Misc Phenibut addiction, I'm scared

[Cosmic Trigger]

Oh boy what a mess. I was a recreational Phenibut user for a long time with no issues. I used it responsibly. I'm almost 63 btw. About a year and a half ago I was diagnosed with painful polyneuropathy. I got really scared when I read about and started experiencing some of the symptoms so I hit google in a panic state. I read that phenibut was used in Russia for neuropathy. So of course I started using daily in a panic and over the next year and a half got up to 3200 mg a day because it seemed to be helping. But now I don't think it is anymore and I'd like to quit and find out. I've also been using Gabapentin and Oxycodone and CBD oil. The Oxycodone is really helping a lot. So I started reading about quitting the Phenibut and started reading horror stories about the withdrawals that can last half a year or more. Suicidal depression and anxiety etc.

So what I've been doing is cutting my dose the last two months and I'm going to be hitting 1200mg tomorrow. So far so good. I'm using Fasoracetam to upgrade my gaba receptors as I lower my dosage. I'm also going to start stacking it with aniracetam for the same.

The problem is I'm afraid to go down to 0 mg. I've dealt with depression and anxiety all my life and now I have this ugly, scary, painful disease and I know that if I go into withdrawals with all this on my plate I'll likely try and off myself. I've tried before and the idea of being there again has me terrified.

So... I'm trying to keep my spirits up and keep reducing the dose and seeing how low I can go before the trouble starts. But has anyone else here gone through Phenibut withdrawal full on and do you have any ideas on how best to tackle this? Am I missing anything I could be doing that would help.

Thanks for listening guys. I love this place.

 

[d1ahp]

You're doing great. Congrats on getting down to 1200MG. You've made great progress. Keep cutting your dose but the lower you get, the less you should cut your dose and allow more adjustment time if needed to minimize discomfort. The thought of eventually having to hit zero is always intimidating, but with a proper taper it's much easier.

This isn't a race on who can get there first. It's a long term sprint. There's no shame in taking as much time as you need to keep going down.

Personally, even though I've used Phenibut, I've never had any addiction issues with. Though, the principle of it is not much different than a benzo addiction. Which I have some experience with. With Phenibut or Xanax; you don't want to stop cold turkey or taper too quickly.

Take your time and keep doing what you're doing. Make sure you have the support you need, that's very important. You're doing great.

 

[shadowstryker]

Okay, so I just want to share a little life story of mine that'll at least hopefully prevent you from offing yourself.

I was and still am a heroin addict. I know, much "harder" drug, but hear me out because this truely is sincere. I was severely depressed and experiencing anxiety. I still experience both of those, but it's been getting a little better since rehab/being clean, but that's not the point. Anyway, I was severely depressed/anxious, and I decided I wanted to quit heroin and get it out of my life. I tried going cold turkey, and I toughed it out through the physical withdrawals. Then came the emotional withdrawals, and I was so unbelievably depressed, probably the lowest I've ever been in my life, that I'd rather lay in bed staring at my wall than do anything. I found no joy in video games, no joy in TV, I didn't even want to be with my friends. I couldn't take it anymore, so I tried using heroin again. And, I felt so incredibly guilty I tried texting a friend for help. She was unbelievably high at the time unbeknownst to me, and as result was giving me very short answers. It was a long series of messages but in the end, with the state I was in and her expressing her disappointment, I thought I had lost a friend. Not only that, but using again only made me more depressed. So I decided I'd rather die than live. I tried overdosing, told my friends bye, and snorted as much dope as I could. Which was the rest of it. As I was passing out, I realized what an awful choice I had made. I had so many things to say to so many people I hated myself for it. But there was nothing I could do, so I gave in and passed out. Well, I woke up the next morning and I can't even explain how grateful I was that I had lived. There was one other time that I tried ODing on benzos/alcohol, but that's another story that'd make this post a little long. To shorten it up, I drank a lot, I believe it was like a bottle of vodka and 43.2mg of Etizolam (equally as potent as 43.2mg of Xanax, little to no tolerance). That time a friend found me unresponsive, got me help, and I ended up in rehab. Both times though I seriously tried killing myself out of depression and life seemed completely unbearable.

But, I lived through both times. The second time was truely lucky, I should have died. But I didn't, and both times I woke up thankful I lived. You'll never really know how it feels to wake up thinking you were supposed to die and being so unbelievably thankful you didn't. I guess my point is, take it from someone who has been there. Situations are obviously going to be slightly different, but life truely is something to be grateful for. I have no doubt you'd regret killing yourself, and if you fail I also have no doubt you'd be thankful. Just a little food for thought.

 

[Cosmic Trigger]

You're doing great. Congrats on getting down to 1200MG. You've made great progress. Keep cutting your dose but the lower you get, the less you should cut your dose and allow more adjustment time if needed to minimize discomfort. The thought of eventually having to hit zero is always intimidating, but with a proper taper it's much easier.

This isn't a race on who can get there first. It's a long term sprint. There's no shame in taking as much time as you need to keep going down.

Personally, even though I've used Phenibut, I've never had any addiction issues with. Though, the principle of it is not much different than a benzo addiction. Which I have some experience with. With Phenibut or Xanax; you don't want to stop cold turkey or taper too quickly.

Take your time and keep doing what you're doing. Make sure you have the support you need, that's very important. You're doing great.

