Phenibut - My Experience And Cautionary Response...

Hey y'all...

Most of you will know me as being the one on the forum who tries the substances not often heard of, and as the title suggests, I decided to try Phenibut for the wife and myself. Phenibut is a GABA antagonist, with anxiolytic properties which are said to relax the nervous system and thereby relieve anxiety - and potentially depression.

I got 20gm from a very reliable source who has been trading for a number of years within the EU (not sold legally in the UK). It is very bitter to taste and you can have in powder or salted crystal form. The former is mixed with water and drunk; the latter taken sublingually (under the tongue). Effects are similar according to sources, but I went with the powder. 

A typical dose is 750-1500mg.. apparently. So knowing only too well, I started out with 500mg. Did nothing for the wife or myself. Next day went to 750mg - still nothing - no different. Third day I went to 1000mg and the wife to 1250mg.... holy cow!

How can 250mg make that much difference?!

We both had the same effects. At peak dosage - around 4-5 hours, we were both acting like we were on something like cocaine - laughing, joking, jabbering on at about 50 syllables/second, eating way too much. Apart from being a bit lightheaded, it was an "interesting" couple of hours. Do not expect anything to occur for at least 90 minutes to 2 hours after taking the dose - DO NOT take more after the first dose. Wait for 24 hours before trying another dose - even a few extra milligrams.

Whilst, true enough, there was no depression and no anxiety... and the wife did 2 hours of work, and then went and did some grocery shopping ON HER OWN, which is a huge deal, she was all over the place on the way back and spilt some chicken tikka!! It is not the sort of effect you want for an ongoing anti-anxiety drug in my opinion.

However... 6-7 hours passed and then we both felt a huge come down... again as one might expect from a class A. We were both feeling a lot more dizzy, and then very nauseous. Then, perhaps inevitably, we were both vomiting. We both then stayed in bed for a good couple of hours to sweat it out and finally the course had passed and "normality" resumed. 

Take this as you will - but an experience of Phenibut of two people having the same experience.

IUN

Yes, I did a search of the site for Phenibut prior to taking the plunge, but fairly minimal reporting... hence the new topic to add to the few that currently exist.

I think there is something to be said for compounding dosage, so 1000gm might not have had quite such a reaction if taken first, but as you will agree, that is a stupid idea without first trying a much smaller dose for reactions.

I think I will leave it a week or so, and then try 500mg every 24 hours, or perhaps 250mg every 12 hours and see how this goes. But treading careful for sure. Don't want another "trip" like today...

Er, yes, an update.

I had the most vivid dream last night. I was acting out the life of something akin to a Hugh Grant actor in a rom com!! I slept for 11 hours straight!!! I woke up and I could remember every little detail for the dream and it was so so detailed and was beautiful. I have not had anything like that for months, so I can only assume that it was the phenibut. If I could have sleep like that every night I would for sure consider taking it, but need to re-think the dose. 

I did feel a bit dizzy still this morning and a very slight derealisation - but this is consistent with prolonged sleep. 

Love and lovage

Update - still feeling a bit of the euphoria today, but still a bit drowsy. Head was still a little spinning for a couple of hours and then it cleared. I can see why some people only say to take this twice a week.

I would like to do some more experimenting with this; I've had a really good day despite being exceedingly busy...

https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC5952553/

That's what it says, but most people find the onset takes a good couple of hours. I have read in places that it takes around 30 minutes, but from the experiences that I have noted, this is far from the case. And was corroborated by the wife and myself. 

There is no question that it really hit full whack at around 4 hours following the dose. The mania episode lasted between 2.5 - 3 hours and then the come down onset was also instantaneous....

Nausea to vomit was about 20 minutes... thought you might enjoy that fact

Ohh, I am not doubting your reaction, I was doubting the 5.3 hours because that doesn't match the information I have heard from others.

Very limited research on this one, but I think they must have it wrong there for sure. 

Normal sleep resumed today and head relatively dizziness-free, so looks like the Phenibut is all out of my system.

I will return to the experiment, but as I said, need to leave it a good few days first to level out.

I have been doing some homework on the use of Phenibut, and I needed to post what I found here because I don't want anyone to read this and do something wrong.

