I have crippling social phobia, OCD and insomnia that I self-medicate by taking phenibut daily. I know this is considered risky, but I'm not too concerned - last year I cycled off the phenibut after 7 months of daily use and had no problems beyond the initial withdrawal phase. I'd prefer benzos, but most doctors I've dealt with are total drug nazis who refuse to prescribe them for long term use.
Over the last month I've been taking 10g of valerian on top of the phenibut, based on the assumption that another weak gaba agonist would potentiate the phenibut's effects. I know that's a huge dose of valerian, but my anxiety is beyond severe and I'm desperate to alleviate the symptoms.
My anxiety levels shot way up soon after that. At first I thought I was just having a bad month - but after noticing that the phenibut was no longer dilating my pupils, I figured that my tolerance to it had gone up and I took a break.
I did a taper when I went off before, but this time as an experiment I went off cold turkey. I was surprised to find that the withdrawal was negligible this time, even after two full days off it. Very surprising.
When I went back on the phenibut yesterday, I still barely felt it and my eyes still weren't dilated. I thought maybe it was just a weak batch - but today on a hunch I tried taking it without the valerian, and suddenly I can feel the effects again and my pupils are massive.
Is there any evidence that multiple gaba agonists could compete for the same receptor and cancel each other out? I was under the impression that phen and valerian act on different gaba receptors, but I can't think of any other explanation for what's happening. Could this have something to do with the amount of valerian I'm taking? I took valerian with phen before, but not as high as 10g a day.
I don't think it's a weak brand of phenibut - I'm using the same brand as always. It's the well known brand that comes in the plastic tubs.
Any ideas? This is very puzzling, especially considering all the phenibut horror stories I've heard. Cold turkey withdrawal should have been quite severe.