Could GABA help with the physical side of benzo or GABAergic drug withdrawal?

[Tryptamite]

GABA is sold in supplement outlets to "promote sleep and reduce anxiety". This is unlikely as it is too large to cross the blood brain barrier.

But could it help with the physical symptoms of GABAergic drug withdrawal? Like loperamide does with opiate withdrawal.

I know there are at least benzo receptors in the gut and digestive issues can become a real issue when withdrawing from benzos.
Obviously this is no cure and relief probably wouldn't be massive. Also the dose of GABA would have to be tapered slowly to avoid the physical symptoms coming back in full strength.

I put this in ADD as I don't feel I will get a proper answer in BDD.

 

[sekio]

It seems rather unlikely to me. Central GABA receptors probably play much more of a role than peripheral ones in the phenomenology of withdrawal.

 

[MolecularEuphoria]

The available gaba derivatives like phenibut and picamillon might potentially work depending on what receptor subtype the substance you are withdrawling from is primarily active on. Although im not sure if picamilon is effective or fast acting enough, but at least these compounds cross the BBB making it a lot more likely you will get relief. Correct me if I'm wrong but a small portion of lope crosses the BBB, which is primarily why it alleviate symptoms (at least on the non GI related symptoms). I know that didn't answer your question but Seiko pretty much summed up my thoughts on it.

 

[alovesupreme]

just simple GABA as sold as a dietary supplement, no, because it will not cross the BBB. derivatives of GABA that have been engineered to cross the BBB like phenibut, picamilon, gabapentin and pregabalin will indeed alleviate symptoms of withdrawal from other GABAergics like benzos, but that is only because they are GABAergic themselves and in some degree cross-tolerant. but they're no magic pill, use of these substances has their own associated withdrawal syndrome.

 

[username13]

Best to just create a taper plan and stick to it, benzo wd suxks but nothing like the stuff mentioned here is gonna really help you get out of paying the price or moving forward.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Watch out though, as incomplete cross-tolerance between gabaergics could lead to seizures or other adverse consequences, i.e. cane and I discovered that gabapentin would be dangerous to use for benzo withdrawal or extreme alcohol WD.

 

[CrimpJiggler]

GABA supplements are useless. Picamilon has much higher bioavailability.

 

[golden1]

Picamilon does almost nothing for benzo withdrawal. Phenibut certainly does nothing except make it worse. Depending on how long gaba would last I could see it helping since sometimes a lot of the anxiety and negative feeling is directly associated with stomach/gut issues for me and from what I've real a decent amount of other people.

Noopept dosed @ 50-80mg(yes that is a somewhat high dose.) 4-6 times a day almost completely removed the negative effects of going from 2mg->1.5mg clonazepam, this is compared to the times I went 3mg->2.5mg and 2.5->2mg which were hellish. Noopept removed the majority of the general discomfort, anxiety, irritability, negative thoughts/depression, and fatigue. I actually felt better than normal at points. I've only tried this for one dose decline, but it worked extremely well.
I based it off this and a few other studies:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12596521

The drug action is based on the antioxidant effect, the antiinflammatory action, and the ability to inhibit the neurotoxicity of excess calcium and glutamate, and to improve the blood rheology.

not sure if it actually was working through that mechanism or if it even possesses that power(russian studies, idk how reliable..)

 

[CrimpJiggler]

Picamilon does almost nothing for benzo withdrawal. Phenibut certainly does nothing except make it worse. Depending on how long gaba would last I could see it helping since sometimes a lot of the anxiety and negative feeling is directly associated with stomach/gut issues for me and from what I've real a decent amount of other people. ...

Picamilon does nothing to me at all. A non addictive GABA agonist which would help for withdrawals is kava. First time I hear of noopept, thanks!

 

[sekio]

non addictive GABA agonist

i thought they *all* produce dependency?

 

[keeponkeepnon]

Noopept sounds like a perfect fit for this guy. Also two products that help me tremendously when I run low on Klonopin and have to scale it back. L-theanine & Relora. Both in high doses but especially L-theanine. Relora is like valium in its long duration of effects where as L-theanine is great for the more accute symptoms. I've tried many brands of L-theanine this chewable version seems to be by far the most effective and tastes great. edit: sorry, we can't even source legal supplements on here. Good luck let us know how it goes.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

sourcing

if one can become addicted to valerian, one can become addicted to kava

I became addicted to valerian

 

[ebola?]

i thought they *all* produce dependency?

In another thread, limpet chicken reported a lack of habituation with daily use of muscimol over multiple weeks. That's a pretty oddball GABA agonist though.

I dunno. It is possible that we will someday develop a more selective GABAa allosteric modulator that's selective for an as of yet unparsed out receptor subtype that lacks the types of activation that induces habituation. Seems to me even less likely than discovering a non-addictive mu agonist though.

ebola

 

[Thanatos9]

Phenibut definitely helps sleep with benzo withdrawal and takes the edge off anxiety even though it's technically a gabab agonist rather than gabaa.

It lasts a long time so you only have to dose once a day and I've never noticed withdrawal from phenibut (nothing like benzo withdrawal hell)

 

[golden1]

Phenibut definitely helps sleep with benzo withdrawal and takes the edge off anxiety even though it's technically a gabab agonist rather than gabaa.

It lasts a long time so you only have to dose once a day and I've never noticed withdrawal from phenibut (nothing like benzo withdrawal hell)

for me when the phenibut wears off it makes the benzo w/d way worse than it was, not worth it for me, but i guess it does work for some. (also phenibut is a weaker gaba a agonist).