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Brain damage

Discussion in 'Rebooting - Porn Addiction Recovery' started by Little kid5, Sep 20, 2019.

  1. Little kid5

    Little kid5 Fapstronaut

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    Basically I know that masturbation causes brain damage I searched it on Google and there were so many different types of brain damage caused by masturbation.some people say that it can affect brain by lowering dopamine .some say that it kills brain cell some people say it shrinks cortisol. Some people say that it causes lack of acetylcholine and some say it causes lack of zinc and chlorine so in your point of view how can masturbation damage one's brain
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2019
    AspiringVitality likes this.
  2. More2Life

    More2Life Fapstronaut

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    yes i believe you can definitely damage your brain. Neurological signals and pathways that release dopamine and serotonin become easier to open the more they are opened and it can be difficult to dissociate the neurotransmitter from that pathway. Theres studies into dopamine deprivation from cocaine and others saying coke activates many of the same pleasure centers as sex so I'm confident that masturbation can as well.

    By the same principal, healthy habits are formed the same way as well. Prolonged abstinence and training of your brain to respond to other positive activities can help re-train those chemicals to be released from normal means but it can be long and difficult.
     
  3. Little kid5

    Little kid5 Fapstronaut

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    Thanks for reply I think 90 days are enough to train your brain towards healthy habits
     
  4. People can say what they want, the truth is every chronic masturbator is bound for long term antidepressant treatment. The dopamine involved, especially in addicts who like to edge, it just burns up serotonergic systems faster than they can recover.
     
  5. Sakhi

    Sakhi Fapstronaut

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    I am a masturbation addict. I have masturbated more for the last 7 years. IM 25 and my body and immune system has become so weak. Few months ago I also used so much antibiotics. That made me even weaker. Now I'm very depressed with weak body. I have so much mental and vitamin deficiency. I'm also poor and I live in a poor country with low facilities. Dont know how to solve my problem. I'm dizzy most of the time and have light headache always :(
     
  6. CyKage2652

    CyKage2652 Fapstronaut

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    How long does it take to recover from the brain damage?? :/
     
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  7. Little kid5

    Little kid5 Fapstronaut

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    I don't know but I think 90 days
     
  8. Little kid5

    Little kid5 Fapstronaut

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    Y
    You will recover stop worrying
     
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  9. Little kid5

    Little kid5 Fapstronaut

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  10. Hey mate, would you mind to elaborate on this a bit further? I think its absolutely true in some cases, possibly mine. I know you're quite similar in terms of recovery time. Can serotonin systems be recovered naturally?
     
    Little kid5 likes this.
  11. Hey,
    It all comes down to downregulation. These serotonin systems are downgraded in the background as dopamine takes over, you don't know it's happening but with porn addiction you are using adrenaline to activate your brain. So when you abstain you can forget about serotonin kicking back in. This state of disease can be extremely disabling. The brain apparently is able to figure out how to produce serotonin again over time but this can take a very long time and cause suffering until it does. I've consulted several drug addiction treatment centers and apparently ssris are used to mimic the addictive habit which eases withdrawal in this way. I honestly can't tell you whether this is healthy but the alternative has been too uncomfortable in my case and has impacted my quality of life so much that I've decided to start taking antidepressants again. I know I probably need a treatment for anxiety disorder and the meds will see me through that. It is in any case important to not fall back into old habits, this will only make the depression worse.
    Hope it helps!
     
  12. More2Life

    More2Life Fapstronaut

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    SSRI's can definitely help with addiction withdrawal when your brain isn't producing serotonin by the regular means and it is often prescribed during addiction recovery so that people can be more content with their day-to-day mindset. I think SSRI's have their place and are a helpful tool to keep you afloat when you're sinking uncontrollably but I have some opinions about SSRI's (and alot of meds) that go against the common belief and they tend to piss off alot of people. I think alot of meds are like treating a bacterial infection with nyquil. It helps the symptoms but not the root cause of serotonin deficiency. I think main stream psychology is a little wrong about how they view our brains production of these chemicals. They say that you're depressed because of a lack of serotonin, but I say there's a lack of serotonin because you're depressed. I don't mean to sound ignorant of these problems as I struggle with terrible anxiety myself and have been very depressed in the past. My whole family has a history of depression and my sister attempted suicide within the past year so it is a very real problem in my life that I do not take lightly.

    It's quite strange to me that I'm not completely suicidal at the moment, because I really fucked up my body and mind with masturbation and drug use beyond the scope of what most people even think is possible. I might have kidney problems (foam and protein in urine), I have painful ejaculations even with weeks of abstinence, I have terrible non-bacterial prostatitis which keeps me from being able to have any amount of alcohol or caffeine, I have had problems with incontinence (urine retention), ED, and I even have reoccuring hppd (perma-trip) and flashbacks from too much psychedelics in highschool and college. This isn't even half of the symptoms of my problems but somehow I'm still looking to the future in a positive light. There's so much more to life to understand, experience and enjoy besides selfish indulgent pleasures.

    No matter how dark and desolate it can get, it can always get worse, but it can always get better. You need to change your reference frame and learn to see the light that casts the shadow your in. In order to get better you need to completely change your outlook, which is not so easy to do. Reading philosophy has helped me tremendously in breaking out of a really dark place I was in for years as far as depression goes. Nietzsche said something like: in order for your branches to extend to heaven, you must be rooted in hell.

