How does phenibut compare to GHB

[iconoclast56]

Firstly, how do the doses compare. For example, would 3g of phenibut have similar effects to 3g of GHB? What about the dopamine rebound, does phenibut give a debilitating dopamine rebound like GHB does? If so, does it last the whole day (as opposed to around 5 hours for GHB)?

 

[nAON]

It's a lot lot milder, i'd say it's more similar to benzos than it is to GHB.

 

[iconoclast56]

Ah, so the dopamine rebound should be extremely mild in comparison then.

 

[Pjkt2501]

GHB also causes heavy GABA issues as well, something to consider.

 

[Mortal17]

I don't think it's worth it but that coming from a guy that likes tripping off dipenhydramine and lsa.

 

[effie]

The dopamine rebound effect is due to GHB affecting both GHB and GABA-B receptors. High concentrations inhibit dopamine via the GABA-B receptor but as concentrations drop it primarily affects the GHB receptors, which release dopamine. This causes the "dopamine rebound" that stops you sleeping etc.. as far as I am aware phenibut is primarily a GABA-B agonist and does not affect GHB receptors, so it should not cause this.

Regular phenibut use can however still lead to tolerance, physical dependence and unpleasant/potentially dangerous withdrawals like other GABAergic drugs, so tread carefully. It's effects are fairly mild and take a long time to come on, but do last a long time. I would agree that it is more benzo-like than GHB-like, but it does fall somewhere in the middle IMO.

 

[iconoclast56]

The dopamine rebound effect is due to GHB affecting both GHB and GABA-B receptors. High concentrations inhibit dopamine via the GABA-B receptor but as concentrations drop it primarily affects the GHB receptors, which release dopamine. This causes the "dopamine rebound" that stops you sleeping etc.. as far as I am aware phenibut is primarily a GABA-B agonist and does not affect GHB receptors, so it should not cause this.

Thanks for the info. One of the reasons I ordered phenibut is to test this dopamine rebound theory verse the residual GHB receptor activation theory. I didn't know that GHB activation also causes dopamine release.

Regular phenibut use can however still lead to tolerance, physical dependence and unpleasant/potentially dangerous withdrawals like other GABAergic drugs, so tread carefully. It's effects are fairly mild and take a long time to come on, but do last a long time. I would agree that it is more benzo-like than GHB-like, but it does fall somewhere in the middle IMO.

Yeah from what I've read, phenibut withdrawals are pretty severe, certainly worse than anything I could handle cold turkey. I read reports of acute symptoms lasting over 5 days. I could tough out 1 day but 5 days, you have to have balls of steel to tough that out. Especially considering these GABAergic withdrawals can be fatal. I'm not exactly a pussy either, I can handle physical pain with ease (I was hit by a car a few years ago, walked home from hospital the next morning, didn't even notice I had a fractured wrist and nose until they started swelling and didn't bother to take the hydromorphone I was prescribed because opioids don't produce analgesia for me) but when I'm in a dysphoric mindset, I become weak and feeble and just want to escape the harsh mindset. I don't know how someone can endure multiple days of something like that.