# Phenibut sent me to the ER



## User5 (Jun 22, 2010)

A really strange thing happened to me after 3 months of taking phenibut. It has been a wonder drug for killing social anxiety so far, as it's a relaxant and mind stimulant (without actually being a stimulant). 

Suddenly, the effects stopped and instead of allowing me to have less anxiety, it has actually forced me to go into withdrawal eventhough I take the same dose everyday. It's like my body rejects it to protect itself from me. I'll admit, I've taken above and beyond the recommended dosage these last months, but it seems strange that a drug could poop out so quickly, and even go into reverse. I went from feeling anxiety free to being admitted to the ER for insomnia, paranoia, and extreme tenseness. So odd.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

did you get a different batch of phenibut when that change happened? I have noticed with the commercially available brands there can be quite a difference in potency even when using the same brand, just from batch to batch.


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## User5 (Jun 22, 2010)

istayhome said:


> did you get a different batch of phenibut when that change happened? I have noticed with the commercially available brands there can be quite a difference in potency even when using the same brand, just from batch to batch.


Wow that's a really good insight. I think the Primaforce powder that I bought might have such low potency that it sent me though a withdrawal. I wonder if Primaforce is bad for that compared to SNS. Have you had batches that have been almost a total waste?

Thanks man!


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## hack646 (Jun 11, 2011)

Phenibut is not really a drug you want to be taking every day anyway. Its much safer if taken on a prn basis. 1-2, maybe 3 times a week. Anything more and you're asking for trouble.

Edit: Also I've never tried the primaforce brand, but SNS has always worked well for me.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

User5 said:


> Wow that's a really good insight. I think the Primaforce powder that I bought might have such low potency that it sent me though a withdrawal. I wonder if Primaforce is bad for that compared to SNS. Have you had batches that have been almost a total waste?
> 
> Thanks man!


Yeah, primaforce is about half the potency of sns. I used phenibut for years. I usually bought from a chemical manufacturer in China to guarantee >99.9% potency.

I did try all of the commercially available brands though. Primaforce is very impure, I would estimate it at 50%. SNS seems very pure. You can tell just by the taste. Pure phenibut has a revolting bitter taste with an aftertaste just like bile when you puke.

In my experience, the more awful it tastes, the more pure it is.

I once got a tub of primaforce and shared it with others, we all noted how impure it was.

good luck!


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## riptide991 (Feb 1, 2012)

Supplement industry is not regulated. There is so much crap in a lot of that stuff. Some companies dilute the active ingredient and mislabel the amount provided.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

kehcorpz said:


> Supplement industry is not regulated. There is so much crap in a lot of that stuff. Some companies dilute the active ingredient and mislabel the amount provided.


agreed, you gotta' cut out the middle man and buy direct from the manufacturer.


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## riptide991 (Feb 1, 2012)

istayhome said:


> agreed, you gotta' cut out the middle man and buy direct from the manufacturer.


I guess they are more trustworthy but even their stuff has other byproducts in it. The only industry that guarantees purity is the pharmaceutical industry because it is tested and all ingredients must be listed including fillers. Even creatine for example is never pure it has so many byproducts that are horrible for you, it's impossible to make it pure. This is why companies always say 99.9%, this way they remove liability.

I personally have trust issues with China from all the bad products that enter into Canada. There have been many children's toys pulled for containing lead and other impurities. Their regulations aren't as tight and with our import laws they don't even verify anything. Scary stuff. But if you have a reliable source that's cool. I would still have it tested in a lab.


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## User5 (Jun 22, 2010)

hack646 said:


> Phenibut is not really a drug you want to be taking every day anyway. Its much safer if taken on a prn basis. 1-2, maybe 3 times a week. Anything more and you're asking for trouble.
> 
> Edit: Also I've never tried the primaforce brand, but SNS has always worked well for me.


I'm aware that I've abused it.


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## User5 (Jun 22, 2010)

kehcorpz said:


> Supplement industry is not regulated. There is so much crap in a lot of that stuff. Some companies dilute the active ingredient and mislabel the amount provided.


that's true. I guess I'm going to have to live with the chances. thanks for the SNS thumbs up.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

User5 said:


> I'm aware that I've abused it.


I don't even see daily use as abuse. Using it daily greatly helped me for a couple years. I never developed a tolerance and I was able to quit quite easily. Could just be me though.


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## User5 (Jun 22, 2010)

istayhome said:


> I don't even see daily use as abuse. Using it daily greatly helped me for a couple years. I never developed a tolerance and I was able to quit quite easily. Could just be me though.


That's encouraging. Why'd you ever stop?


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

User5 said:


> That's encouraging. Why'd you ever stop?


I'm just trying to reduce the number of medications I'm on. I also started taking lamictal and my anxiety levels seemed to be reduced so I thought I could get by without it.

I'm on valium and xanax too so I quit 1 g of phenibut cold turkey after two years of daily use and I didn't really notice any withdrawals. Maybe a little rebound anxiety for a couple weeks.


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## xsiv8 (Jan 26, 2012)

istayhome said:


> I'm just trying to reduce the number of medications I'm on. I also started taking lamictal and my anxiety levels seemed to be reduced so I thought I could get by without it.
> 
> I'm on valium and xanax too so I quit 1 g of phenibut cold turkey after two years of daily use and I didn't really notice any withdrawals. Maybe a little rebound anxiety for a couple weeks.


