GBL withdrawal, I need help!

[bear claw]

Thought I could do this cold turkey, man, was I wrong.

I'm swallowing my pride and going to a doctor. I want to be armed with the best information possible. Which prescriptions do I need to get, and why? What are the physical risks during withdrawal? I'm prepared to have to explain myself heavily, as most doctors seem entirely unfamiliar with this chemical and the risks.

Benzos?
Beta blockers?
Clonidine?

Help!

 

[alphabetalactone]

OK, firstly how long have you been taking it? At what doses? How often?

You should only experience physical withdrawal symptoms if you've been dosing 24/7 ie. 2-3ml every 2-4 hours for several weeks.

I was using GBL for 6 months heavily but started 24/7 dosing for around 2-3 weeks when I had my first severe withdrawal.

What I experienced was really bad chest pains like someone was standing on my chest, stomach cramps, hot/cold sweats, headaches, restlessness, panic attacks, tachycardia, hallucinations, breathing problems and very bad twitches.


I went to hospital and was given IV diazepam which settled me down until I was let out, however when the diazepam wore off all the symptoms came back.

The ambulance crew and hospital staff didn't know how to treat me as they had never heard of the chemical before, at the time I didn't know much about the withdrawal effects and how to counter them. This was true of the doctors too.

I made it to the doctors and was put on 10mg diazepam to take 3 times a day. I had to take more though to get me through the day.

Thankfully it only took a week before the worst of the physical symptoms went away.

I ended up being prescribed a beta blocker called propranol which helped greatly as I couldn't stop feeling my heart beating (I know that sounds a bit strange but I was actutely aware of it all the time and it stopped me from being calm.)

I reduced the diazepam down to 5mg if and when I needed it, which kept on getting less and less thankfully.

The doctor will probably know nothing of GBL or GHB, best thing to do is explain its similar to alcohol or benzo withdrawal. That should help them know sort of what situation they are dealing with.

Good luck my friend, hope some of this helps you.

 

[bear claw]

Man, thank you. I went to the doctor today, and left with a prescription to diazepam and propanolol. I didn't tell them I was about to withdraw from GBL, i just said i was suffering from extreme anxiety(which isn't exactly a lie. in the last month i've been arrested, broke up with my boyfriend, gotten mugged, and gotten fired. withdrawal is the last thing i need). She wasn't going to give me any benzos, told me i was better off with just the propanolol. after a little bit of haggling i was able to score both. I tried going cold turkey a couple of times, and the most distressing thing was the crazy heart beat, so I'm glad to have the propanolol. The weirdest part, sometimes I would feel my heart skyrocketing, beating like a drumbeat, and check my pulse and it would be normal. Did that ever happen to you?

I've been dosing 24/7 with GBL for about three months now. Seriously, no sleep longer than 3 hours at a time, and keep waking up to take more(if i can even convince myself to go back to sleep at all). This stuff has slowly taken over my life. It's every day, all day. I have my last tiny little bottle left, maybe four doses total. I feel a little more prepared now, with these prescriptions.

 

[lady grey]

I used to find alcohol the most effective when going through GBL withdrawal. Be careful about this one though as i'm now an alcoholic and i know for a fact it stemmed from my GBL addiction, it's only going to now be there my whole life.

Valium (any kind of benzo) is also helpful for the intense anxiety you get from withdrawal but it doesn't help much with the other symptoms such as cramps, headaches, cold sweats..

And phenibut helps with most symptoms of withdrawal. My ex boyfriend used to just have it though so i'm not sure where about you would go about getting it. I guess it depends what country you're in.

Good luck

 

[bear claw]

word! i did my research and ordered phenibut last week, it will get here on monday. I almost shit my pants when i realized i was going to run out of gbl on saturday. I had plans for a very drunk anxious weekend. I think i might be okay now. The anxiety is my biggest worry. I start getting anxious to the point of panic even two hours after a dose. If i can get that under control, i can deal with anything else.

Did you ever have weird dreams when you were on GBL? I have these really vivid, intense dreams that I can't tell apart from reality(until i wake up). Usually, i'm arguing with somebody. One time gravity stopped working and I had to grab onto the carpet to keep from bouncing off of the cieling and walls. Pretty intense

 

[bear claw]

Also, will I be okay to knock back a few beers on propanolol and valium? I used to be a heavy drinker before "switching" to gbl. It's been months since I had a drink. Is there a cross tolerance?

 

[Hector]

Also, will I be okay to knock back a few beers on propanolol and valium? I used to be a heavy drinker before "switching" to gbl. It's been months since I had a drink. Is there a cross tolerance?

So you switched from being a heavy drinker to gbl addict, now you wanna quit gbl and hit the beers? You have the necessary pescriptions to get through the withdrawal, why add alcohol into the mix especially when you describe yourself as an ex heavy drinker?

Also, benzo's and booze...i'd be careful.

 

[bear claw]

good call hector. i was trying to ease the psychological hell i had been anticipating.

i did end up trying to drink through some of it, but it made a bad situation worse. it made me feel CRAZY on drugs.

i'm on day six with no drugs in my system. i feel more or less back to normal. even gave away the rest of my valium. those of you struggling: THERE IS HOPE! Stay positive, you will be okay!

 

[alphabetalactone]

Glad to hear your pulling through Yeah my heart would do some crazy things when I was coming off!

Yeah glad you realised that adding alcohol was a no no, would've made things x10 worse.