Dissociative Intoxication and Prolonged Withdrawal Associated With Phenibut

Acute phenibut withdrawal: A comprehensive literature review and illustrative case report

“…Only a few cases of PHB withdrawal are available in the literature (Table 1). However, patients were consistently reported to display signs of psychomotor agitation, oftentimes severe [3,10,11,13,[15][16][17][18][19]21,23]. Two reports of withdrawal described patients who required such degree of sedation that mechanical ventilation was required [10,23].…”

“…Two reports of withdrawal described patients who required such degree of sedation that mechanical ventilation was required [10,23]. In addition, the patient demographics including young to middle age adults and concomitant substance abuse were typically present [10,11,[15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…Our literature search identified nine reports of 10 cases of PHB withdrawal (Table 1) [3,10,11,13,[15][16][17][18][19]. In addition, there were five abstracts presented at meetings reporting 12 additional cases (Table 1) [8,[20][21][22][23].…”

“…It is also widely used as a nootropic agent [1,7,[11][12][13][14]. Chronic PHB use results in tolerance, and abrupt discontinuation can lead to abstinence syndromes, some of which have been reported to be severe [3,10,11,13,[15][16][17][18].…”

Severe phenibut poisoning: An adolescent case cluster

“…1,6 In acute poisoning, fluctuating sedation and agitation are the most consistent features of toxicity. 1,6 In this way, the presentation is similar to γ-hydroxybutyrate intoxication. Mydriasis, hypothermia and seizures have also been reported.…”