I thought to myself, Our friend Xiphoid, as brilliant and beautiful as she is, is also sometimes a little quick on the draw with the skepticisim. We’re out here in the middle of weird science which can be easily stifled by the skepticisim of mainstream science. And what the hell, it’s a mushroom site. So i guess I’ll check this out.
The best thing that came from all of this that I found some brand new sections of the Erowid site.
Fascinateing stuff but for those of you who are easily bored, the last three paragraphs of the next post tell most of the story.
From IFast400:
I tried using 3- 5 grams of this stuff for about a week. My sleep didn’t improve and I did not wake up alert. It smells and tastes awful too. I would highly recommend purchasing some IMODIUM AD with this. Your going to need it!
From Erowid:
GABA was recommended by an enlightened MD who was assisting in getting me off Ativan. I was taking Ativan to relieve anxiety and as a sleep aid, I developed tinnitus and ongoing lethergy while using Ativan, and never would have gone on the stuff if someone had also mentioned the nasty addiction/withdrawal element.
Anyway, per his recommendation, I was taking up to 3 grams of powdered GABA (NOW Food brand) per day, sublingually, generally in 3 divided doses.
I have found it quit efficacious and was so glad to have it during the withdrawal process. In small doses, it has a nice calming effect, while in large doses, it can really provoke a nap.
Minor side effects:
-Consuming a large dose can cause a tightness of the chest and shortness of breathe. This is transient, perhaps lasting a couple of minutes, but it is somewhat disturbing to the uninitiated.
-Large doses will put me to sleep, which is fine at bedtime, but not such a hot thing in the middle of the day.
Major side effects:
I haven’t found this side effect anywhere in the literature, and my doctor had never heard of it: if I consume it for multiple days in a row, it seems to impair stomach function in some manner. The result is gas, but not just garden-variety gas, but Satanic Gas from Hell. It smelled like I shit my pants, with a lingering odor which infused my clothes. It’s the kind of gas where one offends onself. Close friends come in the room and say with a voice of loving concern: ‘Did you shit your pants?’ This side effect is show-stoppingly embarrassing to say the least. It may also be accompanied by a pain in the stomach. I’m concerned that this means my digestion is being impaired to the point where I’m not deriving nutrition from food, and I’m also concerned it is tearing up my stomach in some significant way.
Pepto-Bismol was useful for shutting down this particular problem.
My doc has never heard of this problem before and could not explain it, nor could the manufacturer.
Too bad, I really like GABA and have found it most helpful! Now I only take small doses on occasion, never for sustained periods of time.
More Erowid:
GABA (gamma-amino-butyric acid) is an extensively studied, though poorly understood neurotransmitter found primarily in the limbic system deep inside the brain. Scientists say that it is an ‘inhibitory’ chemical, which essentially means it can act as a Central Nervous System Depressent. Drugs including alcohol, benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium), and barbiturates (Phenobarbital, Sodium Pentothal) dramatically potentiate this transmitter in different ways. In any case, we’ll come back to science later. For now, I’ll describe some experiments with GABA itself.
GABA is sold as a dietary supplement, mainly as a performance enhancer. Although GABA is inhibitory, it stimulates the production of HGH, or Human Growth Hormone. Frankly, I think it’s quite useless to take GABA tablets for any reason. They won’t get me high, and they probably don’t make me any bigger. The reason for this ineffectiveness is that it is extensively broken down by the GI tract, and that which is not broken down has difficulty crossing the blood/brain barrier. After thinking about this, I wanted to find out if GABA has any recreational or therapeutic value by other routes of administration, as it would seem that a more direct route like epithelial absorption (this is route by which dip and Salvia quids work) may yield measurable effects. I conducted several experiments under different conditions. The methods of administration I tried were: insufflation (snorting), sublingual absorption (what I just described), and inhalation of vaporized GABA. I did all three experiments completely sober, in combination with alcohol, and in combination with alprazolam (Xanax). Each individual experiment was performed on a different day.
Before I continue, I must emphasize that I have extensive training in Pharmacology, Neurobiology, and Biochemistry (ie, working on graduate degrees) and it was still quite stupid for me to use myself as a Guinea Pig.
(if you want a hint as to why I say that…look at my profile)
