Phenibut Dosage, Benefits, Safety & Where To Buy
Phenibut has the capability to deal with anxiety and even helped with ADHD, plus, many people are also using it as a nootropic, a smart drug, to improve their cognitive capabilities. But what sort of Phenibut dosage you need to get the beneficial effects, and how much is too much?
This Phenibut review is going to cover everything you need to know about this surprisingly old chemical from the Soviet Union.
You’ll learn about Phenibut dosage, effects, safety, stacking Phenibut with kratom, and a little bit about its legality as well. Plus, you’ll get a recommendation on where to find Phenibut for sale that’s 100% pure.
Why Phenibut Was Developed
Phenibut is an old Soviet drug. It was developed in the 1960s to help people with anxiety problems.
It’s still used on prescription in several old Soviet countries, mostly for anxiety problems, alcohol withdrawal, and even ADHD. So it does have 50 years of human use behind it.
Phenibut works by increasing the amounts of GABA available to stimulate the GABA receptors in our brain. This is our main inhibitory neurotransmitter. It helps to calm us down and focuses when released. Having more GABA available to stimulate the GABA receptors increases the calm and focus.
The problem with Phenibut is we don’t have much human scientific study evidence the how it works, and problems it can cause. Most of the old Soviet research is either gone or inaccessible, and modern human research around the world is minimal. The truth is that most of the available studies have been done in animals.
I will just mention here that it was actually used on Soviet space programs. It’s still also included in the current Russian space first-aid kit. It’s described as a tranquilizer, and it’s used to cope with the trauma of lift-off and re-entry. But why it’s used is because Phenibut is a rare tranquilizer that induces deep calm while also retaining cognitive sharpness. However, that’s dose dependent.
Is Phenibut Legal?
Phenibut legality is complex. It’s obviously completely legal in many old Soviet countries, is widely available, and made on the grey market. But you are only meant to use it via a doctor’s prescription.
Let’s focus on North America. It’s not approved for any use, meaning you cannot legally sell it or possess it. So you can’t import it either.
That’s the same in most of the Western world as well. Although in Canada, it’s legal to import and possess as long as it’s only in small amounts (an arbitrary 90 day personal supply).
So if you’re thinking of trying Phenibut, you need to get on Google and check out if it’s legal in your country. You probably won’t be able to buy it in your country, but what you don’t want to happen is you try and import it and have the shipment destroyed, or receive a visit from law enforcement (although the chances of that are very minimal).
Phenibut Effects & Benefits
Phenibut is a GABA analogue. It was constructed with an additional phenyl ring, which allows Phenibut to cross the blood-brain barrier far more effectively than GABA can on its own.
The Phenibut effects and benefits you can get will depend on why you’re taking it.
Generally, Phenibut offers the following:
- It can focus the mind and remove noise which is why it sometimes used for ADHD
- Phenibut has the ability to induce a deepening calm
- Phenibut raises levels of dopamine which can make you happy and more driven
- Its main benefit is the ability to reduce anxiety
- At high doses, Phenibut has the ability to make you deeply calm and deliriously happy (high)
So if you’re looking at taking it to calm anxiety, or to curb the condition like ADHD, then the effects I’ve just described will help you. But can it really be used as a nootropic?
At the heart of answering that question is dopamine. Although it’s the main neurotransmitter that deals with pleasure, risk, reward, motivation, it’s also key to our memory:
- Dopamine improves memory formation
- It improves memory retention and recall
- Dopamine speeds up cognitive processes
- Dopamine helps us to focus
It stands to reason then that Phenibut is a nootropic, because it raises dopamine levels, which on its own helps to elevate our cognitive abilities. If that’s all it does though, then you could just take something like Mucuna Pruriens, which is a far more natural way to raise dopamine levels. So how else this Phenibut acts as a smart drug?
Well, it goes back to GABA. Because Phenibut raises levels of GABA, those neurotransmitters are more active, calming us down. This helps us to focus our minds.
But more than that, increased levels of GABA have been shown to elevate levels of alpha brain waves. This means we are thinking faster and better.
