The GHB/GBL Addiction & Withdrawal Thread: mk. II

[Mr. Tambourine Man]

I believe Kratom can help. After using GBL heavily for about a week, (sometimes in conjunction w/ alcohol) I got what I assume were some brief WD's. The symptoms were high levels of anxiety, lethargy, nausea and moderate insommnia. Kratom helped me get my appetite back, helped me sleep. Also it combatted the boredom when anbstaining from GBL, and eliminates cravings.

However, in hindsight I'm not sure how much of these symptoms had to do with GBL (since drinking heavily can sometimes produce feeling of anxiety after cessation for me, even after just one day). After using for almost two weeks, I went a day and a half without dosing, and felt none of my prior symptoms, besides some mild insommnia and passing nausea. At this point it seems like I may not be as strongly affected by GBL withdrawal as others.

However, in the spirit of harm reduction I mention the following: if you have enough of both Kratom and GBL, it can be very easy to get into a pattern of use that feels healthier and more sustainable that it is, whether or not you're becoming physically dependent.

 

[Ismene]

The GBL finally runs out

Probably going to run out of GBL today - stocked up with 2 or 3 litres pre-ban. Don't think I'll miss it. Must admit it's not what I'd call a high or remotely addictive, just used to take 2mls or so when I came home from work to relax a little. Never quite understood the idea of it being "liquid ecstasy".

Before shrooms got banned I bought 10 kilos which lasted me for a few years.

 

[Allein]

makes me puke so I now use it as a useful if not expensive solvent in the garage


As a matter of interest how pure was your batch

 

[watsons torment]

Different strokes for different folks eh?

GBL is one of the very few substances I can't keep in the house because I have little to no self control with it.

I find it a euphoric, relaxing, anxiety crushing mood lifter. Probably one of my favorite substances and for me one of the most addictive.

it goes really well with stimulants and is much better than any benzo for removing hangovers or comedowns.

I miss you a lot GBL but I won't be purchasing anymore because no matter how useful it is I can't be fucked with the 24/7 dosing that begins the second I open the package. And the withdrawals have been some of my least enjoyable experiences to date.

 

[Glitched]

I'm with Watson 's Torment on this, I really enjoy the high. I can trust myself to have it in the house like but agree that it is far better than any benzo for hangovers / comedowns, it works a dream with stims and can knock you out even when on them if you take more.

The taste is vile thou, I found orange juice or Redbul the best taste cover for it, I couldn't ever do it in a small glass thou, I had to have like half a pint of orange juice or a whole can of Redbul with it to dilute it enough to not taste it too or I would just heave.

Atm23, I would assume that it was 99.9% pure as it was per ban

 

[wcote]

whats GBL like? was it very easy to OD on it?

 

[effie]

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread guys, I link it up all the time to people in BDD asking about GBL who don't know that it is a physically addictive drug, and this is a very valuable resource. And reminds me why I, too, cannot be trusted to have it in the house sadly...

 

[trippin_titties]

GBL is shortlasting (why its morish) it also is cheap I'd say its an addictive one and if you overdo it....well, you are guna be sick A mate ended up in hospital because of it also seen another mate have a kitchen cuboard at least half filled with empty quickies nail varnish remover pads boxes.. mmm bitrex. I personally steer clear of the stuff after overdoing it in one session but I can see why its enjoyable for some people.. also dangerous if you have no self control Some people are just junkies about everything, jeeze i'm a smoker and can't just have one dorito So I decided GBL wasn't for me..

 

[Allein]

No idea mate was supposed to be BASF, but converted to GHB it was little better I could take very very small amounts but anything approaching the level of intoxication I was seeking made me hurle, I tried all sorts of different dosing regimes , it was either bad stuff (unlikely as the supplier was recommended by several) or more likely it just reacted badly with me, it took me by surprise and I've been a heavy drinker over the last few year (never mixed the 2) and never felt sick no matter how much I drank.

I do have a bit of a strange immune system though, but it just wasn't for me, cleans up my chrome wheels treat though

Blessing in disguise as I've said before, I'd have ended up 24/7 in no time of I'd had a taste for it.