Phenibut should only be taken in doses of 1mg and above ONCE A WEEK at the very most. This I have since found is the dose for recreational use rather than an ongoing maintenance dose of relieving depression and anxiety; I am still working on this one.

Obviously, being an occasional Kratom user, I wanted to know the effects if I was foolish enough to combine them - not that I would - but it is always safe to know. Whilst I have found that they are OK when combined, the information found in this Reddit link shows just how much you need to RESPECT THE DOSE of the Phenibut. 

Please read at the discussion below just what the effects of Phenibut can do if abused. The words "worse than heroine withdrawal" should do it if nothing else.

https://www.reddit.c...but_and_kratom/

THIS is why I am working on a very low dose, and THIS is why after taking it three days straight that I had such a reaction.

Guinea Pig IUN has warned you

Excellent work. What a sacrifice for the good of the team.  lol

Excellent work. What a sacrifice for the good of the team.  lol

Gee thanks Hat... what's the next substance lined up for me?!

Hat... Need your advice on this update.

It got as far as Saturday and I started to feel a little low and more anxious than usual. Thought nothing of it and just let the feelings pass... but was still uncomfortable by the evening. As it was half a week gone, I thought it would be a good time to trial a smaller dose of the Phenibut - this time at 500mg. Sure enough, it took all uncomfortable feelings away for the remainder of the day.

Fast forward to Sunday and I woke to feeling more depressed than usual - quite a sting actually. This continued for about 3-4 hours and then again went to a more anhedonic state in the evening, but took nothing.

Woke this morning and again, nasty depression hit and stayed with me for another 4 hours or so. Then again, hit an anhedonic state and have been the same since. Having had over 3 months of feeling much better this really hit me, but it then occurred to me... Christmas 2018... the Pregabalin. 

I was on that for 5 days before coming off and if you remember, I went through a week or so of the worst depression. Phenibut... Pregabalin.... both GABA antagonists.

Do you think this is the same occurring? That I have got a withdrawal from these two doses of Phenibut? 

The symptoms point to a GABA withdrawal - depression, anhedonia, loss of appetite, slight loss of concentration....

Probably so. Life sucks sometimes.

Doesn't it just - particularly when you try and do the right thing... Will keep things posted.

The wife also took 500mg but didn't have anything out of the ordinary, but her depression is still very much there, so she had less of a way to go than myself...

OK - this officially sucks.

Woke up to depression that I prayed would never darken my thoughts ever again. Perfect timing as it was therapy day! 

But this Phenibut is no joke. Two doses and I really have been done a number by this stuff. It would seem that even after doses around 1.5gm, just once off, people have had a week of depression follow suit;

https://www.reddit.c...gh_dose_binges/

I really wish I had seen this before I went near it. I am guessing that the worst of it was delayed from my large dose on Wednesday as I took another half dose on Saturday. But this is now out of the system as of this evening, so this explains the day I have had. 

Knowing my luck I will be one of these weekly poor souls.... no idea how I coped with work today, but I know this withdrawal game and I won't let the drugs win...

Another update...

After the above, I gradually got better until today where I feel fully recovered from the effects. So 6 days after second dose - had I have not taken the second dose, I would still have had the same rebound effects, but a couple of days sooner.

Whilst I am not going near the stuff again, the wife has agreed to trial it at smaller and more frequent doses as it would be prescribed. So today she is taking 250mg twice a day for five days. At this point we will see if there is any improvement. I don't want her on doses higher than this as it will lead to a withdrawal when she has to stop and as far as I can tell, anything close to 1gm per day continuously invites a bit of a withdrawal, so halving this keeps those odds quite low.

I would anticipate some sort of withdrawal after it is stopped, but done slowly, I do not see a problem.

Will report back in a few days on findings.

Very good report, thanks IUN.  (IUN = Guinea Pig)

You know it...

That would be amazing!!!

teaspoons for 6 months!!? Good God!!

If you kept the momentum you would have been ok, but this is simply not possible long term with Phenibut. 

Not sure if I mentioned this already above, but this is the choice for curing depression and anxiety in Russia, but the doses are very low and monitored very closely. Used correctly, I have no doubt that it can be a useful drug.

My wife couldn't continue as she was also on an SSRI, but a lesser dose than myself. Phenibut is NOT to be mixed with anti-depressants. Period.