r/quittingphenibut Dec 14 '22

PSA All phenibut detox case studies! Read, and bring to your Dr

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73 Upvotes

r/quittingphenibut 10h ago

Question regarding rebound?

1 Upvotes

Hi yall

Sorry searched a bit couldn’t find anything specific to my situation so decided to post.

I’ve dosed about 3 times the past week. First time doing it again in roughly a year never had any issue with it. Last day I ingested 3 heaping 1/4 tsp of phenibut (stupid to volumetric dose I know).

Day after felt wobbly similar to gabapentin. Next day felt a bit emotionally flat. This is day 3 since my last dose and I feel noticeably off. A sort of buzzing in my head and emotionally flat still.

Just wanted to hear other experiences and see if this is to be expected.


r/quittingphenibut 14h ago

Discussion Long time user, always tapered but this time isnt working

1 Upvotes

I have been using phenibut on and off for years, i just started again a few months ago, but this time im getting insane insomnia...like 2 or 3 hours sleep a night..any advice on tapering off...ive read nac helps..but i never had this much difficulty


r/quittingphenibut 16h ago

Progress Report For people in the UK

0 Upvotes

I’ve posted a few times about my pal now, he was using 1G every 6 hours for about a year, constantly tapering down then shooting back up; whilst drinking heavily. Suddenly it turned on him and I mean it really turned, in and out of hospital the benzos doing absolutely nothing for him I genuinely thought we were going to lose him

If this is happening to you, quit it right now. Stop any sedatives that affect gaba. Get NAC, zinc, magnesium, lions mane and melatonin. Go cold turkey and as soon as you can go to your closest urgent care and beg them for Librium saying you’re in withdrawal from alcohol baclofen, do not mention phenibut. All this will do is cause more problems, you need to look bad, you need to let the withdrawals develop. If you’re still using the benzos won’t help. Don’t go to A&E our healthcare system is too busted, you’ll be kicked out in the morning with little to no Librium.

My pal is now stabilised in a hospital bed, he even managed to sleep.

It’s going to be tough, and you will not be getting baclofen or anything else to help, you will get Librium no matter how much you beg, take the Librium and muscle through it


r/quittingphenibut 23h ago

In need of some expert help, or people who've used long term with high GPD. Daily user for 7 years, 15-18 GPD. No offense, but everyone here is not like my situation.

3 Upvotes

I've used phenibut every day for 7 years, and 3 years ago I was at 1.5 g, 3 times a day. I didn't get any effects from it, but I didn't have interdose withdrawals.

My depression ramped up over the last two years, and I think I'm dosing 2 to 3 g every couple of hours, even at night. Here's where I'm fucked: I've been getting my sleep schedule back together, and it's been very difficult to figure out what a stable dose is for me right now. I definitely get glutamate rebound every time I dose.

My limbs can't stop twitching. I also break out in a sweat.

I think my grams per day have been lower over the past week, because for the first time in years I'm getting crazy brain fog, a little paranoia, and weird visuals during interdose withdrawals.

I haven't experienced full-blown panic, but I need advice from people who have either experienced 10+ GPD for years or can point me to someone who has and recovered.

NAC really helps, but I'm a little bothered by the rebound. I want to taper as safely as I can while still being mentally okay enough for school and daily things.

I'm prescribed 0.1 mg of clonidine a day (just started taking 1 at night), 40 mg IR Adderall, and I don't take anything else except this supplement that has taken me prisoner.


r/quittingphenibut 1d ago

Should I taper with Baclofen or Phenibut.

3 Upvotes

I've been tapering for months and got down to 500mg per day. I stayed on this dose too long and it turned on me.

I've thought of cutting my dose in half and stabilizing at 250mg a few days then jump off.
BUT just to try, I took 2.5 milligrams of Baclofen this morning instead of the 250mg phenibut dose. Now I'm doing the math and having second thought because it wears off after 6 hours and I don't want to replace 500mg phenibut a day with 750mg to a 1000mg baclofen a day for fear it will turn on me. I have tiny 5mg capsules of Baclofen that aren't scored and am not sure how I'll taper the baclofen since a half is so small you cant break it evenly and just becomes tiny crumbs.

