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Gabapentinoids Pregablin and GBL/GHB cross tolerance/dependence?

trevic

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 27, 2014
Messages
44
Sorry to make another thread but I’ve tried to search this site and wider for info on this and it’s scarce from what I can tell, though maybe I missed something.

So I do both of these drugs, pregablin far more. I’m planning to go a bit heavier with the GBL, maybe like 4 days on it in a week and nothing else (my prior use is very minimal) to get some breathing room from the pregabs and opiates (though oddly I’m doing alright with the opiates, it’s the pregabs that are the issue). I know this isn’t a healthy strategy and not very viable long term but I’m just asking for some advice on two specific things.

It’s my understanding that these drugs are not cross dependent as pregablin is not a gaba agonist or binds to the “ghb receptor”. From my brief reading it seems it’s not fully understood how it works and to what extent it effects gaba levels is very much unknown? Since they work completely differently there shouldn’t be a cross dependence issue here right? I know there are some people on this forum who are very well informed on these drugs so would be grateful for their input if possible?

My second question is tolerance. From the few studies I’ve looked at (I haven’t done a deep dive though, probably because I’ve been too high all the time since last week) some say that pregabs may not affect gaba levels at all in a meaningful way, or possibly increase extracellular gaba very modestly. These studies are looking at medical dosages though, not the grams I’ve been doing over a day. Other studies state that gaba levels are affected but it’s unknown to what extent etc. It all basically seems like a big question mark. Am I correct in believing that it’s effects are mostly through other means though, and the affects on gaba are less intense than GBL.

Also, even if it affects gaba levels significantly, since it works through a different method and does not directly affect the receptors that GBL does, will it still cause cross tolerance or some kind of down regulation?

Basically, do you believe these drugs to be cross tolerant/ dependent. I have developed a substantial pregab tolerance very fast (as I know tends to happen) but the same dose of G I’m used to hits me the same way?

Any input here would be very welcome =)
 
Thank you so much for your response!

It just gets confusing, some people seem to think that pregablin produces a strong gaba response, but the studies seem very much inconclusive on that. If it did, do you think that it would cause some down regulation long term or something?

Do you think my pregab tolerance will drop while not using that but using GBL?
 
I know that pregabalin/gabapentin increase the production of gaba via regulating enzymes. AFAIK only phenibut has direct activity on gaba-b. I am not maybe up to date with studies, but I always skim through papers I find interesting.
 
I know that pregabalin/gabapentin increase the production of gaba via regulating enzymes. AFAIK only phenibut has direct activity on gaba-b. I am not maybe up to date with studies, but I always skim through papers I find interesting.

Yeah it’s just a shame that the general consensus seems to be ‘we don’t fully understand how this drug works yet’. It seems there really needs to be more research, especially on recreational use of very high doses. I guess the funding is limited for that though, addicts aren’t exactly a priority with the way society categorises us.

I’ve read a bit more and yeah the most recent studies seem to agree there is increased gaba. But it seems up in the air how much it’s affected and if there’s other elements contributing to the high. It’s amusing reading the initial studies that say there is no abuse potential…..

In your opinion do you think my plan will work in terms of lowering tolerance and reseting myself a bit in terms of pregablin dependence if I break it up with periods of time on gbl? I’m not currently dependent on pregabs but I will be with my current usage.

Also, I’ve seen people mention receptor down regulation before but don’t really understand this well. The pregabs shouldn’t contribute to that if they are not acting on the receptor though right?

Sorry to throw a million questions at you! Thank you for responding to me =)
 
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