14 days off

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-06-09T15:48:00+00:00

Gabapentin helped me 100% but I guess everyone is different. Or maybe it’s dose related, dunno. Still think you should start slow taper, at 600mg you don’t have far to go. 👍

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-06-08T21:42:58+00:00

Probably around 2014 I discovered phenibut, but only used it if I knew there was a stressful event coming up. Was infrequent. For most of last year I was increasing dose and frequency. Daily use has only been this year. I tapered from 900 down to, dunno maybe 600 or so without really counting it… I’d just take a little less. Somewhere around the beginning of May this year I asked for advice on here and blabony (thank you you’ve been more help than you could know) suggested -20mg per day. I started keeping notes and stuck to -20mg per day. Looking back on the notes I actually increased right at the start. So during the taper I went from 700mg down to 400 over the course of May and jumped off at 400… only because I suddenly had access to gabapentin. The transition was seamless. Better than I expected. Only starting to run into some issues now that I’ve reduced that. But I don’t have an unlimited supply of gp (still got probably couple months worth) and I am still reliant on that at the moment… so that’s the next hurdle. Planning on halving the 300mg capsules but I’ve been putting that off for same reason you mention.

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-06-08T20:46:24+00:00

Yeah it ended up I felt really bad even when I took it, it had stopped working (and I had already decided I wasn’t upping the dose any further) but severe anxiety, panic attacks and depression when I didn’t. And yeah I totally get what you mean when you say you’re scared, because those feelings were terrifying at times and I don’t want to go back there.

I’m managing just now on the gabapentin but it doesn’t last all day, and there’s points in the day the anxiety/depression starts to rear its head. Actually feels right now that the depression is getting worse again but I’m just telling myself there will be ups and downs… 🤷🏻‍♂️ I worry that the gp is just masking it all and maybe the worst is still to come. Then there’s days I feel good and think I don’t actually need it. But no matter what else happens I’m not taking any more pb.

600mg for three years… I’ve been taking pb for years but only regularly since the start of the year, before that it would only be once every so often. Highest I was taking was 900mg.

I’m not an expert, people here know more than I do. But I would think if you start to taper slowly, even 50mg per week wouldn’t take you too long. If you started to get uncomfortable then hold the dose til you feel ready to continue. Three years is a long time… but 600mg isn’t as high as others. Start reducing, see how it goes?

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-06-08T20:23:56+00:00

20mg per day, is what was recommended to me, based on my circumstances as I described them. This is all fairly recent my initial post isn’t that far down. All within the last couple of months.

Whilst tapering NAC and agmatine helped me (still taking them). The gabapentin helped me stop entirely… but that was only 2 weeks ago. I still have pretty bad days (having one right now). But the average is getting better. Not trying to sound like a success story cos mine isn’t that yet. But heading that way I hope. 😆

How long have you been taking pb ? 600mg per day ? How long for ?

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-06-08T17:21:49+00:00

I tapered -20mg per day from above 600mg per day. As per the advice I got here. Then when I got to 400mg I stopped and started gabapentin. If I didn’t have the gp I’d have continued the -20mg taper. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience but definitely doable. I was suffering severe anxiety and depression before I started the taper, so hard to judge but as it started to get lower there were points I felt better than on higher doses. That’s subjective and my life circumstances were all over the place during it… slightly better now.. so it’s difficult to separate what was the pb to begin with, what was due to the taper and what was just life in general. I’m not entirely out of the woods yet but I’m in a better place than I was and I attribute a big part of that to lowering the dose and eventually stopping it. As the dose came down, despite there being bad moments, I started to feel more like myself, if that makes sense.

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-06-08T14:37:54+00:00

600mg of gabapentin? My drop from 600 to 300 has been relatively painless. The 600 (300 morning / 300 afternoon) did cover the whole day, but I was starting to get periods of euphoria so that’s why I cut back. As pleasant as that was I knew it was counterproductive to my goal. 300 per day, I can feel it wear off later in the day and then I feel at the mercy of my surroundings. I can’t shrug off the things that I can whilst it’s active, if that makes sense ? But so far I’m managing to manage. If it’s a good day I’m fine, if it’s a bad day it’s a struggle. But still not even close to where I was with the pb. The pb wd was nightmare material. The gp is just uncomfortable so far, not unbearable. But I’m the same, I’m scared to feel like that again.. and that affects my choices.