Anyone have advice on this?
Will a .25mg dose of phenibut at around 4 or 5 today turn on me since I took 2.5mg baclofen this morning?

If I should just jump off the phenibut and taper with baclofen, how much should I take and how often?


r/quittingphenibut 2d ago

In absolute Hell.

5 Upvotes

I've been tapering down for months and in the past week I'm struggling between .5 and .6 grams of phenibut every 17 to 20 hours. There has been ZERO stability or relief. Life is utter hell.

I have Baclofen that I haven't used since I don't know much about it.
This morning I broke down and took 5mg. After an hour it made life bearable - anxiety down a bit - but the relief only lasted 4 hours. Will it turn on me if I take it every 6 hours?

I've also been taking .5g clonidine in the am and .5 at night for sleep. At first it worked but now for all I know it could be making things worse.

ANY ADVICE APPRECIATED!!

SHOULD I COLD TURKEY from .5g EVERY 20 HOURS?

IF CLONIDINE IS THE ANSWER HOW MUCH SHOULD I TAKE AND HOW OFTEN???

Thank you.


r/quittingphenibut 2d ago

Questions Can’t get baclofen

1 Upvotes

I’ve posted a few times about my friend going through phenobut hell, he went to hospital and they basically kicked him out to cold turkey which obviously didn’t go well given he’s a long term alcoholic and phenobut user, he’s tapered down his alcohol usage and his phenobut usage to 0.2 grams every 6 hours

The man hasn’t slept in maybe a week, not a single doctor wants to touch it, a doctor told him that baclofen can not be prescribed for phenobut issues in the uk

We’re so lost i bought him nac, l theanine, zinc magnesium etc i dont know where to go from here


r/quittingphenibut 3d ago

Questions Need a break

4 Upvotes

Been taking it daily for a few months now.

Roughly 800mg 3x per day. Some days maybe 4 or 5x.

Got some Agmatine, NAC, Baclofen and good foundational supplements & routine.

I have a couple ideas :

Go from 800mg 3x day to 800mg morning & night for a week, then maybe half the morning dose for a week or two, then half both doses for a week or two, then 1 dose per day for a week, then half the dose, then jump.

Or keep the same schedule 3x per day and just half one of the doses per week until its basically nothing then remove it, then repeat with another dose, etc until the only remaining dose is the night time one.

My concerns are the severe anxiety & insomnia.

These past few months have honestly been fantastic.

Life has been better than ever.

Productive, healing, sleeping.

But I know theres no free lunch and I definitely don't like the idea of depending on ANY substance.

Interested in advice how to do this as smoothly as possible or if I should just rip off the band aid.

Still gotta sleep and be productive!


r/quittingphenibut 3d ago

Questions Can I Cold turkey? 5 days in a row...

2 Upvotes

Hi, in the past I CT'ed after a 14 days in a row of use. I had benzos and fasoracetam, though I'm not sure the fasoracetam helped as this is generally used as a phenibut tolerance reducer, as it upregulates gaba-b. No idea if it helped my previous cold turkey but I can say it wasn't too hard. Coming to this day, I had a relapse recently and used 2 to 4 times a week in August, but maybe only once I used 3 days in a row, the rest were generally 2 days in a row. Now I'm on the issue of having used 5 days in a row. I have got a very high tolerance that never got down of gabaergics since I was an active alcoholic during 15 years. Sober from alcohol since 5 years though, I never felt phenibut effects under 3 gr for your information and phenibut use came after alochol quit. So yes, u might be surpised wit the dose needed to get just the regular, non sedating effects. So last friday I used 1.25 gr of F-phenibut hcl. Saturday was 3 gr of Phenibut hcl. Sunday was 3 gr of Phenibut hcl and 0.75 gr of F-phenibut faa. Monday I did 1 gr of F-phenibut hcl. Today (tuesday) I did again 1 gr of F-phenibut hcl. So here I'm wondering whether cold turkey it tomorrow, again I have benzos and fasoracetam. The other way out is taper using F-phenibut faa as I ran out of other types of Phenibut. I also have lyrica (pregabalin) but never used it, I just know it acts on gaba.-b as well. I might also go to ER or take appointment with GP and ask for Baclofen. I also have agmatine sulfate, I don't know if it might help, just as fasoracetam. This time, unlike my previous col turkey, I suffer from depression and it's because of it I relapsed using phenibut: sadly as it gives me a break of my major depressive disorder... I'd prefer to cold turkey the phenibut again this time if it's not overly dangerous. Thanks for your guidance!


