I am Russian and was treated with Selank at a psychiatric clinic in Moscow for generalized anxiety disorder that had not responded adequately to hydroxyzine or phenibut.
My psychiatrist prescribed a 10-day course of subcutaneous Selank injections at 250 mcg per day, administered by a nurse at the clinic each morning. This is a standard protocol in Russian psychiatry for moderate-to-severe anxiety -- the injectable form achieves more consistent bioavailability than the nasal spray.
The first three days: no discernible change. My psychiatrist told me this was expected and that the anxiolytic effect typically becomes apparent between days 5 and 7.
Days 5-7: a genuine shift. The baseline anxiety that I had been carrying for months -- the tightness in my chest, the shallow breathing, the inability to relax even in safe environments -- began to ease. Not dramatically. It felt like the difference between standing in a cold wind and standing in the same wind with a coat on. The wind is still there, but it cannot reach you the same way.
Days 8-10: the best I had felt in a year. Clear-headed, calm, able to engage with my work and relationships without the constant filter of anxiety. My sleep improved substantially -- not in duration but in quality. I was falling asleep faster and waking less frequently.
After the 10-day course, my psychiatrist transitioned me to the intranasal formulation for maintenance. The nasal spray was effective but subjectively less potent than the injections. I used the nasal spray for three additional months, then tapered off.
The anxiety did gradually return over the following weeks after stopping, but it returned to a lower level than where it had been before treatment. My psychiatrist explained that this was consistent with the BDNF-mediated neuroplastic effects -- Selank does not just suppress anxiety temporarily, it may create lasting changes in neural circuits involved in stress response.
Side effects: none that I could identify. No sedation, no weight change, no sexual dysfunction, no cognitive effects. Minor bruising at injection sites that resolved within days.
Selank is not a miracle drug. It did not cure my anxiety disorder. But it is a genuinely useful tool that my psychiatrist considers underappreciated internationally. The lack of side effects and dependence risk makes it valuable precisely because it can be used without the constant cost-benefit analysis that accompanies benzodiazepines.