Stewart Christopher, Simonsen Hunter, Satyasi Savitha K, Ashraf Nauman, Sukpraprut-Braaten Suporn
Medicine, Kansas City University, Joplin, USA.
Psychiatry, Freeman Health System, Joplin, USA.
Cureus. 2024 Sep 6;16(9):e68775. doi: 10.7759/cureus.68775. eCollection 2024 Sep.
Phenibut is an anxiolytic agent that was originally used as a treatment for anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and insomnia. It is a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) mimetic, which stimulates GABA receptors in the brain. This increases the inhibitory effects of GABA leading to a greater chance of a sedative response and risk for abuse. It is not currently registered in Western countries but is easily accessible online as a supplement. This is a systematic review of case reports of phenibut patients with withdrawal symptoms published in the PubMed database between January 2010 and October 2023. Following the inclusion criteria application, 15 articles were included. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the results. The average age of patients with phenibut withdrawals was 31.8 years (SD=12.66 years), and 13 cases (87%) were males. The average dosage was 13.6 g/day (SD=8 g), ranging from 1.5 to 28.5 g/day. Nine cases (60%) presented at an emergency department, and three cases (17%) were presented at a clinic setting facility. The most common history of patients who took phenibut was alcohol or drug abuse (73%). A history of anxiety and depression (60%) was also seen in the majority of patient presentations. Phenibut is never prescribed in the United States, and there are no official guidelines for phenibut use. Educating all physicians about the potentially harmful supplements available to patients and their biological mechanisms is essential. This review highlights the importance of collecting a thorough patient history, including supplements, to help prevent phenibut misuse and subsequent withdrawals.
苯乙胺是一种抗焦虑药物，最初用于治疗焦虑症、抑郁症、创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和失眠。它是一种γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）模拟物，可刺激大脑中的GABA受体。这会增加GABA的抑制作用，导致更大的镇静反应可能性和滥用风险。它目前在西方国家未注册，但作为一种补充剂在网上很容易获得。这是对2010年1月至2023年10月在PubMed数据库中发表的苯乙胺戒断症状患者病例报告的系统评价。应用纳入标准后，纳入了15篇文章。使用描述性统计分析结果。苯乙胺戒断患者的平均年龄为31.8岁（标准差=12.66岁），13例（87%）为男性。平均剂量为13.6克/天（标准差=8克），范围为1.5至28.5克/天。9例（60%）在急诊科就诊，3例（17%）在诊所就诊。服用苯乙胺的患者最常见的病史是酒精或药物滥用（73%）。大多数患者还存在焦虑和抑郁病史（60%）。在美国，苯乙胺从未被处方过，也没有关于苯乙胺使用的官方指南。让所有医生了解患者可用的潜在有害补充剂及其生物学机制至关重要。本综述强调了收集全面的患者病史（包括补充剂）以帮助预防苯乙胺滥用及后续戒断的重要性。
