Gabapentinoids Does phenibut have similar muscle relaxant qualities to baclofen?

[aspiringchemist]

I have a pretty severe case of acute cervical dystonia going on. I'm in a lot of pain and cannot turn my head; it is stuck, right ear cocked to the right shoulder. My doctor is closed on the weekend and I don't want to go to urgent care unless absolutely necessary.

Just curious if phenibut has similar effects on muscles as baclofen, given their similarities in mechanism of action. Baclofen is often used to treat this condition, though I do not have access to it at this time.

Thanks ✌

 

[Jabberwocky]

I've done both, I would say yes although phenibut only produces muscle relaxation at higher doses, but tolerance builds quickly and phenibut has its own weird and nasty side effects at high dose, so it's not a very good candidate for this purpose.

Might be worth trying if you are truly in pain. muscle relaxation starts at around 2.25-3g. I would be wary of going over 3g, it can be quite unpleasant... although I have dosed up to 4g before. Just be aware that it stays in your system for 36 hours so taking high doses 2-3 days in a row is a bad idea and will lead to a cumulative overdose.

 

[negrogesic]

I would be wary of going over 3g, it can be quite unpleasant... although I have dosed up to 4g before. Just be aware that it stays in your system for 36 hours so taking high doses 2-3 days in a row is a bad idea and will lead to a cumulative overdose.

I take 4g a night sadly...who knows what it's doing to me...

I don't find phenibut to produce profound muscle relaxation but that is just my subjective sense if it...

 

[Jabberwocky]

I take 4g a night sadly...who knows what it's doing to me...

I don't find phenibut to produce profound muscle relaxation but that is just my subjective sense if it...

How long have you been on 4g and how did you get there? Curious.

Phenibut has insane diminishing returns in my experience. I was taking 1g/day for several months and after just a week or two it did absolutely nothing for my anxiety and had horrible withdrawal. Last few times I've done it were high doses for 2-3 days (like 3.5g/2.5g/1.5g) by the 3rd day tolerance is so insanely high its mostly just side effects, so I don't even bother taking more after that.

When I overdosed it was something like 6g/4g/4g over 3 days. When I woke up on the 4th day it was HORRIBLE. Full blown hallucinations, brain zaps, extreme time constriction, could not focus or barely hold a conversation, extreme pupil dialation, among other things. Luckily it only lasted about 16 hours. It took an extreme amount of will and luck to get through work that day without being noticed. A few people did say weird things... like "are you ok?".

 

[aspiringchemist]

Thanks for the replies. I was addicted to phenibut around 3g per day for about a year, a few years back. I actually was prescribed baclofen at the time as well but no longer am. I currently take gabapebtin as prescribed at 1200mg per day. I just always have heard so much comparison made between baclofen and phenibut that I thought perhaps it had muscle relaxant properties that gabapebtin does not.

 

[PtahTek]

I thought perhaps it had muscle relaxant properties that gabapebtin does not.

I would opine "yes" and I do 1.5g every other day now... helps keep the benzo use down and takes away a lot of my *angst from pretzel. Use to have it @ every third day and thought to dose every day but thought better.
Muscle relaxant? Works for me in a subtle kinda way.

 

[aspiringchemist]

on a related topic, do you all find phenibut to reduce opioid effects like gabapebtin is known to reduce hydrocodone absorption?

I always take gabapebtin after my opioids because of this. I know phenibut takes even longer than gabapebtin to take effect so I wonder how it stacks up alongside opioids?