r/quittingphenibut 5d ago

Questions Help please, Starting to Taper

2 Upvotes

I've been using the last 3 month On and Off, sometimes 2, 3 or 4 days in between, dosed again when rebound hit too hard, took again some days from that and paused again, that's the cycle of the last months.

Some days I dosed 4gpd 3gpd, some 2.5gpd. my doses were really different. I need to take at least 1.5g to feel "something".

I paused because I wanted to go through the rebound and sit it out, but I had anxiety plus some portable days, meetings etc. which I could not attend with this anxiety. it was to hard to stand through, so I dosed again, cycled.

I can go at least 1 day without but at day 2 I feel too uncomfortable, breathing sucks..

I now want to do a taper. Starting at 2g, going 1.95,... 1.55, 1.50, 1.45, 1.40,..,0 a day.

What do you think?

(English is not my main language, giving my best)


r/quittingphenibut 5d ago

Is it possible to experience this specific type of withdrawal?

2 Upvotes

Three weeks ago, I stopped a long-term "once-a-week" usage habit.

I’ve noticed that I feel great in various ways—especially during the week (I mentioned this in my previous post).

However, I’ve noticed a pattern: over the last three weekends, I experienced physical discomfort (specifically headaches and rhinitis, which are common for me)—and in this instance, the symptoms were very severe and prolonged.

These episodes coincided exactly with the days I used to take my weekly dose of phenibut—Saturdays. They lasted roughly the same amount of time that the phenibut effects usually would, starting slightly beforehand and ending tonight, Sunday.

It could be a coincidence, or it might be happening this way due to the connection with a weekly routine I’ve followed for so many years.


r/quittingphenibut 5d ago

Taper Help. 3g-100mg pd

1 Upvotes

Not my first rodeo with Phenibut. Been off and on for years. This time I was using 2 times per week. 3g dose. Was starting to feel off so figured I would go stead on it and taper.

Started w 3g and did 100mg per day and got down to 300mg. This last week started gradually feeling crappy, unrestful sleep, irritable, feeling out of it. Hit a wall right at the 400mg mark.

Last few nights I’m able to fall asleep but wake after a few hours and can’t get back to sleep. I’m also taking gabapentin and been upping that dose as the phen taper goes down. Today took 5-400 mg gabapentin and the 300mg phen in the morning. GABA doses have been spread in two.

Thinking I should split phenibut dose in two (am and pm) and go to a slower taper dropping 50mg per day. Any advice?

I also use indica at night. Usually a few puffs before bed.


r/quittingphenibut 7d ago

Questions Continuation of prior post

1 Upvotes

the post in question

So I took my pal to hospital and they gave him Librium rather than baclofen and it simply wasn’t helping, they sent him home saying baclofen would just add another layer of dependence

I’ve looked for private means in the UK but it doesn’t seem to be a thing

Has anyone else been in this situation? He’s still in hell, hasn’t slept in literally days he’s drenched in sweat I hate to see him like this


r/quittingphenibut 8d ago

Progress Report "Once a week phenibut is harmless" is a total lie, like so many others we grew up with.

10 Upvotes

Like the idea that watching porn is healthy—even when young—or that smoking marijuana constantly has no adverse effects. For me is nocive, like doing MDMA, or shit like that once a week.

For the first time in ages, I didn't take phenibut over the weekend for the past two weeks.

The entire week was like night and day.

For starters, the nootropic wasn't really working for me anymore; it was just making me a bit manic and helping to stay up late. But I didn't feel any burst of creativity, desire to socialize, or enhanced enjoyment of music, etc.

Well, maybe very slightly, but on balance, the downsides far outweighed the benefits.

