes when taken by mouth and is faster in onset when used by injection.[6] Effects last between 45 and 180 minutes.[6]
Gastrointestinal disturbances such as diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, are common.[15] The drug is contraindicated in pregnancy, vascular disease, and psychosis.
Ergonovine induces psychedelic effects at doses of 2–10mg, in contrast to its medical use in doses of 0.2–0.4mg.[17][18][19][20][21] The most common source of ergonovine for drug users is Ipomoea tricolor seeds, as they are the only commonly available natural product that hosts an ergoline-generating fungus.[22] The ergonovine content of I. tricolor seeds varies between one-tenth and one-third of ergine, an ergonovine analog.[23] One person who had the opportunity to try ergonovine to see its psychedelic potential stated that it was mild relative to other psychedelics, but that ergine may synergize with it;[24] indeed the contrast between Hofmann's self-administration of Ipomoea corymbosa extract and synthetic ergine is apparent in his essay on the initial analysis of I. corymbosa and I. tricolor seeds.[25]
The psychoactive property of these simple lysergic acid amides, closely related to LSD, is well established. The question presented itself whether ergonovine, being not only an alkaloidal component of ergot but also of ololiuhqui, possessed hallucinogenic activity. In the light of its chemical structure this did not seem unlikely: it does not differ much from LSD. But one may ask why, if it is hallucinogenic, this astonishing fact has not been announced, in the light of its use over recent decades in obstetrics. Undoubtedly the answer lies in the extremely low dosage of ergonovine used to stop postpartum bleeding, viz 0.1 to 0.25 mg. The effective dose of lysergic acid amide is 1 to 2 mg by oral application. I decided therefore to test in a self-experiment a corresponding dose of ergonovine:
The pharmacological properties of ergot were known and had been utilised by midwives for centuries, but were not thoroughly researched and publicized until the early 20th century. However, its abortifacient effects and the danger of ergotism meant that it was only prescribed cautiously, as in the treatment of postpartum haemorrhage.[26]
Ergonovine was first isolated and obtained by the chemists C Moir, H W Dudley and Gerald Rogers[citation needed] in 1935.[27][28] Caroline De Costa has argued that the adoption of ergonovine for preventive use and for treating bleeding contributed to the decline in the maternal mortality rate in much of the West during the early 20th century.[26]
^World Health Organization (2019). World Health Organization model list of essential medicines: 21st list 2019. Geneva: World Health Organization. hdl:10665/325771. WHO/MVP/EMP/IAU/2019.06. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
^World Health Organization (2021). World Health Organization model list of essential medicines: 22nd list (2021). Geneva: World Health Organization. hdl:10665/345533. WHO/MHP/HPS/EML/2021.02.
^Cavero I, Guillon JM (2014). "Safety Pharmacology assessment of drugs with biased 5-HT(2B) receptor agonism mediating cardiac valvulopathy". Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods. 69 (2): 150–161. doi:10.1016/j.vascn.2013.12.004. PMID24361689.
^Bigwood J, Ott J, Thompson C, Neely P (1979). "Entheogenic effects of ergonovine". Journal of Psychedelic Drugs. 11 (1–2): 147–149. doi:10.1080/02791072.1979.10472099. PMID522166.
^Ripinsky-Naxon M (1993). "Chapter 5, The Ritual Drug Complex: Ethnobiology of Heaven and Hell. Psychoactivity and Mechanisms of Hallucinations". The Nature of Shamanism: Substance and Function of a Religious Metaphor. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 146. ISBN9781438417417.
^Ripinsky-Naxon M (1993). "Chapter 5, The Ritual Drug Complex: Ethnobiology of Heaven and Hell. Psychoactivity and Mechanisms of Hallucinations". The Nature of Shamanism: Substance and Function of a Religious Metaphor. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 146. ISBN9781438417417.