Comment · Wed, February 3, 2021 · ND Owner
Herbal GABAergics and dependency
Original post in this thread
bejaq · 20 points
It seems that it's generally assumed that herbal supplements that work on GABA like gotu kola, skullcap, lemon balm, magnolia are not prone to causing dependency and withdrawal.
However there have been (relatively rare) claims to the contrary.
To be honest I am a bit concerned with the lack of information on this subject, and my intuition is that in the absence of contrary evidence, it should be assumed that substances that have similarities in receptor-action to benzodiazepines, alcohol, phenibut (if only by working on gaba) might be prone to inducing dependency and withdrawal.
Personally I like the feeling of benzos a lot and if there is safe alternative I certainly would like to take it more than occasionally.
It would be awesome to have a substance that helps the GABA system regulate itself better, and the complex pharmacology of herbs might be better suited to that?
But I feel it might be a little bit naive to believe that unless there is actual evidence for that.
It should be noted that when it comes to benzos and opiates, it took a long time and many people using them for the understanding of their true addictive potential to become clear, so that also seems good t…
What they were answering
umbrella_term · 1 points
If I understand your last paragraph correctly, fasoracetam can help undo phenibut tolerance?
Also, speaking of benzos, phenibut and GABA: do the former two interact with lemon balm and magnolia bark? Asking because of what PrettyChill once explained:
Lemon Balm mainly inhibits GABA-transaminase, which slows down the breakdown of GABA, therefore resulting in higher GABA levels. Magnolia Bark on the other hand acts directly on GABA receptors, and better yet, works as a positive allosteric modulator of GABA receptors.
I understand you may not be allowed to answer because of legal reasons, so no worries if that's the case.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
Fasoracetam modulates the metabotropic glutamate receptors, which causes a compensatory up-regulation of GABA-B receptors. GABA-B down-regulation is part of the tolerance.
Also, speaking of benzos, phenibut and GABA: do the former two interact with lemon balm and magnolia bark? Asking because of what PrettyChill once explained:
Remember, benzos are GABA-A and phenibut is GABA-B. Lemon balm will increase GABA by slowing down its breakdown, and then that GABA will go on to bind to both GABA-A and GABA-B. Magnolia bark allosterically modulates GABA-A.