I'm assuming you had some blood work done after or during those two years...did anything negative kidney/liver-wise show up? I've used it and recently tapered off and I'd say my use was close to 10 mths total. I didn't really keep track of when I started. Anyways, 8-10mths or so. I got bloodwork done about 3 weeks ago, and everything came back clear. I'll admit, I was a bit concerned only because I'd use it recreationally on the weekends, at times, going upto 5 grams on a Saturday. I'd always try and level off during the week to 1.5-2grams per day and found that it kept my anxiety under control and even made me prosocial but it pooped out. After having to increase dose to get similar effects, I developed a dependence on it. Took trial and error to figure out that a slowwww taper worked best for me. I'm just curious if you ever saw any anomalies in blood work/kidney function.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

I had blood-work done 3-4 times during that period, I was always fine. Higher doses of phenibut are hard on the liver. I think one day I did 4 grams of phenibut, was very sick and woke up the next day with some liver pain. But thankfully nothing lasting.

My kidney and liver function is fine. I actually recently had everything tested since quitting phenibut due to an unrelated illness and everything came back fine. So at least for me I have received no negative side effects from my use of it. All-in-all I think phenibut can be very useful for relieving anxiety and I have seen nothing to suggest it is harmful other than high doses being hard on the liver, comparable to heavy drinking or large doses of NSAID's.


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## xsiv8 (Jan 26, 2012)

istayhome said:


> I had blood-work done 3-4 times during that period, I was always fine. Higher doses of phenibut are hard on the liver. I think one day I did 4 grams of phenibut, was very sick and woke up the next day with some liver pain. But thankfully nothing lasting.
> 
> My kidney and liver function is fine. I actually recently had everything tested since quitting phenibut due to an unrelated illness and everything came back fine. So at least for me I have received no negative side effects from my use of it. All-in-all I think phenibut can be very useful for relieving anxiety and I have seen nothing to suggest it is harmful other than high doses being hard on the liver, comparable to heavy drinking or large doses of NSAID's.


That's good to hear. I think Phenibut is a useful adjunct for anxiety and motivation when used sparingly in my case. I just continued unabated for too long because I enjoyed how it helped me. It did take some time to come off of it without dastardly withdrawal symptoms but I was patient. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. I've never experienced any kinds of pain even when using high doses and it's my understanding that it's primarily metabolized by the kidneys. Glad to hear everything went well.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

the kidney's don't "metabolize" anything. That is the job of liver enzymes. The kidneys are literally full of tiny filters, called Nephron's, that filter the blood of anything that will be excreted via urine. So they would "filter" out the phenibut metabolites long after the liver has done it's work on the drug.


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## xsiv8 (Jan 26, 2012)

istayhome said:


> the kidney's don't "metabolize" anything. That is the job of liver enzymes. The kidneys are literally full of tiny filters, called Nephron's, that filter the blood of anything that will be excreted via urine. So they would "filter" out the phenibut metabolites long after the liver has done it's work on the drug.


Incorrect term..sorry. Like Baclofen, Phenibut's biotransformation is low and the drug is predominantly excreted in the unchanged form by the kidneys. That's what I meant when referring to it's action in the kidney. The liver is a much more forgiving organ though isn't it?


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## User5 (Jun 22, 2010)

istayhome said:


> I don't even see daily use as abuse. Using it daily greatly helped me for a couple years. I never developed a tolerance and I was able to quit quite easily. Could just be me though.


thats good to know. were u taking it with anything else though? the alium and such?


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

User5 said:


> thats good to know. were u taking it with anything else though? the alium and such?


Yeah I was taking it with benzos and antidepressants and drinking quite a bit at the time. A big combination that everyone will tell you should have lead me to a very early death but it was all good.

Later I quit antidepressants and I quit alcohol but I continued benzos and phenibut for about 5 months before quitting phenibut. Now I am on benzos and lamictal and doing better.


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## User5 (Jun 22, 2010)

istayhome said:


> Yeah I was taking it with benzos and antidepressants and drinking quite a bit at the time. A big combination that everyone will tell you should have lead me to a very early death but it was all good.
> 
> Later I quit antidepressants and I quit alcohol but I continued benzos and phenibut for about 5 months before quitting phenibut. Now I am on benzos and lamictal and doing better.


What has lamictal done for you? Are you able to work and be outside?


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

User5 said:


> What has lamictal done for you? Are you able to work and be outside?


Lamictal has helped reduce anxiety and depression. I'm really "sensitive" to anything serotonergic. All the SSRI's/TCA's make me really irritable and kind of hypomanic. I'm currently on 200 mg of Lamictal which seems to help me be much more aware of my mood and mental state thus being able to better cope with however I'm feeling and look act on the situation more objectively.

It basically works a lot better for me to help relieve feelings of anxiety and depression than any of the Antidepressants ever have. Since starting it I have been increasingly more active. I live on a farm so I have been doing much more work on the farm as well as bicycling and getting into town more, finding myself less anxious in social situations usually and motivated more often to engage in activities.


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## StygianThemis (Oct 31, 2013)

*Be extremely cautious with this stuff.*



hack646 said:


> Phenibut is not really a drug you want to be taking every day anyway. Its much safer if taken on a prn basis. 1-2, maybe 3 times a week. Anything more and you're asking for trouble.


^Seriously listen to this.

Phenibut has ridiculously TERRIBLE withdrawals. Definitely *not* something you want to experience. Worse than heroin in some cases.

1-2, possibly 3 times a week. On the safe side 2 days out of the week. You probably know already, but I make it a point to tell anyone doing phenibut to watch the god damn cliff they're standing on.

I'd use it for only paramount purposes: an extreme episode of anxiety, not just the typical constant anxiety.
_____
I tried some LiftMode stuff which gave pretty decent effects, but not really what I expected. And the good effects were short lived. I'll have to give SNS a try. One try. For 1-2 days of the week. >_> Careful.


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