Here's my personal experience:
I've tried GABA (straight supplement), picamilon and phenibut (gaba derivatives).
All had largely different effects on me.
-GABA I found to be a real CNS depressant. It made me feel like I was short for breath, though I didn't feel any anxiolytic benefits.
-picamilon I found was useful for 'boosting my gaba levels'. I've put that in quotes, because I have no idea of the science behind this, that's just what it seemed like from my personal experience. When I was first prescribed benzodiazepines they did absolutely nothing for me, and I was also very unaware/naive of their abused status. Clonazepam, in my mind, was just some medication that was over hyped and I had no idea why the nurse kept checking how many I'd been taking. I found that after taking picamilon, I didn't notice any anxiolytic effects from it directly, but over time the clonazepam started to work better (even on days where I hadn't had any picamilon). Like I actually finally realised what all their hype was about. Again, I feel this sounds quite pseudoscientific as I don't have any studies to back it up, just my personal experience.
-phenibut on the other hand. Definitely gives me direct calming effects. It basically feels like an over the counter benzodiazepine. With similar addictive qualities.
It may well have been the GABA for you, it may not, but placebo effect is a wonderful thing either way:). Regardless, I'm really glad to hear you had a better day, and I feel like there's nothing wrong with continuing to try the GABA for a while longer to be able to draw a more sound conclusion of correlation/causation.
Oh and gabapentin I only lasted 2 days on and it gave me none of the above effects. But I suppose as everyone metabolises medications slightly differently, supplements will be no different.
Also, I'm sorry I can't really give you any info on the dosages I was on to get the above mentioned effects from each. My ex was medicating me at the time (during which time he managed to get me addicted to phenibut. I've never had any other addictions so I can't compare, but it was awful.)
