Gabapentinoids Has GHB (Gamma Hydroxybutyrate) Ever Caused Psychosis for Anyone Here?

[Serhat]

Hello everyone,

I hope you're all doing well. I wanted to open a discussion on a topic that I've been wondering about: the relationship between GHB (Gamma Hydroxybutyrate) and psychosis.

Now, I want to be very clear that this thread is not meant to serve as medical advice. If you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of psychosis, consult with a healthcare provider immediately. The purpose of this thread is to gather anecdotal experiences and insights that may contribute to a broader understanding of this issue.

What am I interested in?​

1. Acute Effects: Did you experience symptoms of psychosis immediately after taking GHB?
2. Long-term Consequences: Have you experienced lingering psychological effects after your GHB use stopped?
3. Pre-existing Conditions: Did you already have a pre-disposition to psychosis or a history of mental health issues?
4. Dosage and Frequency: What was your dosage and how often were you using GHB?
5. Co-Substance Use: Were you taking any other substances at the same time?

Some Guidelines:​

• Please be respectful and thoughtful in your responses. We're all here to learn and share.
• If you have scientific studies or articles that you can reference, please do.
• Do not encourage or glorify substance abuse.

Thank you in advance for your contributions. This is a topic that needs more understanding, and your experiences may shed light on an under-researched area.

 

[negrogesic]

GHB is not associated with the precipitation of protracted psychosis following use (for example, as seen with stimulants), but it can cause a delirium-like form of psychosis at acute doses. However, by far the most severe psychosis that GHB can induce is not from its acute effects but rather as a result of the acute withdrawal that can follow severe addiction.

In terms of acute effects however, high dose GHB-induced "psychosis" more resembles a delirium than anything else (somewhat similar to the delirium induced by severe alcohol intoxication). The effect is short lived.

I've had it happen to me with both GHB and 1,4-butanediol, but again wouldn't really liken it to psychosis in the typical sense, being more akin to a confusing dream-like state. Whenever it has happened to me the doses have been high and the product of cumulative doses (like perhaps 7-10g of GHB total over a few hours, or 8ml+ of 1,4-butanediol -- again, over time). It is not enjoyable and always accompanied with nausea, dizziness and dysphoria. It is also always accompanied with a fear of having overdosed, with worrying symptoms, like slipping in and out of consciousness and a feeling of having been anesthetized (I've had instances where my mouth felt so numb that it felt like my teeth could be extracted with little pain).

Though not exactly psychosis, I had an interesting experience once where I took a bunch of 1,4-butanediol (BDO) right before bed. Because the BDO takes a while to kick in, I had already long fallen asleep when it finally started working. When it did kick in, I was in the middle of a dream. In that dream, I had taken some BDO at my friends house and was getting in my car to leave. Of course, usually when people have dreams that they are consuming drugs, they don't actually feel the drug that they are dreaming about using. But in this case, a strong dose of BDO actually kicked in mid-dream. At that point in the dream I had just sat down in my car and was about to put the keys in the ignition, and boom I suddenly drop the keys and slump over in my seat, completely paralyzed. The BDO had kicked in. The dose was high, 4 or 5ml.

It was pretty terrifying because I stayed like that in the dream for a long time, paralyzed, slumped over, struggling to breathe, unable to talk or yell for help. It felt like I was overdosing on GHB because in actuality I had taken a shitload of BDO and was strongly feeling its effects. Eventually in the dream I lost consciousness, and possibly "died" (it certainly felt like I was going to die). It was absolutely horrifying but an interesting experience though, retrospectively, since it's a very rare instance of going to sleep after consuming a drug yet only beginning to notice its effects while dreaming. I've wanted to replicate this with other substances, like perhaps by taking half a tab of LSD right before bed, but I never got around to it

 

[ĐmantuNJofra]

years ago when I was using almost every day.

