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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

GABAergics, which are the best ones?

N

n1kgqh

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Oct 11, 2009
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I used to think that Benzo's were the king of all gabaergics, which it probably still is as far as its effects, but its negative dark after effects are also just as prominent.

I have a bit of a social anxiety problem myself and I've been doing a bit of research of different gabaergics and as it appears there's a plethora of substances that effects gaba within the brain. To name a few off the top of my head are: neurontin, lyrica, soma(?), and phenibut.

There are also some other ones out there aimed at attracting those naturopath people, some of which include: the new "PHARMAGABA" (don't know if its just hype or what, but the people marketing it sure as hell make it sound enticing!), L-theanine, valerian, and KAVA KAVA.

Right now, I'm trying to find maybe find a replacement for benzos. I don't take a high dose, about 1mg of ativan per day. I've tried neurontin and they seem pretty nice, but haven't tried it enough to really gauge any efficacy. Kava is cool, but my use with this substance is also limited, didn't find it really eased anxiety in social situations. Valerian felt like diphenhydramine, which I do not find to be a very effective anxiolytic. And soma is awesome, but destroyed my motor functioning, and I just don't think its a very practical choice as a therapeutic anxiolytic. And my use with phenibut is also pretty limited, but I tried about 6 seperate doses of the stuff and I was surprisingly disapointed with it, it made me nauseous, dizzy, and had very little anxiolytic effect on me, could just be a bad batch though.

SO, which one of these substances have you tried and found to be effective? Which, if any, have you found to be utter crap? Are there any others that I have listed here? What do you guys think?
 
"PharmaGABA" is nonsense. it's just GABA. Don't worry about what synthesized it.

Valerian isn't GABAergic, the active effect sodium channels (IIRC) but not GABA receptors. It may have some downstream GABA-increasing effects, but they're minor.

Kava is GABAergic, but it's not great. It made me extremely sick, vomiting blood sick, both times I tried it. The second time i was in the ER all night while they gave me intravenous fluids and some other meds.

I'd look at synthetics. emylcamate and the de-carbamate alcohol version, along with the alcohol analogues of procymate and hexymate (I think that's right, it's 1-ethynyl and 1-propynyl 1-cyclohexanol) are both good from what I gather. Butanol and pentanol are also good.

If you like Soma, you'll probably like those first few.
 
How well are those alcohol analogues tested? I've heard of the concept but never heard of any actual chemicals reguarding alcohol analogues.

And I KNEW there was nothing gabaergic about valerian, that stuff sucks! I agree with kava's gabaergic effect being kind of weak, however, there are many different chemicals in kava and there are many different strains of kava, perhaps you got the wrong strain, although that does sound like a pretty extreme reaction to it.

Neurontin is the next one on my list, its coming in the mail tomorrow I believe, so we'll see how that goes.

What about phenibut, what did you think about that one? I'm thinking of trying some of that stuff again.
 
n1kgqh said:
How well are those alcohol analogues tested? I've heard of the concept but never heard of any actual chemicals reguarding alcohol analogues.

And I KNEW there was nothing gabaergic about valerian, that stuff sucks! I agree with kava's gabaergic effect being kind of weak, however, there are many different chemicals in kava and there are many different strains of kava, perhaps you got the wrong strain, although that does sound like a pretty extreme reaction to it.

Neurontin is the next one on my list, its coming in the mail tomorrow I believe, so we'll see how that goes.

What about phenibut, what did you think about that one? I'm thinking of trying some of that stuff again.
Click to expand...


Valerian *IS* GABAergic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerenic_acid

However, due to some kind of circadian rhythm-disrupting agonistic effects at the 5HT5A receptor, valerian is better for insmonia than anxiety.

I don't like Kava, mainly because it is the foulest tasting thing in the whole world and the extracts are all way too expensive to be practical. It does have a nice, if not short-lived effect though.

L-Theanine (get the a brand that is sourced from "suntheanine", most good brands use that as their source [solgar twinlabs etc]; if it doesn't say "Suntheanine" on the back of the bottle it's crap I've tried several different kinds and the Suntheanine is way better) is actually really good, I use Solgar capsules and just dump them under my tongue and let the powder sit there and absorb for a few minutes, and you can feel it come on. Very relaxing in doses upwards of 300mg. It won't get you high, it's a partial agonist I believe, but it's very nice for chilling out\taking the edge off.

I never really felt anything noticeable from neurontin, but it's sister, pregabalin, is VERY nice. You can get a crazy buzz from pregabalin, it lasts all day too, sniff like 500mg+ =D
 
I think st. johns wort must be a gabaergic because I noticed definite anxiolytic effects yesterday at taking 900mg extracts doses 3x throughout the day.

