r/phenibut
If you've become physiologically dependent on phenibut, this is a place to discuss, ask questions or just vent about quitting phenibut.
You can also post to /r/quittingphenibut
Withdrawal symptoms may not be experienced for up to 72 hours after going cold turkey or drastically decreasing your dose. Always assume you need to taper after daily use. Experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms may affect your rational judgement.
References
Fast tapering should usually be avoided, especially if you experience panic attacks, seizures, severe agitation, delusions, hallucinations, psychosis, insomnia, severe lethargy, depression, muscle jerking, tachycardia or hyperthermia.
Baclofen, Gabapentinoids (gabapentin, pregabalin) and Benzodiazepines.
This is an example of how baclofen can be used to taper off of phenibut.
L-theanine, Magnesium, Lavender (Silexan), Ashwagandha and Kava pills or tea (kava should not be taken with other herbs). These supplements are only somewhat helpful they shouldn't be a substitute for tapering.
For sleep, benadryl (diphenhydramine) can be helpful.
Your phenibut container. A container helps doctors know what they're dealing with.
If the doctors are unfamiliar with phenibut you can show them This is an example of how phenibut withdrawal has been successfully managed.
I put a lot into this, If you have any thoughts or questions, let me know!
Chemical Name: β-Phenyl-γ-aminobutyric acid
Chemical Classification: Gabapentinoid
Drug Classification: Depressant
Brief Overview:
Phenibut is a legal (as of writing this) psychoactive drug in the United States and has quickly gained popularity over these past few years as a nootropic and anxiolytic drug. It's chemical structure is very similar to GABA and works primarily by acting on GABA-B receptors as a full agonist as well as blocking voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCCs). It typically acts in the brain as a stimulant in lower doses, and as a sedative in higher doses. (Despite being classified as a depressant)
Since the 1960's, phenibut has been used in Russia as an approved prescription drug for large list of psychiatric conditions that usually involves stress- It is also prescribed for ADHD, stuttering, and vestibular disorders. Everywhere else, phenibut is usually used as an unapproved drug for its anxiolytic, depression-reducing, mood-boosting, motivation enhancing and pro social effects.
It's primary uses are as an anxiolytic, sociability enhancer, nootropic, sleep aid, and to support general well-being. (At this time, there is very little evidence to support it being a nootropic, more on this down below). Unlike many popular, legal drugs; phenibut has clinical studies to support its functions. However, some of these studies have been called into question regarding their quality. Despite this, Phenibut has a generally accepted anxiolytic and sleep promoting qualities. With less evidence supporting ADHD/ADD symptom reducing effects and little to no evidence supporting nootropic properties.
Dosing:
Dosing and timing of effects varies, sometimes in a major way from person to person, always start with a lower dose if you ever decide to use phenibut. Phenibut can take a long time to reach peak effects, so don't attempt re-dosing if you don't feel any noticeable effects. Always use a scale to know exactly how much you dosed.
Low: 250-500mg
Common: 750-1250mg
High: 1500+mg
Onset: 1-3 hours
Come up: 1.5-3 hours
Peak: 3-4 hours
Offset 4-6 hours
Durations vary sometimes to an extreme degree from what's listed here.
Noofen dosing guidelines: https://olainfarm.al/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Noofen250mgtab_Package-leaflet.pdf
How to take:
Phenibut's effects can be modified and amplified depending on how you take it. Here are some common guideline:
You'll find many opinions and post about different potentiating techniques, and they may or may not work. What I provided above, while not an exhaustive outline, seems to have the most reliable effects.
It is not recommended to take phenibut more than once to twice a week max. Physical and psychological dependence are risk factors with phenibut, as with most GABAergic drugs.
Side note: Kratom reliably increases pro-social and mood-boosting effects, but does seem to increase the likelihood of nausea.
Effects:
Your experience with phenibut could be drastically different than the effects listed below. This is not a comprehensive list, and dosing higher will not always boost the positive effects. Some of these could be switched depending on your goals. Most negatives are associated with abuse or overdosing.
Positive:
Anxiety Reduction
Mood enhancement
Music enjoyment
Increase in cognitive effects that are associated with anxiety.
Sedation in higher doses
Stimulation in lower doses
Pain reduction
Disinhibition
Decrease in ADD/ADHD symptoms in lower doses
Empathy enhancement
Psychedelic drug enhancement - Comes from reducing anxiety, therefore reducing the chance of a "bad trip".
Negative:
Nausea- Can be mild to extreme with waves of nausea and vomiting than can last hours. Almost always associated with overdosing.
Physical and psychological dependence- Starts manifesting when dosing daily, or near daily dosing. Perhaps the biggest downside of phenibut.
Cravings
Dizziness
Urinary retention
Cramps
Dehydration
Mild respiratory depression- can be amplified with other depressants to a fatal level when high enough doses are used.
Chasing initial feelings one use to get with phenibut in early use.
Potentially Dangerous Combinations:
Depressants - Large doses of benzodiazepines, opioids, or alcohol can increase respiratory depression. Blackouts are more common than with the substances alone. Vomit aspiration possible.
Dissociatives - Increases chances of vomit aspiration due to increase in nausea and chance of unconsciousness.
Stimulants - While not as dangerous as the first two, these drugs can mask intoxication of each other, resulting in an excessive intoxication risk.
Tolerance and Withdrawal:
Phenibut builds tolerance extremely quickly, with as little as two consecutive days. I would highly urge you to regulate your use to twice a week, if not, less. If you do find yourself dependent, taper your dose down.
*Slow Taper: -*25 mg/day
Medium (Recommended): -50 to 75 mg/day
*Fast taper: -100 mg/*day
This could vary from person to person, it's perfectly fine to taper slower. Usually, tapering can be done quickly in the beginning with larger doses (2000mg+) , but then slow as you reach lower doses. (1000mg) However, this may not apply to you.
Some doctors may prescribe you Baclofen to help with the withdrawal; in rarer instances, they may prescribe you a longer acting benzodiazepine. Take care you don't become dependent on these medications.
Some red flags you may be starting a addiction
Phenibut withdrawal symptoms
Depression
Anxiety
Nightmares- Caused by REM rebound.
Hallucinations- Can be severe after waking, especially after a nightmare.
Delusions - Sometimes this can manifest itself with anxiety to form a mild delusion not associated with hallucinations. (e.g. "My boss hates me and is going to fire me." or "I'll be like this forever. I damaged up my brain.")
Insomnia
In severe cases; Delirium.
Common Misconceptions/Unsubstantiated Claims:
Phenibut is a nootropic - Phenibut may seem like a nootropic and is even marketed in Latvia for cognitive decline, but most evidence suggest the cognitive boost is an indirect effect from anxiety reduction.
Phenibut increases dopamine - There is next to no reliable sources that cite phenibut increases dopamine to a clinically significant degree. It's true it may increase dopamine matabolism, but this is counteracted by its inhibitory effect.
Phenibut increases GH (growth hormone) - While it's true some gabaergic drugs increase GH, there is no credible consensus that phenibut increases GH.
Quick Chemistry:
Phenibut is extremely similar to GABA in terms of chemical makeup, being a derivative containing a phenyl group in the β-position. This chemical difference allows it cross the blood brain barrier so it can produce its depressant effects.
Most Phenibut is sold is Phenibut HCl, which is an extremely sour tasting salt that is easily dissolved. Hydrochloric acid reacts with the phenibut to create phenibut HCl. When you see dose charts, they are usually referring to the HCl version, although dosing is pretty similar.
The other commonly available form is FAA, which has about 20% more phenibut when compared on a mass basis to HCl. The FAA version of phenibut is nearly ph neutral, non-crystalline, somewhat bitter, and is slower to dissolve than phenibut HCl. When in the stomach, it converts to phenibut HCl. This form of phenibut is suitable for sublingual or intranasal use; which some reports claim phenibut is faster acting and stronger.
Sources:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1527-3458.2001.tb00211.x
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11830761
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2431377
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3604470/
https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Phenibut
https://erowid.org/references/refs.php?S=phenibut
I am not associated with any phenibut brands or any company. This guide was created to be as objective as possible.
I felt like there's some important information being left out of older guides, So I decided to make an updated one. Tell me what you think.
I have trouble sleeping before my early classes twice a week. Can I use phenibut at low doses (100-250 mg) two or three times a week, or is this worse than 1-2g once a week?
Even though there is net less phenibut in my system, I am speculating that a higher frequency is all that is needed for more issues with dependence/addiction/"losing the magic".
Until now I have done 1-2 grams of phenibut with a mix of oral/rectal ROAs for preworkout/recreation about once every two weeks
Hey yall. Im scripted 600mg pregabalin daily + 60mg baclofen. I was going to run out of both simultaneously about a week about, but ended up getting my pregabalin filled and my baclofen dropped in dose but extended a week (40mg daily ×7days). I recently ran ouf of the baclofen i was given to taper and decided to try out the phenibut. Ask good ol' GPT what the cross t was looking like and decided of a 2.5g initial dose w a 1g redose, spaced about 90min and on a mostly empty stomach. Very mild effects so I decided to redose another 3.5g over 2 more doses and about another 90min. Boy, was i underwhelmed...i felt basically nothing!!
Fast foward to 2 days ago, and i started with a 3.5g initial with a ~3.5g redosed about 90min later. I was SO FUCKING SCARY HIGH. I was really worried...god was it a miserably intense and challenging high. It borderlined psychedelics dissociative...somehow i didn't blackout, but absolutely 5hrs in i passed out for ~4hrs. I still haven't felt quite right since that second dose.
Be safe out there yall!
So i was on roughly a gram for nearly a year taking it DAILY...and stopped for a few months (want to say i quit in Jan) due to some personal crap i was going thru and decided to try a gram today. I've got to say it hit way harder than i thought. That almost drunk feeling, music sounded magical, energy... It's sad that it doesn't hit like that every time. I don't drink alcohol or do any drugs and not planning to daily usage again.
For me. The bigger the dose is, the more insane vivid Dream I get.
Im dreaming about me killing people and after I killed them, then I realize that im dreaming so because of that I have my own trick to get out of the dream. In the dream im closing my eyes a few seconds and then i nearly brutally open my eyes, mostly I will wake up. But I have tried that I cant get out of my fucking dream, so it just continues. Thats where I think, okay maybe this is an OD?
Don’t use it much. For special days and such, I would use it more but it gives pretty bad rebounds, even on just single doses.
Has anyone tried this combination? Would it be ok for parties and socialising in general? I am going out tonight by myself so I need something potent
Hey everyone, I recently came across a report mentioning possible impurities in Venogen's phenibut, and it’s got me a bit concerned. I’ve used phenibut before and had decent experiences, but now I’m questioning the safety and quality of this brand.
Has anyone here used phenibut from Venogen recently? Did you notice anything off about it—strange smell, taste, side effects, or anything that seemed different from other vendors?
I’m not trying to start drama or throw shade—just genuinely looking for real experiences or any lab testing info if anyone’s come across that. Safety first, right?
Thanks in advance!
So I'm in a EU country where they still prescribe Phenibut. The person who got the rx is my kid, not myself. The pediatric neurologist was quite... Old-fashioned. She mentioned Phenibut being a very mild starting option for my son's increasingly heavy tics, with other typical Tourettes-effective drugs having really heavy side effect profiles. We're starting with half a tablet once a day for the first week.
Soooo from what I'm gathering online, this drug is a complicated topic. Some studies claim efficacy for tics, but there's also a lot of warnings on US-based websites. And quickly browsing this sub isn't... Especially reassuring.
Can anyone with tics/Tourettes share what their experience has been with Phenibut? Especially if they used it in like, medically appropriate doses and schedules. Since the drug recipient is a child, I'm trying to keep an eye out for side effects, what they might feel, what's normal and what's concerning.
Any information or heads up is very much appreciated. I don't really have a good avenue or support network for asking about this drug elsewhere.
I was reading the leaflet from this sub and they call phenibut "noofen". is that another word for phenibut? and it says it contains lactose? I'm confused why it would contain that. I am only asking because I'm lactose intolerant. please excuse my ignorance, I don't know much about phenibut.
When I first started taking Newmind / Liftmode / whatever phenibut a little less than ten years ago, it was an extremely consistent rule of thumb that it wouldn’t kick in until five hours after dosing. For the last couple years, phenibut HCL, regardless of the vendor, kicks in under an hour after dosing. It’s super weird and I can’t come up with a good reason why this would’ve changed.
Could it be an entirely perceptual thing, where I just think I’m feeling the effects within that timeframe because I’m anticipating feeling them? I don’t want to/I have a hard time believing that one, because the feeling is very pronounced, and if I’m capable of tricking myself into feeling that way then I’m super pissed I’ve wasted so much money on drugs.
Is it something to do with how long I’ve used it, like somehow my body’s become an expert at processing the stuff in record time?
I considered that maybe it’s another kind of phenibut like FAA that’s been mislabeled, but the HCL sourness is pretty unmistakable, and I can’t imagine that every vendor I’ve tried are such fuckups that they’ve mislabeled every order of mine for years.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Has anyone tried the phenibut from supplocker? They are 500mg capsules and I can't seem to find any reviews on them. I've seen food reviews on their other products but not on their phenibut.
Hey everyone, I only take Phenibut maybe once every 2–3 months, mainly for anxiety, but I’ve noticed a strong pattern in how it affects my sleep — and I’m wondering if I can use that to fix my wrecked sleep schedule.
Here’s what I’ve observed after taking a single dose (usually ~500–750mg):
First night (day of dosing): I get somewhat sleepy around 5–6 hours after taking it. It’s a relaxed, cozy kind of tired, but not knockout level.
Next morning: Waking up feels impossible. My eyelids feel like magnets — super heavy, mentally foggy, like I’m being dragged back into sleep no matter how hard I try.
Second night (the next night): I get insanely sleepy. Like, I physically can’t stay awake. It feels like a natural crash/reset.
Since my sleep schedule is completely off (sleeping at 4–6am lately), I’m wondering if anyone’s used Phenibut specifically to shift their circadian rhythm — like strategically timing the dose to trigger that second-night crash right when you want to fall asleep “early.”
Has anyone tried this? Any tips on ideal timing for the dose to make the most of that 36-hour sleepy curve?
Appreciate any input!
I’m currently traveling in Eastern Europe and have a fairly large stock on hand since I can buy cheap at pharmacy. How much can I bring back to the USA when I return home? Should I put it in my carry on or checked bags, or both? I have the blister packs of 10 250mg pills per pack. I don’t want to have trouble with TSA but what’s the worst case scenario , they throw it away? If I don’t try to bring it i will have to throw away what I don’t use anyway. Thanks!
Now before you hit the downvote button, I am no way saying phenibut will do the same thing to you guys, because everyone is different and many users here reported clean bloodwork. But I’m just saying whatever phenibut I took almost gave me a liver injury.
So I was a kratom user for anxiety (and pain) and decided to try out phenibut as an add-on, since kratom tolerance peaks so goddamn quickly and you almost always have to take breaks to re-set your sensitivity to it.
It was HCI 2 grams every other day all the way to every day (I know, too high a frequency) and I definitely started noticing the differences in anxiety within a week. However a few weeks after, I got my bloodwork done and my ALT number was 300 something, and I thought it was a mistake so I got tested again in two weeks (whilst still taking phenibut) and my numbers were over 1,000. Yet strangely, I had no symptoms. After a colonoscopy and biopsy, doctors established that I had no hepatitis, cirrhosis, cancer, autoimmune, etc, and all they found was a drug induced liver injury.
So I was ordered to stop all my supplements, including kratom and phenibut. The doctor was sure it was either one of those two causing it. After my numbers went down some, I started taking my supplements and kratom again foolishly since my pain was coming back. Got a test again though a week later, and my numbers were still going down.
Which only leaves the phenibut.
Now it’s only a question of why. Was it the vendor I was using having shady manufacturing (Burman’s Health Shop capsules)? Was it because I was mixing it with kratom? Or am I just an unlucky minority in that phenibut had that effect on me?
When I told the doc about the kratom and phenibut, he had heard of kratom, but didn’t know what the hell phenibut was and had to look it up. Told me that there was a study where super high doses could cause fatty liver disease for some. But nothing more. He said Russian medicine must be a whole different ballpark than ours.
I will say, I do miss using it. Strangely though, despite my health being impacted, I had no withdrawal symptoms, which I was terrified of, from reading all the horror stories from this sub.
I have a pretty high natural tolerance to pretty much every drug I've done. I did fent in the form of blues for a bit, tried meth once, dabbled in a handful of other drugs. I've done a decent amount of gabapentin, never consistently, but I would take 20+ 300mg caps at a time.
Phenibut seems to be no different, when I first started playing with it, I started low, i think my first dose was .75g, and I worked my way up and for a dose where I just want to feel pretty decent I take 3.2g.
Yesterday I wanted to test the waters of higher dosages, I took 2g in the morning, 2g at lunch, and 1.5g around 6:30pm. I was definitely pretty "gooped" as I like to call it, but I wouldn't say I was fucked up.
So to the people who, like me, have an abnormally high tolerance to phenibut, what's the highest dose you've taken and what were the effects?
I've recently ordered magnesium threonate because it's the best form of magnesium crossing blood brain barrier wise afaik.
I took 500mg of magnesium threonate in the morning and 2.5g of phenibut a couple hours later. I got really really high, it caught me totally off guard.
I totally forgot that I even took magnesium and later connected the facts. I will try to test it tomorrow for the second time.
I know that magnesium can stop gabapentin from working (or just decrease the effects, I don't know if totally)? Not sure if also pregabalin. But it might actually potentate phenibut.
Interested to hear if anyone here ever combined them and noticed a difference. I will update the post tomorrow.
I recently reintroduced weekly phenibut to my life after quitting for a year because of addiction, and I’ve started experimenting with F-Phenibut. I’m a normal Phenibut veteran, to say the least(nearly 10+ years of weekly use), but never tried F-Phenibut until recently.
Since reintroducing phenibut to my life, I’ve been using science bio, and I think I have to agree that while it’s still awesome, it doesn’t quite have that magic that the now defunct vendors had back a few years ago.
That being said, I’ve been experimenting with F-Phenibut from science, and I think it scratches that itch like old normal phenibut did. With these new batches of phenibut, it takes some amphetamine stims in order to really get going in terms of effects. It’s fine, but without stims very lacking. F-Phenibut feels pretty awesome even without the stims.
I also personally haven’t experienced the decreased duration you’re supposed to get from F-Phenibut. I’m someone who always feels phenibut at least a little bit even 3 days after dosing, and with F-Phenibut I definitely still feel it over 24 hours later. It does take effect much faster, though.
I’ve been being responsible and only doing less than a gram with every F-Phenibut dose, highest I’ve done is 750mg today. Will definitely be switching it out with the normal phenibut I take for raves/shows. It’s definitely more euphoric, but even more so than normal phenibut, nothing to fuck with.
I’ll make a post soon about my return to phenibut after being addicted to it daily for a couple years. So far so good, but don’t think you’ll have the same mileage if you’re addictive.
Anyone else feel this way about F-Phenibut?
i've been on 1-1.5 mg xanax per day for the past month. i am about to try faa phenibut 1.5g for the first time and was curious how long should i wait to take xan again cause i dont want to combine them. i have tolerance on the dose of xan im taking . if i take it now 4-5 in the afternoon would i be ok with taking like 0.25 or 0.50 mg xanax before i sleep or no xan for me today?? THANKS ALOT.
I’m going to withdrawal from lyrica in a day and I have a lyrica package coming in the mail but it’s ground advantage when they said it would be express… I just need to know which products contain phenibut I have to work. I used to use phenibut for years but don’t know the game now. Thanks
I'm not good with Bitcoin or Zelle I just want to use my debit card to buy it like I used to. Now every website wants me to do all this technical crap, anyone know of any sites I can use my cash app or debit?
Hi,
just a quick question:
is combining Phenibut with DMXE dangerous?
My plan is to take about 750mg Phenibut + 1T-LSD in the morning and doing DMXE in the evening/night.
Is it over right? Will they reship it or refund me?
Since phenibut has similar effects to alchochol, does it affect you the same? Does it cause lower testosterone and inhibits protein synthesis? Is there any logical reason it should? How about REM sleep. This video could serve as a reference: https://youtu.be/u0IOs2B4ocY?si=dgzxlrImV6smkFml
FYI all these posts talking crap about science.bio don’t know what Phenibut is or should feel like. I just received an order a couple days ago and it’s as good as Liftmode.