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Anxiety and Narcoleptic Symptoms after 1wk!
Phenibut
Citation:   Cautious. "Anxiety and Narcoleptic Symptoms after 1wk!: An Experience with Phenibut (exp82582)". Erowid.org. Feb 24, 2012. erowid.org/exp/82582

 
DOSE:
  oral Smarts - Phenibut
BODY WEIGHT: 200 lb
I will keep this brief because the well-known 'positive' effects of phenibut are covered here and elsewhere more in-depth. I will say that phenibut seems to be on a very steep curve when it comes to tolerance to a given dose. As someone who experimented with dozens of drugs, both illicit and non-illicit, in the not-do-distant past, I don't recall another drug that seems to result in tolerance so quickly.

I bought phenibut because of some lingering circadian rhythm issues from my misspent youth. I very easily get on a 4am-1pm sleep schedule even after weeks or months on a more-desirable 12am-8am sleep schedule. One all-nighter or similar is all it takes. This is unacceptable for me, and causes a lot of secondary stress as well as the expected issues from circadian disruption.

On to the negatives of phenibut use: while I noticed some benefit as far as sleep quality, they were grossly outweighed by a recurring and nasty floating anxiety, occurring most intensely in social situations but manifesting as a general sense of dread and even nausea. This started about three days after phenibut use started. Oddly, the intense anxiety was followed by periods of near-narcoleptic drowsiness. It got worse with prolonged use, and when I hypothesized it was the phenibut and cut down my phenibut use, it took a full week to get back to a semblance of normal.

Luckily for me I am between jobs. This was seriously life-disrupting and resulted in 4-5 embarrassing situations during dates with girls. I can't emphasize how out of the ordinary this is for me. I am not at all prone to anxiety in social situations, and tend to remain cool and levelheaded under any type of pressure.

Most people who use phenibut are either looking for a good sleep aid, a cheap thrill, or are genuinely interested in experimenting with a variety of drugs and in the interest of thoroughness add phenibut to the list. If you are looking for a sleep aid, I doubt phenibut will be worth the potential lost sleep and days of anxiety. If you are looking for a cheap thrill, alcohol is legal and is very similar to phenibut when dosed at 2-4 drinks. I won't suggest illicit drugs, but I think most of them are less psychologically harmful in an acute sense than phenibut.

[Reported Dose: '400-2000mg']

Exp Year: 2009ExpID: 82582
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: 23
Published: Feb 24, 2012Views: 32,012
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Smarts - Phenibut (379) : Post Trip Problems (8), Retrospective / Summary (11), Various (28)

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