I'm calm person and never experienced psychosis on stims but again here there were no methamphetamine products just amphetamine sulphate and various cocaine mixes

It depends on the situation so I was blasted and there was very fucked up situation in my sorrounding so there is something called subjective or Ego inflation which combined with a bit mania and I got in a fight where i was from POV a bit right but from my sober thinking:
That is never a solution in a close relatives, maybe If I'm a Football Factory product but I'm not so be careful as inhibition or literaly no fear can present whuch can result in a very bad situation and then 2hrs later is gone and then WTF?
Analysis supresssion so think of that just be objective no impulsivity and don't get to be influenced by others, think twice or 5 times if must before do something

 

[4meSM]

Never. And I've been doing gbl for years, with several periods of nightly use for up to a month (no withdrawal either).

Also had a phase when I combined it with an almost daily use of methamphetamine. But never missed a night of sleep and kept my doses fairly low.

 

[Hate_Me]

Psychosis, no but I blackout every dang time I take that stuff.

 

[brokedownpalace10]

As Negrogesic says...
A buddy of mine got himself deeply hooked on 1,4 Butanediol (so, GHB) a number of times. Coming off of it always made him pretty crazy. He would actually take Haldol for a couple days to help. That huge Dopamine rebound and all.

 

[AlanaaBanana]

I was deeply dependent to a prodrug of GHB, 1,4BDO back in 2019. My dosing frequency and amounts were insane, dosing every hour, every day for a few months. The dependency I had gotten into, had caused psychosis for that period of time. I ended up quitting cold turkey and wounded up in the hospital for a week from the withdrawals. It's done some long term damage, though my case was quite severe, but I ruined my short and long term memory as with still suffering from nervous system damage with tremors. My doses were about 1.5-2ml every hour, of the day, for 24h's. I'd wake up every hour shaking and violently sick, and redosing to just sleep for at least 30minutes at a time. So I was only getting about 1-2h of sleep for 3 months during my stint/dependency.


The time I was in psychosis, was throughout the entire dependency until coming off, ended up opening 3 credit cards and racking up 9k in debt, with no memory or recall of it. Was extremely delusional during that period, it was awful, as I have a vague memory of that time and believing I was getting messages from the govt into my head.. No pun intended, but crazy times, would not want go through anything like such again. At the use I was doing, withdrawals were almost akin to severe alcohol DT's, the hospital even treated it as such.


EDIT: to contribute further to information requested in your main post; I was also taking benzodiazepines which made the problem a lot more dangerous due to the high likelihood of respiratory depression. I also had no history of psychosis before.

 

[AlanaaBanana]

As Negrogesic says...
A buddy of mine got himself deeply hooked on 1,4 Butanediol (so, GHB) a number of times. Coming off of it always made him pretty crazy. He would actually take Haldol for a couple days to help. That huge Dopamine rebound and all.

When you're that deeply hooked, I'd expect someone to go crazy (read my case above). It's absolute hell, when you're DEEP.

 

[Serhat]

Wow, I've got to say a big thank you for opening up about your experiences with GHB. Reading through your stories has really helped me get a better grasp on what this drug is all about. It's one thing to read articles or studies, but hearing it straight from people who've actually been there is invaluable.

I appreciate the honesty, too. It's easy to just talk about the good stuff, but you guys didn't shy away from mentioning the downsides, and that's super important for someone like me who's trying to get the full picture.

 

[jc101]

Only just seen this thread after a while away from the site, I'll add my bit if that's okay. I was on for 10 years solid 24hr's a day, 1.5ml gbl but not 1.4bdo like alanabanana. And it was good, no side effects, only psychosis twice, both times when accidentally took a swig from the wrong bottle...sounds careless but if you're 24/7 it's easy to be a little slapdash....and even though you spit it out as soon as you realise, probably take over 6ml? Anyway, the psychosis presented itself in the form of hearing everybody's thought, all of them thinking rotten, negative thoughts about me ('rotten druggie, call the police' etc....but even then I was aware that they weren't their genuine thoughts, well, pretty sure.....only stopped that regime when became hard to get/expensive in the uk....as regards to affecting mental health/memory etc, I've found I can study for exams and do as well as I've ever done (approaching 60 now)...still partake now and again, never found withdrawal so bad, I temporarily take some baclofen, a bit of speed, to ease the process.