Kratom vs Phenibut for mood
Short answer: For mood, users rate them about the same: 87% report improvement with Kratom (142 reports) and 90% with Phenibut (181 reports).
Kratom has 18 meta-analyses and 5 randomized trials on PubMed; Phenibut has 3 and 1.
Based on 568 reports about Kratom and 1,030 about Phenibut. Not medical advice.
| Kratom Substance | Phenibut Substance | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 46%helped335 reports · high confidence | 43%helped628 reports · high confidence |
| Verdict | Mixed | Mixed |
| Research | BResearch: Moderate | BResearch: Moderate |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 18 / 5 | 3 / 1 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | 91% (108) | 89% (419) |
| Mood % reporting improvement | 87% (142) | 90% (181) |
| Energy % reporting improvement | 84% (88) | 79% (38) |
| Sleep % reporting improvement | 75% (12) | 86% (90) |
| Focus % reporting improvement | 77% (44) | 72% (47) |
| Common side effects | withdrawal, dependence, addiction, tolerance | withdrawal, tolerance, addiction, dependence |
| Typical dose reported | 4 g / 2x daily | 500 mg |
Based on our analysis, patients using <20 g of kratom/d could be initiated on opioid agonist therapy with 4/1 mg-8/2 mg buprenorphine-naloxone/d, while patients using kratom doses >40 g/d could be initiated with 12/3 mg-16/4 mg of buprenorphine-naloxone/day.
J Addict Med, 2021 ↗“Green or white Kratom powder. My productivity and overall mood have skyrocketed. I dose 4 grams once per day and it’s worked wonders.”
Phenibut withdrawal appears to have a range of severity. It is important to recognize that patients undergoing phenibut abstinence may have progressive symptom worsening during early withdrawal. All published cases of abrupt phenibut abstinence were admitted inpatients for symptom management. Benzodiazepines or barbiturates with adjunctive baclofen appear to be the most commonly used drugs for moderate to severe withdrawal. Outpatient management via slow phenibut tapers with or without adjunctive gamma-aminobutyric acid agonist therapy may be successful. However, there is no standard treatment
Clin Toxicol (Phila), 2023 ↗“Phenibut every 3 days. Hands down most effective I've tried. Plus you wake up feeling amazing.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate