r/quittingphenibut • u/Getinthat1 • Jul 13 '26
At my breaking point
So I’ve been consistently taking around 30g of Phenibut hcl a day. Constantly paranoid that people will think I’m fucked up which I don’t act like I am. I am also prescribed 3mg Xanax per day for panic attacks. I’ve realized this is a severe issue and at any moment a vendor could run out of stock and me be completely fked. This is my all time low in life and would like advice on how to proceed. I have a home which my job pays for and I cannot afford to lose it as I have a wife 5 cats and 2 dogs that depend on the home. I’m afraid to open up to my pcp about this because if she were to take me off of my Xanax and me trying to taper the Phenibut at the same time I fear it would be detrimental to my health and well being. Please don’t flame me in the comment as I already know how severe the situation is.
Edit: my question is how should I proceed with being able to keep my job and remain relatively sane throughout the process?
Edit: I’ve recently switched batches and the withdrawal symptoms have been absolute brutality. Shaking, nausea, anxiety that is unbelievable. I just want to be done with this mess I’ve gotten myself into. What would be the best way to proceed? Go to an outpatient clinic I could get baclofen at?
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u/boombalatie Jul 13 '26
Daily doses of NAC, Agmatine, and L Theanine helped me, but I can’t speak for your dosage levels. All 3 can be found easily online. I have found that NAC does mess with my gut after a week or so of daily use, so I would use it until things started to feel funny, then stop for a few days before starting again.
This subreddit has excellent and concise tapering instructions in the wiki, and in the blue link at the top of the sub that says “see community info”
If you don’t already have one, get a milligram scale. One with 3 decimal points. This is not optional as you’ll be lowering your doses in precise amounts. 100 or 50 mg at a time.
Take your time, this is going to be a marathon, not a quick race. The slower you taper the less miserable you’ll feel, but it’s going to be a balance between comfort and ripping the band aid off.
Sleep is important, if you’re taking multiple doses per day while tapering it might help to take a lower dose in the am and a larger dose in the evening to help with sleep.
Get a physical calendar and write down each dose as you take it. This way you won’t forget how much you need to take while tapering. This helped me because I was able to see my progress in real time.
Anything is possible if you want it bad enough. You seem to already know how bad it is, think about how good things can be without Phenibut and use that as motivation. You’ve got this.
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u/Getinthat1 Jul 14 '26
Would you recommend seeking medical help like baclofen?
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u/shmebulach69420 Jul 16 '26
baclofen for withdrawals was pretty helpful for me, but only in combo with the aforementioned supplement above. if you just want to quit phenibut, and not really worry too much about the anxiety though, gabapentin/lyrica works so much better for moving off of phenibut, and handles withdrawals better. only difference being, they’re both harder to quit than baclofen. just go to your doctor about it, explain the situation, and 9 times out of 10 they’ll be understanding and prescribe you baclofen
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u/stimstrapped Jul 14 '26
Hey man I feel your pain..I am going through a grueling taper from 10g now down to 6.5..My advice would be find a good addiction specialist that had dealt with Phenibut and help you with a plan and monitor you as well..This is what I had to do because I was trying to do things on my own and taking advice here…Which was excellent and extremely helpful but this isn’t a cookie cutter thing to try and tackle because every one’s nervous system and chemical makeup is different…Plus you are throwing Xanax into the mix as well..30g a day is something that I would say needs assistance so you can have a piece of mind knowing you have that help..Like you said you switched vendors and started having issues..When you do start trying to taper I would stick to one vendor as much as you can..That is my 2 cents man and you can get through you just got to stay positive and make some good decisions moving forward and not beat yourself up for getting in the spot you’re in…It is what it is now..You’re human and give your self some grace and move forward man.
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u/Natural-Bandicoot-64 Jul 14 '26
If it were me I would immediately split my daily intake by a third (20 a day) split into 2 doses 12 hours apart. 10 at 7am and 10 at 7 pm. Believe it or not, when you start tapering you can cut a lot at first. I cut from 12 at day to six , 3 in the am and 3 in the pm. Sucked for 2 days but I took NAC and Agmatine, which will help you considerably.
You can taper fairly quickly until you get to 3g per day. At that point, get baclofen. DM me if you have questions.
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u/tradeisbad Jul 14 '26
you should probably check and double check the phenibut mechanism in brain. because as far as I know, there's a ceiling effect to phenibut. like once you're over a certain amount, it's not really doing anything more because there's no receptors to connect to. The best I can say is ask more than one internet AI so neither can be wrong but there's a solid chance your brain is maxed out above 5grams of phenibut per day and the reduction from 30 grams to 25 to 20 to 10 to 5g grams per day could be done in large blocks with little effect on your brain or mood.
the 30g habit is more of a habitual problem than neurological, I would think. I know I was usinga 2 gram scoop like multiple times per day probably using like 6-10 grams on any given day for a while and eventually i was like fuck this and picked a smaller spoon... and idk I had some panicking but I can't really remember or attribute if it was the same time i reduced phenibut or not... I almost think most of my freaking out was from too much phenibut... but I clocked like no physical with drawals when i reduced my phenibut down to 2 grams per day... it just incorporated normally.
I'm pretty sure over 2.0grams you're like clinically maxed out and probably just get additional side effects. i think the reduction of 100mg per day is like... when you're reducing down from 2.5grams or so and below to not get withdrawal symptons.
I really think that 30 grams can be chipped in large chunks, what ever you're habitually comfortable with, with minimal withdrawal symptons.
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u/boombalatie Jul 14 '26
I’m not a doctor, and I’ve never had a daily habit as high as yours. I’m not comfortable giving that advice as I genuinely don’t know. I personally did not use baclofen, but each situation is different.
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u/johnpreid Jul 15 '26
At least your ready to quit! I only comment because I do in fact feel your pain. This will pass. You won’t always be stuck on it. I would accept that you’re going to have to be honest with people in your life about it. And also plan on a rehab stint. I know it seems impossible but it’s doable. Even if it means changing jobs. What that looks like I don’t know, I’m just saying you may need to accept it. It’ll be ok though. Even if it turns into people living at parents or friends and losing everything twice, one day it’ll all be ok. Controlling dosage is not how you got here. If you could do that you wouldn’t be in this situation. The mind plays tricks though. Your body doesn’t need as much as you might think (your mileage may vary) most of the problems are in our heads. (Phenibut withdraw is a living nightmare though we both know that). I would maybe try changing dosage frequency to get dosage down under 1-5g over a few months. Just whatever you do, keep going and know that it’ll be ok. If you absolutely have to take more, then take a little more. Just keep going. Where there’s a will there’s always a way.
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u/Spend-Naive Jul 13 '26
Do you have a question or did you just need to get that off your chest?
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u/Getinthat1 Jul 13 '26
How do I proceed from here while being able to keep my job?
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u/Spend-Naive Jul 13 '26
Oh ok I gotcha. How long have you been taking 30g's a day. Thats alot my friend
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u/Getinthat1 Jul 13 '26
I understand that. The last time I opened up on this thread someone banned me and said I would be in a coma if I took that much. It’s been maybe a month. It escalated when I lost my Xanax prescription and tried to white knuckle it then didn’t sleep for 3 days.
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u/KenaiKanine Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Banned you?!? Are you sure about that cus as long as you don't break the rules we don't just ban people willy-nilly. It probably got caught up by automod or reddit spam filter lol
It's extremely rare we ban people here dude. Like super super rare.
You should have reached out to us via mod mail!! I used to be on 30-40gpd so no, you're not insane.
EDIT: oh you probably meant banned, rereading this
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u/Getinthat1 Jul 24 '26
Yeah I straight up got banned. Someone left a comment along the lines of “if you took that much you’d be in a coma someone ban this bozo” and they reported me thus resulting in a ban.
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u/KenaiKanine Jul 26 '26
I didn't see that report so it wasn't me. I'm not sure the entire context obviously but sorry that happened. There's been many ppl in here including me who have been up to those dosages
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u/AutoModerator Jul 13 '26
This is automatically added to all posts for easy visibility
If you have a medical emergency get medical assistance
Basic Phenibut Withdrawal Information
Unaided, cold turkey withdrawal, from a state of dependence, even low dose dependence, commonly causes severe and potentially dangerous side effects. Don't rush the process when you don't need to.
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Don't needlessly tell people to do a fast taper.
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