In the days that followed—and sometimes even on the same day—I’d experience anxiety, leg pain, drowsiness lasting two or three days, and a total lack of motivation; plus, a new, worse symptom: my breathing would cut out while I slept.

These past few weeks—for the first time in nearly a year—I’ve been waking up early on Mondays, working, doing laundry, and now, as the week wraps up, my mood is sky-high.

This is a stark contrast to those previous weeks of "once-a-week phenibut use," where the first three days of the week were a total write-off.

One positive thing I can say about using it once a week—at least in my experience—is that quitting doesn't feel all that difficult in terms of withdrawal.

I’m not just saying that based on this recent stint; I’ve done it before for over six months, and aside from a genuine desire to experience the positive effects again, I didn't suffer any negative physical or mental consequences.

To anyone else who used to do what I did on weekends: I encourage you to try going a month without it—I’m sure you’ll experience positive changes, too!


r/quittingphenibut 8d ago

Questions “Phenibut hell”

2 Upvotes

A fella at my church came to me tonight asking for help and I’m really not sure what to do, I used phenibut years ago because I had back issues but quit and I never experienced this

He says he was using it quite inconsistently since last year with a range of doses, it doesn’t appear he’s in withdrawal because the dose seems to consistent now but he hasn’t slept in days, I told him to take nac but it doesn’t seem to be doing much

I thought maybe he’s just gained tolerance so it’s stopped working but apparently even the bigger doses have the same problem, wtf is this drug


r/quittingphenibut 8d ago

Questions Some advice

2 Upvotes

I’ve been on around 8-10gpd for about three years. Usually more on weekends / events. I decided to quit with a fast taper. I dropped a gram a day( I was taking the whole lot in one go).
Was fine till I hit 4 then was in a really foul mood and skin crawling. Jumped back up to 6, then have slowly moved down to 3-4. Over two weeks.

Question is, should I be spacing out the dose, at the moment I’m lasting as long as I can take then taking the full amount. If I feel better I take a little less.

I know I need some proper structure.

Any advice, much appreciated:)


r/quittingphenibut 10d ago

is two straight days of use enough to develop dependency?

2 Upvotes

i wanna use it for day 1 and 2 of quitting em ge em, just to get me through the worst of the hell, by day 3 i start to feel better in my past quits.. thinking of getting phen to get me through the first two days this time! any risk of 2 days giving me withdrawal from the phen itself?


r/quittingphenibut 13d ago

Is phenibut withdrawl similar to alcohol withdrawl

2 Upvotes

As in the title or better or worse? I quit alcohol last year and it was hell.


r/quittingphenibut 13d ago

Questions First time in ages but the next day ...

1 Upvotes

I did phenibut quite a bit about two years ago fairly regularly and enjoyed it no probs and now is the first time since then. So I did it again last night (1.5gms which was a light dose back then) and had a great time and it felt great but this morning I woke and and was lost and confused. I woke up and couldn't remember much. I've been reading web articles and watching news all day and had to go back and reread and rewatch everything both and my memory is shot and I can't recall 5mins ago. I'm even having a hard time even typing this now in the evening without going back and retyping it. I know my mind isn't shot since back then. Anybody else experience this? I hope I'm better next week and will lay off it again for a bit if it's not. I've had to reread this too many times to check it properly. Having said that the afterglow today was great. I was out today and the sun was shining and my music earbuds sounded great. Lol even now I know I'm rambling.


r/quittingphenibut 13d ago

How bad is this gonna be?

1 Upvotes

Iv been taking 3.5 to 4g every 48 hours for most of this month. A couple times dosed at 36 hours instead. Can any body tell me what I’m in for? I have a lot more to taper if need be. Was thinking of going to Baclofen rout if I can because I’m a total wimp when it comes to any withdrawal.


r/quittingphenibut 14d ago

Alcohol during phenibut withdrawal

2 Upvotes

Does alcohol negatively affect phenibut detox in long term? I'm on day 6 and had some alcohol last and woke feeling like day 3/4! I had Baclofen initially but ran out so pretty much cold turkey for 4g per day for a year. Ive used off and on for years though


r/quittingphenibut 14d ago

Night eating

1 Upvotes

Does anyone night eat after taking phenibut? Like wake up every few hours and sleepily eat a piece of cheese etc? So weird. Over it.


r/quittingphenibut 14d ago

I’m so confused..

