Note: this ended up being WAY longer than I intended, and I didn't actually even mention a number of other things I had wanted to touch on. But just wanted to add some thoughts about my experiences with phenibut addiction, tapering, and withdrawal.
So, first off, obviously it is addictive. And it's a GABA-B agonist, as opposed to benzos, ethanol, barbiturates, and most downers. A lot of bluelighters know this, of course, but I'm referencing it because this fact matters A LOT when you're considering taking other drugs to try and mitigate withdrawal. Basically, benzos and booze won't actually help much with the specific anxiety, distress, insomnia, etc. that GABA-B agonists produce during acute withdrawal.
Ok, so now that that's on the table, how addictive is phenibut and does the possible risk of working with it outweigh its potential benefits? Also, what to do once you've addicted yourself to this substance? Is there any hope of redemption (or of using phenibut responsible ever again?)
To answer the first part of the first question, I'd say compared to the only other drugs in its class (GABA-B agonists) that I've tried, being GHB/GBL/BDO, it's rather tame in its addictive qualities, in most ways. Basically, I've quit GHB, GBL, BDO, and phenibut before, and coldd turkey to boot. And in the case of GHB and its kin, to say that the experience sucks is a monumental understatement. It is a living hell, and is among the most frightening, disturbing, humbling, and shattering experiences I've ever had. It actually took over six months for the intermittent panic attacks to subside, though they still haunted me for a year or so in total.
Also, my sleep architecture was completely disrupted--possibly permanently, though acutely for over five years--following the two and a half years that I took GHB (et, al) on a multiple-times-dailym basis. The withdrawal from GHB was approximately fifteen years ago, and I have since read that it can be clinically as difficult and as severe as benzodiazepine and alcohol withdrawal combined, while exhibiting characteristics of both. Anyway, I didn't go to the hospital, but I could have been easily diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at that time, and I have no history of mental illness or depression before (or even since) that withdrawal. (I suspect at least part of it has to do with the complex and secondary actions of GHB on dopamine metabolism, resulting in the "dopamine rebound" effect following GHB's metabolism in the body in the short term, and toxic tsunami of terror and cardiac stress from a surfeit of dopamine during multi-year withdrawal episodes).
Alright, so WTF does my jeremiad about GHB addiction have to do with tapering from phenibut? It actually sets the stage for what I have experienced with phenibut over the past nine years of fairly consistent use.
I first ordered phenibut from an online supplement provider in the spring of 2006, and I read all of the limited information I could find on it, noting its already identified "habit-forming" potential in said literature. So, once I got my stuff in the mail, I started with a 6-700mg dose, waited a couple of hours, and noticed a subtle but definite glow, so I added a bit more in subsequent experiments. At any rate, to make a summer-long story a bit shorter, I experimented with it heavily, and fairly soon feel into a daily pattern of use, with rapidly escalating tolerance. I should mention that I was fully aware of this process, and just decided to roll with it to see where it'd take me.
Where it took me eventually, by September of 2006 (and I'd started in May) was to using 6-7 grams a day in divided doses to get similar effects to what I had from a gram or so initially. This was the point where I put my foot down and decided to quit--thereby following through on the plan I'd had all along--and did so cold turkey. So, suffice it to say that it sucked. Pretty bad, actually, and similar to--but an order of magnitude less sucky than--GHB & co. Basically, ferocious insomnia and fairly acute, cyclic anxiety attacks and grief. But really that was about it. And it was over in less than a week. So yeah, addictive, but it's no GHB I can tell you that much!
Also, I've gone back to using phenibut on a number of occasions--often daily for years at a time. But I've never had to deal with withdrawal from it again. At least, not in the same way, and this has everything to do with some lessons I learned from GHB withdrawal and phenibut withdrawal along the way. For one, sure, withdrawal sucks, but it's actually not even that big of a deal when it comes down to it, and it's a very finite process. For me personally, whenever I've become addicted to substances, the regular process of daily self-loathing and critique (not to mention all the other quotidian malaise and stress that goes along with it) I experience is far, far more uncomfortable and frightening to me than that with which I'm faced with during acute withdrawal from drugs. So, essentially, what I'm saying is that I tend to psych myself out about withdrawal being "so fucking burly" and it then it really isn't usually that bad in the actual going through it.
For two, I've learned not to go cold turkey--or that I don't have to do it to myself that way, if I just plan careful and act accordingly. it. Nonetheless, there is something really good and empowering about knowing that one can just stop taking something that is physically and mentally addictive, and live to tell the tale a fortnight later! So, yeah tapering down can be good. But the reason I say "can be good" is because I think tapering can be quite delusory too. And it doesn't work very well for me if I taper too slowly. I'd say that if it takes longer than ten days to two weeks to taper down (maybe three weeks, tops, depending), then it's not really worth it, especially because you probably won't end up stopping if it does. So. Say I was taking 1 tsp. of the powder that I have now (approximately 3000mg per tsp) every day, in three divided doses of 1000mg, then I'd immediately cut it down to 2000mg per day in divided doses for 3 days, then I'd cut it it to 1500mg for 3 more days, then 1000 mg for 3 days, 750 for 3 , and then, finally, to 375mg. for 3 days. Then I would stop altogether.
At at any rate, every time I've followed this protocol I have felt almost no acute withdrawal effects when I stop. Especially if I use kava. And kava is the only thing I used to help me post-GHB. It's a life-saver! Strange too, because it doesn't actually stop the withdrawal effects, but softens them just enough to make them manageable. And this brings me to the final main thing I've learned from these drugs and their withdrawal effects, which is that I believe that they are part and parcel of the primary effects of GABA drugs. By which I mean that emotions are meant to be felt--actually felt for what they are--and not glossed over as unimportant in an otherwise euphoric, scintillating, and coruscant bubble of GABA agonism.
Besides which, I can tell you from experience, those glossed over unpleasant emotions (most of which are simply quotidian emotions, irritations, and anxieties anyway) don't go away. (There is a bank account waiting inside each of us, filled with those emotions we've tried to push away--but the longer we push it away, the more it continues gaining interest.) These emotions will all demand their right to be felt and acknowledged once withdrawal sets in. They need to be felt--often with copious tears, deep-seated fear, and profuse grief--before healing can happen. So, think twice before you try and repress these feelings altogether; they might be trying to tell you something.
Oh, and one last thing: phenibut works great for me to take regularly--as in daily--for years at a time, and without increasing my dose. Essentially, the effect is diminished from originally, but as long as I maintain the same dose without increasing it, it always establishes a baseline level of excellence. If I take .75 to 1 gram daily, it reaches and remains at a baseline plateau of pleasantness and efficacy after a few days of consecutive use. And it relieves fatigue, acts as an antidepressant, has mild nootropic-like effects, helps me to fall asleep rapidly and completely, and has nice, subtle prosexual effects.
All in all, a good and useful drug that requires excercising a bit self-discipline, learning, and moderation to get the most out of it. Hope my rambling scrawl above is helpful!