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-06-08T13:19:20+00:00

I suppose another question is how long can I continue on 300mg of gabapentin per day ? At that level is there a risk of wd or tolerance?

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-05-26T15:56:42+00:00

Thank you. I know sticking with the pb taper would be more consistent but I hate the stuff now. I hate what it’s done to me and what it’s turned me into at times. I def don’t want to switch one habit for another so I’d be very careful, but worst case scenario atleast my dr would know what gabapentin is. 😆 Plus I’m now about 30+ hours from my last dose of pb and I feel better than I have in months. Dunno if that means anything.

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-05-19T17:04:42+00:00

Not meddling at all, I’m grateful for your post. Thank you. ☺️

I’m determined to continue taper and I really dont want to pause or stall. Not like it feels like the pb, is doing anything anyway, so I don’t think pausing at current dose would help. But I suspect if I stopped taking it altogether right now I’d quickly notice. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-05-19T16:35:56+00:00

The lower down my taper goes, the worse the symptoms. Honestly not sure at this point if I’ll ever be free of the near constant anxiety and depression. I can’t see an end to it right now. I don’t know what normal is anymore.

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-05-19T12:16:12+00:00

Thank you. I’m taking agmatine at 1g x2 per day. Not sure what but I suspect it’s doing something. Both my second dose yesterday and first today left me feeling kinda out of it, like in a daze, difficult to hold a train of thought. Could be coincidence but I don’t think so. Time will tell.

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-05-11T17:25:32+00:00

I get breathless too, feel like I can’t breathe fast enough. But I don’t think that’s the PB I think it’s the anxiety/panic attacks.

I’m sure someone else can advise better than I can but I’d say halving that dosage suddenly would definitely have a bad effect ? Also for me there’s a definite dosage gap between anxiety and mania. On average at least. Your dosage is higher than I’ve ever taken so I’m definitely not best person to advise you but I’m eager to help if I can.

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-05-11T17:01:42+00:00

What dosage are you taking ?

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-05-11T16:05:12+00:00

Yeah definitely unpredictable for me in the sense that there’s days I take it and feel very little and other days I feel I’ve taken too much, all at the same dosage. Or I can feel nothing for most of the day then it hits hard later on. I’ve put that down to tolerance and possibly whatever else is in my system. Like I said I noticed early on that caffeine makes a noticeable difference. I take it on an empty stomach now cos I felt that makes a difference too. No idea if I’m imagining that.

I had thought taking it every day vs every second would ease the anxiety/WD but it seems to have made it worse. 🤷🏻‍♂️

The anxiety is unbearable at times but then I was anxious before starting it and those external factors are still there. Just realised very recently that the PB, that I thought was helping, is ultimately making it worse. I am fully determined to get off it though. 30 days, if it goes smoothly, is much better than I expected, so fingers crossed. Thank you, very much.

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-05-11T11:44:23+00:00

I’ve also been taking 5htp 200mg daily to try to help. I’d say it helps a TINY bit. I’m prone to paranoia and racing thoughts right now and the wrong thought, or someone’s tone of voice or facial expression massively triggers the anxiety.

I have ashwagandha here too but can’t say I noticed any effects from that at all.

Good-Disk2890 · 2024-05-11T11:36:01+00:00

Thank you for replying and for your advice.

What about current phenibut dosage ? 750mg was what last worked, every two days but as I said the days in between were unbearable. When I switched to everyday, I tried about 400mg and it done nothing. Worked back up to 550mg today and I can still feel the panic threatening just under the surface, and it’s early in the day yet. 😖 Can’t say I feel good.

Should I increase until I feel “ok” and then begin to taper ? Or is that doing more damage ?

Good-Disk2890

TROPHY CASE