In addition to all that, elevated levels of GABA induce balance and calm, so we sleep better. Better sleep helps with our mental processes, like forming and storing memories. Phenibut hits this from all angles, which is why it works as a nootropic so well.
Phenibut Dosage Guide
Phenibut is metabolized in our livers. Once metabolized it crosses the blood-brain barrier. It does this very successfully, and usually within two hours of consumption. Its half-life is around five hours. So you’re looking at its effects lasting up to 10 hours or longer, depending on the dosage.
Although some human studies do exist, none have really looked at dosage, so there’s no standardized dosage for any condition, let alone for using it as a cognitive enhancing smart drug.
The highest dose I’ve ever seen mentioned in any study data on humans is 1000 mg a day. But that’s the sort of dosage level which can cause dependency and tolerance. Anecdotally, prescriptions in Eastern Europe where it’s still legally prescribed tend to be 200 mg tablets taken once or twice per day.
So for me, your baseline Phenibut dosage should be 200 mg, working up from there to see how the effects change. As with anything off label, always start with the lowest possible recommend dose and work up gradually. I would recommend you ever go above about 5-600 mg a day.
How To Take Phenibut Supplements
You should always be looking to buy Phenibut HCL, not FAA (free amino acid form). That’s because HCL is a crystallized salt which is water-soluble.
You then prepare Phenibut as follows:
- Measure out the required dose using a micro-scale
- Add the white powder to a glass of liquid (water or fruit juice works as well)
- Mix it in well until the Phenibut has dissolved
- Drink the Phenibut down rapidly
It’s better to take Phenibut on an empty stomach, but some people do get nausea. My advice is to make sure your stomach has been empty for hours if you know you’re going to get nausea then just eat a bit of bread 15 minutes prior to taking the dose of Phenibut.
The alternative is Phenibut in capsule form. This is actually rare because Phenibut powder is so cheap and easy-to-use.
Phenibut capsules can be three times the price of the powder. But they can be brilliant to dose on the move, or if you don’t want to mess around with weighing powder.
Can You Get A Phenibut High & Is It Safe?
A lot of people have used Phenibut recreationally to get high. Not necessarily deliberately to get high, but they have taken a strong enough dose to completely remove anxiety, lifter dopamine levels significantly, and just basically have a brilliant time.
To answer the question directly around the Phenibut high, yes you can definitely get high on Phenibut.
There’s a huge caveat with that though: it’s not actually very safe.
Phenibut is a tranquilizer. Although it allows you to retain cognitive sharpness, after a certain point that no longer holds true. It’s a careful balance which most people get wrong. The dose is high enough to give them a calm euphoric rush, retaining sharpness to some degree, but if you’re not careful, it instead tips over into total sedation and shallow breathing.
Phenibut And Kratom
Creating a Phenibut and kratom stack is something that a lot of people do. This is because although they work differently in the body, they create synergy because the effects they produce are the same.
Kratom works on the opioid receptors in the body, creating energy, cognitive sharpness, but also an increasing deep calm that can tip over into sedation at high doses. So that all sounds very familiar when talking about Phenibut, basically they do the same thing as the dose increases.
If you’re going to use Phenibut and kratom, be very careful. Keep your doses low and never get yourself into a state where you are completely tranquilized, as this can be dangerous. It’s also very important to use high-quality kratom. Old, cheap kratom won’t deliver the desired effects.
My go-to kratom vendors are Coastline kratom and The Evergreen tree. For more info on kratom vendors, check out my review.
Phenibut Side Effects & Warnings
So far, this Phenibut review has shown you the strong benefits it can have in terms of calming anxiety, improving cognitive performance, and calming conditions like ADHD. But Phenibut does come with a strong warning attached to it, and you would be wise to take note.
Phenibut has the following side effects, ranging from mild to fatal:
- nausea
- Memory disturbances
- Vivid dreams and nightmares
- Night sweats
- Night terrors
- Sleep paralysis
- Depression
- Sexual dysfunction
- Breathing problems
Although all those have to be spelled out, and some of them are quite scary, you do have to temper that with the reality of when they could occur. For most people, you’re not going to get any of those problems.
The real negative Phenibut side effects are depression and breathing problems. But these only occur with high doses.