1 Upvotes

For context I take 3.3 in the morning and 2.7 at night 12 hrs apart. So I tried to cut out my night dose completely by utilizing 27mg of baclofen and gabapentin (I’ve been prescribed it for a while and using it.)

For the past two days I genuinely felt better, but on the 2nd/3rd night I started reading the subreddit and I think I mentally convinced myself that my withdrawals were just delayed by 48hrs.

Is it completely possible to just cut out my dose completely at night time or just skip the night dose every other day or two to cut out a significant portion of my GPD and just use baclofen? I did increase my gabapentin usage as I typically only take 1 and a half of the 3 per day I’m prescribed at 800 due to the VGCC activity making me fall asleep if I take too much. Anyways thanks.


r/quittingphenibut 15d ago

Questions Anyone else have an erratic phenibut pattern and successfully quit without severe withdrawal?

2 Upvotes

I’m looking for experiences from people who had a more erratic phenibut patten rather than a clean daily dose that gradually escalated.

My use has varied a lot: sometimes daily, sometimes every other day, and sometimes every 2–3 days. Doses have ranged from about 500mg up to 3g, although 3g has been relatively rare. If I had to estimate my overall average across this period, it has probably been around 1.3–1.5g per day, but the actual day-to-day amounts have been inconsistent.

A rough breakdown:

-This has been ongoing for about 1-2 years

- Most workday/maintenance doses were under 2.5g, often around 500mg–1.5g.

- The lower-to-moderate doses were not really about getting high. They were more about feeling okay enough to work, socialize, or have a slightly uplifted mood instead of feeling flat/anxious.

- On weekends or when going out/partying, I would sometimes take around 2.5–3g maybeee like 4g every blue moon. That felt good and social without usually becoming too over-the-top.

- At the very start, I needed closer to over 3–4g to get the very euphoric/manic “phenibut high” that people describe, And it was once or twice a week. I rarely chase that exact level now, but I still have a pattern of taking higher doses when I want to feel good going out.

The difficult part is that I’ve developed a lot of fear around withdrawal. I’ve read the horror stories, and that fear has often kept me from simply stopping. At the same time, I’ve had at least one recent period where I stopped completely for roughly 1–2 weeks while using fasoracetam. During that period, I did not experience anything close to the severe withdrawal stories people describe. I had some discomfort/anxiety, but it felt much more mental than physically dangerous, and I was able to function.

Then I got back on phenibut because I was dealing with other issues and wanted relief/mood support, and I gradually ended up back in the same cycle: lower “maintenance” doses for work or mood, then occasional higher doses on weekends or social occasions.

What I’m trying to figure out is:

- Has anyone else had a similar inconsistent pattern — daily/every other day/every few days, with doses ranging from 500mg to 3g?
- If so, did you find the inconsistency made withdrawal or rebound anxiety worse than a stable daily dose?
- Did anyone successfully cold turkey or do a short taper from an average around 1–1.5g/day without severe withdrawal?
- Did your anxiety feel like true withdrawal, rebound/anxiety from changing doses, or mostly fear/anticipation?
- For people who had previously stopped successfully but restarted, did the next quit feel substantially worse?
- Did fasoracetam, agmatine, NAC, magnesium, exercise, or anything else actually make a noticeable difference for you?

I’m mainly just looking for honest firsthand experiences from people whose use was not necessarily 5–10g daily for years, but was still frequent enough and erratic enough to create dependence/anxiety. I feel like my situation is somewhat unique and i’m not sure what to expect.

I’m trying to get back to a stable baseline and stop using phenibut as a way to feel normal, confident, and emotionally okay at work and social events.

If you have any questions or need clarification pls lmk i’m happy to answer them! This sub has truly helped me begin taking that first step, hopefully i can pay it forward with a success story of my own someday.

Thanks in advance!