Thank you so much for the reassurance. That's good advice to slow it down. I'm so anxious to be done with it but that could get me into trouble. I'm in trouble because I acted in haste. So I'll try and keep it sane.

 

[Cosmic Trigger]

Okay, so I just want to share a little life story of mine that'll at least hopefully prevent you from offing yourself.

I was and still am a heroin addict. I know, much "harder" drug, but hear me out because this truely is sincere. I was severely depressed and experiencing anxiety. I still experience both of those, but it's been getting a little better since rehab/being clean, but that's not the point. Anyway, I was severely depressed/anxious, and I decided I wanted to quit heroin and get it out of my life. I tried going cold turkey, and I toughed it out through the physical withdrawals. Then came the emotional withdrawals, and I was so unbelievably depressed, probably the lowest I've ever been in my life, that I'd rather lay in bed staring at my wall than do anything. I found no joy in video games, no joy in TV, I didn't even want to be with my friends. I couldn't take it anymore, so I tried using heroin again. And, I felt so incredibly guilty I tried texting a friend for help. She was unbelievably high at the time unbeknownst to me, and as result was giving me very short answers. It was a long series of messages but in the end, with the state I was in and her expressing her disappointment, I thought I had lost a friend. Not only that, but using again only made me more depressed. So I decided I'd rather die than live. I tried overdosing, told my friends bye, and snorted as much dope as I could. Which was the rest of it. As I was passing out, I realized what an awful choice I had made. I had so many things to say to so many people I hated myself for it. But there was nothing I could do, so I gave in and passed out. Well, I woke up the next morning and I can't even explain how grateful I was that I had lived. There was one other time that I tried ODing on benzos/alcohol, but that's another story that'd make this post a little long. To shorten it up, I drank a lot, I believe it was like a bottle of vodka and 43.2mg of Etizolam (equally as potent as 43.2mg of Xanax, little to no tolerance). That time a friend found me unresponsive, got me help, and I ended up in rehab. Both times though I seriously tried killing myself out of depression and life seemed completely unbearable.

But, I lived through both times. The second time was truely lucky, I should have died. But I didn't, and both times I woke up thankful I lived. You'll never really know how it feels to wake up thinking you were supposed to die and being so unbelievably thankful you didn't. I guess my point is, take it from someone who has been there. Situations are obviously going to be slightly different, but life truely is something to be grateful for. I have no doubt you'd regret killing yourself, and if you fail I also have no doubt you'd be thankful. Just a little food for thought.

I don't think I'd regret killing myself because I wouldn't have regrets, I'd be dead. I hear you though and I really thank you for sharing your story and trying to help me here. I need all the help I can get. One of my best friends just hung himself due to depression. Sometimes I envy him as his suffering is over and man he was suffering a lot. But I have two little dogs that depend on me so I want to hang in for them. I did volunteer work rehabilitating abused dogs. I was a dog trainer at one time. These two were special cases and I adopted them. I love them dearly and I brought them back to life and they are really very attached to me. So for the time being I want to be here for them. But honestly my life has been pretty much anxiety and depression from the beginning. My dad was very abusive and broke me in many ways. Life has been a lot of struggle but I have had some great successes too. I've lead a very physical life and spent whole summers in the desert living off the land with a 22 and my dog. I took survival skills training and was a martial arts instructor in Seattle many years back. So that's how I dealt with my anxiety and depression. Tons of constant exercise.

Then out of the blue this disease hit me. Most of my physical life went out the door and my depression came roaring back. There are many many days I just don't want to deal with all this. But like I said for now I'm hanging tough. Also since my doc put me on opiates for the pain they have made my depression lesson to a great extent which surprised the heck out of me because all the other depression meds I've taken didn't do squat. So... What can I say. I'm hanging in for now. I'm going to try and get through this but if it's too hard I may check out. I can't say. I'm old now and everyone dies anyway. I've found a good home for the dogs should I be gone with a woman friend and they love her too. She actually took my other two big dogs because I can't give them enough exercise now. So they all are one pack and I see her and them almost every day. Shit I'm crying just thinking about how much they mean to me. But they will be ok. I know that.

Thank you for caring brother and thank you for sharing your story. It means a lot.

 

[Keif' Richards]

Here is an option. It might work better for you than attempting to detox yourself completely, although you appear to be doing a great job thus far so I don't want to detract from that.

Phenibut is still a relatively obscure substance to most medical circles in the United States. If you go into a detox complaining of withdrawal from Phenibut, you run the risk of being brushed off. You could, however, show up at detox complaining of Benzodiazepine withdrawal. Then at least you can use that protocol to sedate yourself a little bit while enduring your withdrawal. Also, assuming you have access to a Doctor one on one, you can push for Pregabalin (Lyrica).

There's not a wealth of Phenibut information in comparison to other psychoactive substances, but I can say with confidence that there's a significant degree of cross-tolerance between Phenibut/Gabapentin/Pregabalin based on experience. The Pregabalin could provide you with a little "padding" while you detox, preventing you from going completely Cold Turkey. Being that you have neuropathic pain, you're all the more likely to have Pregabalin as an option.

You can also get a wide range of other helpful stuff to help with your symptoms. Clonidine, Melatonin etc. If you switch to Pregabalin on a permanent basis, you have a better chance at maintaining a steady level of medication and you'll have a person to help you get off if and when the time comes. I think you'll find that Pregabalin is superior to Phenibut and Gabapentin in just about every way.