Phenibut

I was taking Phenibut when my tinnitus developed. I got scared and dropped the dosage a lot and took Buspar and Memantine for the stress. This made my tinnitus so much worse than it initially was.

I had a Phenibut habit for a year and a half, it's really bad. It's how I got into this tinnitus mess, and since it happened I haven't been sure if I can live with this or not.

I would stay away from Phenibut, you can get addicted in a couple of weeks, and then it's hard to get off because you're using it to manage your anxiety.

You start to taper but then life gets stressful and you go up. I wish I knew that the way off was to cross-taper with Baclofen a year ago, I would never have developed tinnitus. I had a bright, promising future and for right now I'm being driven crazy by this noise in my head.

Also, Phenibut releases Glutamate and GABA. It's my belief it's excitotoxic in higher doses, which you will get to soon enough if you want to keep the calm feeling.

And if you drink a bunch of alcohol while on high dose Phenibut you will experience 3 or 4 days of horrible, severe depression, I believe from the excitotoxicity of the Glutamate rebound.

Phenibut helped me for a while with my anxiety, but I would have been better off on Baclofen or Buspar or changing my stressful life circumstances.

Don't do it!

 

Sorry to hear of your bad experiences with Phenibut. What daily dosage were you taking for it to have this effect?

 

I started with 2 gram doses, it felt so good to not be anxious so I kept taking it for another week or two, and I was hooked. I was up to 12 grams a day for a brief period, but most of the time 6 grams.

 

I know this is an old thread, but thought I would add my experience.

For about six months now I have been trying Phenibut. I have been trying different frequencies and doses, but basically use it once per week maximum, and when I use it the dose has been between 750 mg and 1.5 grams.

The effect for me is remarkable. It takes a long time to kick in, at least 6 hours. So I take it around midnight before I go to sleep. The next day, my tinnitus nearly vanishes. The day after that, the tinnitus comes back at my baseline level, not higher snd not lower.

I don’t know if this strategy will have negative effects long term. So far, for about six months, it has not had a negative effect. I use it when my tinnitus is at a particular horrible level, and the Phenibut gives me a day reprieve. Getting a day of near silence once in a while has been an incredible gift.

I have tried benzos - specifically clonazepam, alprazolam, and diazepam - but they do not cause my tinnitus to nearly vanish like the Phenibut does. Maybe the doses of benzos I have tried have been too low, I don’t know. I’m not interested in trying higher doses for all the usual reasons.

 

Its action is not dissimilar to a benzo. I do the same thing with Xanax.

 

What dose of Xanax do you use? I have tried 0.5 mg and 1 mg quite a number of times. But it doesn’t give me the dramatic silencing effect of the Phenibut. Maybe a higher dose is needed?

 

.5mg works for me - I wouldn’t say it’s any safer than Phenibut so no reason to favor it. If one works for you, stick with that.

 

What doses did you try?

Can Phenibut be bought online?

 

For benzo doses, I have tried up to 2 mg of Clonazepam and up to 2 mg of Alprazolam.

I live in the United States. To my knowledge, online is the ONLY way to buy Phenibut, at least in the United States. I have never heard of Phenibut being sold in a bricks and mortar store.

 

You didn't find doses that high helped temporarily?

 

I just ordered some Phenibut from Intellimeds. They ship from Spain.

The FDA is trying to crack down on it in the US because it's more like a drug than a supplement. The withdrawals can be deadly.

 

Yes the FDA seems to have cracked down since the well publicised opioid crisis.

From what I read on Phenibut, it's <1g for 1-2 days, then STOP!

 

Yeah, tolerance builds up really quickly and if you don't take enough breaks then you can have very serious withdrawal effects. I'm not sure how best to use it really. Maybe just once a week or saving it only for times of great distress. It takes a while to kick in but it lasts a long time.

It kind of feels like alcohol but without the hangover and not as messy.

 

No, I did not.

 

@SmallRonnie, all aboarrrddd the Phenibut train. Did you sample the low hanging fruit?

 

I took 1.2 grams of Phenibut today and I felt amazing. Music sounded so much better than usual. Still was able to get a good workout in too. Tinnitus was not as intrusive as usual but not a massive change.

I think it's only safe to take it about twice a week though which is unfortunate. The withdrawals are meant to be brutal. Also overdosing can lead to big issues but it's amazing if used responsibly.

 

Phenibut still works wonders for me. If I take 1.5 mg at bedtime, when I wake up, my tinnitus is reduced around 80 or 90 percent. It’s truly amazing.

But I can only do it about once a month. More often and it doesn’t work. I suppose this is due to the rapid tolerance building of Phenibut.

Looking forward to one day every now and then without the brutal screeching and hissing really helps me contend with things.

I feel like there must be some sort of a medical clue in this effect of Phenibut. But I just cannot figure out what that clue might be, and my physicians have never even heard of Phenibut, so no help there. But there truly is some chemical action going on where some aspect of Phenibut affects some aspect of my brain receptors, and it is like magic.

Possibly it is the effect of Phenibut on GABA B receptors. I have tried Baclofen which also acts on GABA B receptors, supposedly in the same way as Phenibut, but Baclofen has no effect on my tinnitus, at least at the dose I have tried, which is as high as 20 mg.

 

Everything I've read on Phenibut is very bad! Highly addictive. Withdrawal is up there with Klonopin.

 

Phenibut is really not a good idea. I’ve tried it once, and never before have I seen a substance where you get withdrawals after just using once! And that was a moderate dose. Never used it again after that.

 

What was the dose?

 

I was exposed to a dog barking last night which spiked my noxacusis, causing pain that kept me from sleeping right and even lasting through until the next day. Tinnitus was also spiked.

Because of this increase in pain, tinnitus and anxiety, I took 2 g of Phenibut about 4 hours ago and another 800 mg 1 hour ago.

It definitely has reduced anxiety, although tinnitus is still just as loud and pain is also still there.

Nice to know I have something I can take occasionally that helps somewhat. Just need to make sure I don't take it too often.

 

@SmallRonnie, does Phenibut normally reduce tinnitus volume or is it hit and miss?

 

I've only tried Phenibut twice now and it hasn't reduced my tinnitus either time. Even now I'm on a fairly high dose and my tinnitus is still the same. I am going through a spike at the moment though so maybe that affects it too.

I'm definitely very chilled out though. It's kind of like a cross between a benzo and alcohol.

 

@SmallRonnie, just take it easy with that stuff pal.

 

Yeah, Phenibut isn't my issue. I have a history of substance abuse. Currently, I am doing well.

Thank you for the concern though. It does make me think more about my spiral into addiction, yet again.

 

I don't know anything about Phenibut, but I do know that anything that has quick-build-up to tolerance, has serious withdrawals and is bad for your kidneys would be crossed off my list. Maybe, maybe, once in a blue moon for times if the tinnitus really amps up, but the downsides are too big. One could end up on dialysis and still have the tinnitus too. Not good.