L-theanine is next on my to due list, sounds very promising, in a non-earth shattering way.

Just received my gabapentin in the mail, U.S. customs did their work on it, but theirs absolutely nothing they can do about it because the drug is completely unregulated.
I took about 2pills waited an hour, didn't feel much, took another one just right now, still not feeling much, little dizzy, not much else, we'll see how this goes.
 
n1kgqh said:
I think st. johns wort must be a gabaergic...
Click to expand...

St Johns is GABAergic, just indirectly, one of it's many methods of action is as a GABA reuptake inhibitor...also, it's a fairly strong SSRI, so that can certainly contribute to the anxiolysis, but I don't think you would be feeling those effects on the first day.
 
Paraldahyde...

That stuff they give you in the psych ward to put you to sleep.
Works like a charm.

The shit is rancid.
 
hey, the op has a good question. i have tried a wide array of benzos, but never ghb or a barbiturate. i am curious, how do they compare? no interest in folklore inspired rants about barbs and 'ludes, just people experienced with both. is seconal really better than a good dose of valium or halcion? and where does ghb rank in all of this?
 
The difference is the sedation & euphoria.

For instance, Seconal is a highly sedating euphoric barbiturate.
Valium on the other hand is good for a losing fight with anxiety, not so much for sedation.

GHB is another highly sedating GABA enhancing drug. I'd say it would be leaning on the sedation/euphoric aspect of GABA drugs.

Very strong GABA agonist have very steep dose curves that can be a lot more dangerous than benzos.
 
I can say that on a benzo cold-turkey WD that lasted almost a week (just wanted my tolerance to drop), Valerian WORKS. It makes you feel a little less psychotic and there are chances that you can even sleep. (I was, and am, a heavy benzo user).
I remember the first 2mg Clonazepam I did after the week of the WD. I fel SO euphoric, I took a bath, changed my clothes, changed the sheets of my bed.... it was so amazing how the tolerance dropped.
But the cold-turkey WD made me lost a whole week of work. The first days I even couldn't watch the TV.
Again, I can assure Valerian (400mg per day) helped.
 
G and barbs work wonders. They put benzos to shame. But yea, they are far far too easy to OD on and even easier to become addicted to. If you think benzo addiction is bad, try G. I had to detox in jail. It was heavenly. One last thing, every time I've been arrested or crashed a car and most of the times I've blacked out for hours on end, it was from G.
 
i don't know if its GABAergic, but hydroxyzine is a descent anxiolytic you could take instead of benzos...
 
phatass said:
i don't know if its GABAergic, but hydroxyzine is a descent anxiolytic you could take instead of benzos...
Click to expand...

That's true, but hydroxyzine is prescription only and I don't think very many docs even know it has anxiolytic properties, usually it's a Rx antihistaminine cough syrup additive.

Meclizine, an over the counter (in the USA) antihistamine VERY similar in effects and structure to hydroxyzine. It's called "Bonine" and they are sublingual motion sickness pills, 10mg meclizine. I find that taking 20mg can be relaxing, definitely a bit mood stabilizing. It also is significantly less drowsy feeling than hydroxyzine.
 
Here is a list of some GABA enhancing drugs/herbs

Barbiturates
Amobarbital (Amytal)
Barbital (Veronal)
Pentobarbital (Nembutal)
Phenobarbital (Luminal)
Secobarbital (Seconal)
...among others

Benzodiazepines
Alprazolam (Xanax)
Clonazepam (Klonopin)
Diazepam (Valium)
Lorazepam (Ativan)
...among others

Carbamates

Carisoprodol (Soma)
Meprobamate (Miltown)
Ethanol (Alcohol)
Gaboxadol
Glutethimide (Doriden)
L-Theanine (found in green tea)
Inhalants
Methaqualone (Mandrax)
Muscimol (Agarin, Pantherine) (found in Amanita muscaria mushrooms)
Hydroxyzine (Atarax)


Nonbenzodiazepines
Eszopiclone (Lunesta)
Zaleplon (Sonata)
Zolpidem (Ambien)
Zopiclone (Imovane)

Piper Methysticum (Kava Kava)
Scutellaria Lateriflora (Scullcap)
Valeriana Officinalis (Valerian)

Others

L-Glutamine
L-Theanine (found in green tea)
Picamilon
Progabide (Gabrene)
Propofol (Diprivan)
Tetanospasmin (found in the bacterium Clostridium tetani)

You can also check out this site for another list of GABAergic inhibitory drugs

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cach...es&cd=24&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
 
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