 

[WithMyLife]

Sorry for the bump of an ancient thread, but I think myself and some others in the GBL megathread should be in here.

I've got a problem with GBL. Nearly a year of daily use (not 24/7), and it's finally turned nasty these last couple of weeks. I'm on the mild side of the scale withdrawals-wise -- sweating, shaking, anxiety, stomach insanity, feel like I've got the flu. But no confusion or delirium, and most importantly I am able to sleep. On Monday night I got 2 hours of sleep, but last night I got a full 7 hours without G.

I'm still taking it in the evenings. Even one dose seems to cause a pretty full spectrum of shit feeling when it wears off. I'm trying to stop early in the evening so I can get proper sleep. Tonight I didn't do so well, redosed at 9pm. It's now wearing off and I feel crummy, can feel the sweat forming.

I'm hoping to use the long weekend to quit. As my withdrawals are mild, I hope that I'll be able to just chill out and avoid dosing without the stress of work making me crave it, and end the 3 days mostly ok.

After that... back to work, I've no idea. I don't want to pour it away, as last time I did this I ended up drinking a lot until I got more G. I'm hoping the fact that 1 dose makes me feel like shit afterwards will put me off, but I fear it'll just be a reason to do more doses. Hm.

 

[Tangerine Dream]

EDIT: Opps. Cheers Shambles!

 

[Shambles]

^ You may find that post goes down better in the GBL thread rather than the GBL Addiction thread, TD

That sounds quite a lot like my level of w/d, Ms Life. Only I have always used 24/7 every time I get a bottle. Or a few bottles.

Is definitely worth trying to just stay off the stuff over a long weekend - if you can do it that way then go for it. If that doesn't work out then I'd suggest tapering. Is what I've always done and never had a problem with excessive w/d or craving. Not all seem to get along with tapering but is worth a try if CT doesn't work for ya. I just shave off 0.1ml at reasonably regular intervals over the course of a few days usually. Have done crash tapers over just a weekend (or equivalent as I don't work so weekends mean nowt to me anyway) and they've not been too bad either.

Also worth trying to spread doses a bit further. Just leave an extra fifteen minutes or half hour - even an hour if you can manage it - between doses and you can get away with taking less when you do dose. Anything to lower the overall amount in your system steadily works. At least for me it works.

However, your pattern of use is quite different to mine. I'm not sure tapering would be so effective if only using in the evenings. Thought it worth mentioning though.

Some would say tip the rest you have. I wouldn't necessarily cos it seems you're more concerned about potential for alcohol use. Your GBL use seems comparatively controlled - but obviously showing it's nasty side at this point so something has to give. I still get the shitty effects coming on way quicker than I used to at first but can still use for short periods and get all the good effects. It's frequent use that causes all the problems. If you can stay away from using every night you might be able to keep it for a weekend treat - or just an occasional treat. Or not at all. Whatever works best for you.

Make use of this thread and others - can be surprisingly helpful to get feedback and encouragement from others. And good luck whatever you choose to do

 

[Josh]

I think I need help getting off of GBL. I'm only on my second 100ml bottle but am taking it all day, maybe 5 or 6 doses a day. I've noticed I feel awful if I stop though, and taking another dose sorts it out! I'm not taking it at night though, had a couple of those nights where I took some more whenever I woke up and felt really sick by morning. I'm taking a big old dose of diazepam to sleep through the night, but obviously I don't want to swap one addiction for another. I just ditched all but about 10ml and am going to take 1ml doses whenever I start to feel shit. Just want some reassurance that this is a sensible way to stop more than anything.

 

[Shambles]

Sounds about right to me, Rogan. Just take the bare minimum to keep the more vicious w/ds at bay and I've always found it's pretty easy to taper down. Others have more difficulty though and is not something to take lightly. My tapering technique is really very simple. When nearing the end of a bottle and not wanting to buy more, I just take a bit less each dose and try to leave longer between doses. I can usually taper down from 25ml+ 24/7 dosing to nothing over a weekend pretty easily. Not noticed any real rebound effects or opioidesque PAWS or owt. I do seem to be pretty lucky in that respect though as others have definitely had some serious problems with the stuff.