Phenibut can cause depression because of the way it raises dopamine levels. If you continuously do this, your body will struggle to produce dopamine on its own unless stimulated by the Phenibut. So, if you stop taking it, your dopamine levels then drop through the floor, causing what can be serious depression.
Also, Phenibut can depress respiration, because it’s a tranquilizer. At very high doses breathing can be shallow, which is why you don’t want to be taking a high dose and then falling asleep. Also, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, alcohol, and opioids (including kratom) are also breathing depressants. Mixing them can be fatal.
As with anything, be sensible. Start with a minimum dose on its own. A Phenibut dose of 200 mg is a great starting place. Work upon Phenibut alone until the cognitive benefits start to tail off. That’s your sweet spot.
If you are going to potentiate/complement Phenibut with something like kratom, then drop that dose right back down to 200 mg and work up in tandem with kratom to you again reach that point where you know a higher dose could cause problems.
Phenibut Withdrawal
Phenibut can deliver a significant cognitive boost, but it is also one of the nootropic drugs out there that are closely associated with some vicious problems if dependency grows. Although not a problem with her irregular use, regular high doses of Phenibut can present with some challenging withdrawal symptoms. Anxiety and insomnia are common, alongside things like an irregular heartbeat.
Also rebound effects are common, where the original problem you are trying to deal with comes back worse (usually something like anxiety). Brain fog, depression, fatigue, tremors, can all come on strong during a period of Phenibut withdrawal. Phenibut withdrawal usually only lasts 1-2 weeks, but regular daily high dose users have reported problems for up to 20 weeks.
Phenibut withdrawal is a real problem for people who abuse it. Using it at a moderate dose a couple of times a week is no problem. However, people using it long term, with high doses more days of the week than not, can be confronted with significant withdrawal problems when they try to break a growing habit.
An irregular heartbeat, depression, fatigue, muscle pain and twitching, tremors, brain fog, high anxiety, these are all common. Phenibut withdrawal symptoms for people who have abused it usually only lasts for a couple of weeks, but some extreme users report symptoms for 20 weeks or longer.
Summary: Phenibut Pros & Cons
There’s a lot to take in when it comes to considering whether you should use Phenibut as a smart drug. But let’s put it together into a quick Phenibut pros and cons summary for you:
Phenibut pros:
- Very easy to take and dose
- Effects come on quickly and last a long time
- Significantly increases cognitive abilities
- Lifts dopamine levels and creates a better mood and determination
- Helps to focus the mind
- Calms anxiety
Phenibut cons:
- Higher doses remove the cognitive benefits
- At high doses, Phenibut is a respiration suppressant
- Repeated high dose use of Phenibut can lead to tolerance and addiction
- Phenibut withdrawal symptoms after repeated high dose use are vicious
Finding Real Phenibut For Sale
I want to conclude this quick Phenibut review by telling you where you can find Phenibut for sale.
That’s actually a bigger problem than you would think. But the thing is, because it not legally administered in most countries, anything that is for sale is grey market. That means it’s either sold purely as a research chemical, not for human consumption, or it’s imported from old Soviet Union countries.
What you’re looking for is Phenibut that’s 100% pure. That means that the company selling it have had it independently lab tested. Every single batch is tested, and those purity reports are published you can see that what you are buying is pure.
Times are tough for the supply of all sorts of supplements, including SARMs & nootropics. The reasons are varied, but include the pandemic, changes to Chinese law about exporting supplements, and more recently, the fact that supply from Eastern Europe has dried up due to the fact that Ukraine and Russia are huge exporters of nootropic substances.
But I have found a great quality and reliable American source for nootropics, SARMs, peptides, and several other types of supplements.
The site/company is called “Rats Army”. But don’t be put off by the fact it alludes to gym rats, this is a one-stop shop for all types of supplements.
In terms of Phenibut, you can buy high purity (99.9%) powder for just $27.99. For your money you will get a full 30 g of powder, which is going to be enough for around 40 strong doses.
I’ve ordered from these guys three times now, and each time it arrived quickly, and I’ve been very happy with the quality of the bodybuilding supplements and nootropics I’ve received.