It's great you can go through the night without redosing though. That does seem to make it a lot easier to quit for whatever reason. It's got a pretty brief half-life so I've always found the w/d to be of the short, sharp shock variety. But again do seem to be in a minority there.

Good luck

 

[yoyo50]

Yes tapering off is the best way,

even a loads of drink+benzos wouldn't do that much for a bad GBL withdraws, i believe it is like benzo wd's as they both work on GABA, hence the high doses of vallium taken with no torlence per say

 

[Josh]

Thanks guys, that's the reassurance I need I'm not much of a drinker these days, I have an ileostomy and drinking plays havoc with it. I just had a 1ml dose which I won't feel but will hopefully stop me feeling shit. I'm going to leave it at that for the day, with 20-30ml vallies to sleep tonight. Then I'll see how far I can stretch my remaining 10ml tomorrow, making sure to keep the doses low. I might be able to get some ketamine tomorrow too, which I've been using once a week or so for a day off of the geebee quite effectively. Although I can't afford to replace my geebee habit with a ketamine one (probably a good thing).

 

[WithMyLife]

It sounds like a good plan, roganjosh. If you can get through the night without it, see if you can declare it off limits for a few hours when you wake up, or for as long as you can manage. I find it helps to avoid the shit feeling if you can just declare some of the times off limits. It doesn't sound to me like you've got a particularly heavy habit, so hopefully you should be able to stop without too much pain. As Shambles said, it seems to vary a lot and some people definitely suffer absolutely hellish WDs.

An update on me: I've completely correlated the bad sweating shaking BADness to times when I've drunk a lot of alcohol, then taken a lot of G to ease the hangover. I think the increased G use combined with the hangover was leading to the 4 or so days of feeling like absolute shit.

In some ways my G use is getting worse. I've taken it in the mornings before work this week, which is a bad thing. In other ways... I get through 9 hours of work after that morning dose without too much trouble. I feel rough before/after lunch, but generally feel alright towards the end of the day. So the withdrawal/craving aspect isn't as bad as it was when I first bumped this thread. I've eased up on the weekend use considerably, which has helped avoid wds.

I still feel like something has to give at some point, and I'm not sure what it'll be. I'm really really ashamed of my use, but I don't feel bad enough about it to stop. It's not a nice place to be but it's tolerable. I don't know where to go from here -- perhaps when this bottle starts to run out I'll try to ease off it and not replace it. It'll last a while though -- I wrote down my doses tonight and have had only 5ml this evening (plus about 1.5ml this morning). I thought it'd be a lot more than that.

 

[Josh]

Well I'm awake after 40mg diazepam gave me 3 hours sleep Didn't have any since about 7pm yesterday though. Feeling a bit edgy so had another 1ml dose. Hopefully enough to kickstart another few hours sleep. If I wake up 2 hours later I won't be dosing again though! Unusual for me since I don't usually take it in the night. I usually go a few hours in the morning before my first dose before lunchtime too, so hopefully I'll manage that tomorrow and try to push it a bit further.

 

[WithMyLife]

That doesn't necessarily mean you're in for a rough ride. I backed off my doses for a week, the first night I stopped at about 8pm and I got about 2 hours sleep that night. What I did was redose during the night but not enough to knock me out. That helped me calm down enough to just chill in bed. Read a book, listen to the radio, then lie down and rest for a while but not sleep.

The next night I stopped at the same time and it was difficult to get to sleep, but I slept through the night after a couple of hours of rolling around. Third night, no trouble.

Of course, the next week I kinda forgot about laying off it and was back to full speed. I still don't need it to get through a night of sleep though.

On the other hand, if you're finding it very hard I recommend having a look at the old thread here http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/285515-The-GHB-GBL-Addiction-amp-Withdrawal-Thread. There's a lot of advice and ideas for handling bad withdrawals, from vitamins to phenibut.

I feel like I'm really sick today -- like a really bad cold. Think I might actually be ill, but G seems to have fixed it. Urgh.

 

[Josh]

Got back to sleep for a bit but woke up early. Went out for my first run in about 6 months, only a mile and a half but feels good. Want some G now though! Might try another 1ml in an hour or 2 if I start to get jittery, not enough to feel any effects but enough to take the edge off it like you said.