    I think that recovery of serotonin has to start with not just wanting to get better, but actually believing you can get better. Psychology is a funny thing and almost everything is a self fulfilling prophecy largely influenced by subconscious priming. It's kindof an oxymoron to say this, but you need to believe that you can enjoy things in order to enjoy them. Knowing this doesn't help much with actually changing your mindset and this can be frustrating. This is closely related to the psychology of repression where the more you try and bury a desire or feeling the more it comes back tenfold. It's the same trying to force yourself to enjoy or like something as it is trying to not enjoy or like something. It's kindof like trying to fall asleep. The more you want to fall asleep, the more the fact that your not sleeping is pressed to the front of your brain and the more you can't sleep.

    This probably left you with more questions than answers but that's the point. Life is about endless struggles and tests to overcome, and that is where you find meaning to your existence. Once you understand the full extent of your own capacity for self destruction, it makes you acutely qualified to overcome it. Happiness and pleasure are two very different things. Happiness is a state of being, not a feeling and not to be confused with pleasure or joy. It's being content on the direction you are headed and how fast you are getting there. That is where you find true satisfaction and that is one of the conclusions that I needed to reach in order to stop digging away in tartarus. You have to reach that conclusion for yourself and not just hear it, and it's easier said than done but I'll tell ya it gets easier the more you start to shift your outlook and head toward the light at the top of the pit.
     
  13. More2Life

    More2Life Fapstronaut

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    I wrote a poem back in high school during my heavy drug abuse and depression that's applies pretty well here going off the context of my last post on this thread:

    "Monotonous silence drowns these ears,
    I fear my weary heart can't steer
    my wheels towards things I hear might clear
    these years of lonely ice cold beers.

    My problem lies within my soul,
    I'm falling down the rabbit hole,
    This tartarus, bottomless, desolate bowl
    keeps me caged within my woes

    It blows, dopamine low,
    eyes go cold when darkness knows
    Im frozen here in silent fear
    with satan's claws they're drawing near,

    Delerium calls out my name
    in shame I fry my fucked up brain
    tomorrow i might just break away
    from everything that keeps me sane

    I don't know why I'm dieing inside
    my heart feels dead, formaldehyde
    soul shines so bright but still i hide
    with eyes cried one too many times

    It's rough, it's tough, my soul chain cuffed,
    But will picking this lock even be enough?
    Cause it's a long climb up to the top of the pit
    and when I get out... I just might miss it"
     
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  14. Anonymous86

    Anonymous86 Fapstronaut

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    SSRI's haven't been effective on me. Is this due to PIED affecting me and desensitization from porn?
     
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  15. More2Life

    More2Life Fapstronaut

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    I'm not a doctor so I'm sorry to say I don't know. I'm Just a guy who likes philosophy and has a strong compulsion to share his ideas. I think that it's a possibility though and I know that many times people have to try several SSRIs before finding one that works for them. I personally couldn't handle the taper period without insane mood swings and anxiety to the point I was balling my eyes out on a very mild dose from SSRI's. They seem to help my sister tho and alot of other people.

    I think when you experience an intense pleasure with heavy frequency it's hard to find something to compare. The key for me is not to try and compare the natural simple pleasures to the intense ones, which can be hard to do and I understand that. I also know if I am failing at overcoming my own convictions I will naturally be unhappy with myself. That's not depression, it's just a natural response when you're disappointed in yourself. You can't let it weigh you down and instead have to use it to light a fire under your ass and get as far away from the place that you're unhappy with as quick as you can. I'm no saint either there's a reason I'm on this forum because I struggle to this day. I just try my best to stop digging deeper and never stop trying to work my way out of this hole I dug for myself.
     
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  16. @Big Lebowski
    Hey, forgot to mention magic mushrooms apparently can significantly upregulate serotonergic function. The trip seems to have lifted some depressions but the psychoactive substance in them, psilocybin, is still illegal.

    There's an interesting Ted talk about this:

     
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  17. Jonny1992

    Jonny1992 Fapstronaut

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    It damages the motivation system in your brain and that is more fatal in my eyes. Cause you lose control over your life!

    And also, heavy mastrubation makes the dick smaller! I read this somewhere on this forum. Will search for more information!
     
  18. More2Life

    More2Life Fapstronaut

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    Sorry to keep sounding like I'm preaching but as someone who has indulged in more psychedelics than anybody should ever do, and im talking 3-4 times a week before school in HS and into college (lsd, mushrooms, RCs, you name it), I must advice on the side of caution. You can twist yourself up for weeks if not worse. As I stated before, I slowly but shurly developed a condition called hppd (hallucinogen persisting perception disorder) for the better part of 2 years. This basically means I had acid visuals 24/7 and crazy overwhelming flashbacks that came and went, especially with weed. What did I do when I got better? I brought myself right back, all while I was fully aware of how stupid it was. I simply enjoyed the transcendent mindset that made everything flow and click and make sence as if the universe was one with me and I with it. But along the road I started to realize that I was not doing it for it's intended purpose of finding truth. Or, more accurately, I had already found the truth and answers I was looking for and kept going back for more. I ate the fruit from the tree of eden, and then I ate the rest of the tree, branches and all.

    When taken properly for the right reasons, therapeutic reasons to find meaning and direction in life, then it can do wonders of opening up pathways to new ways of thought that can pull you out of any hell hole...or put you into one. I truly am a strong advocate of their use, but the purpose of doing it makes all the difference. Humble yourself to what the experience has to offer and you can become a much better person after it. But fly too close to the sun in your own arrogance and you might get burned.

    Once you've found direction and "enlightenment" from psychedelics, unless it's integrated into your very being and you make something of it, it starts to seem like forbidden knowledge. You have dove too deep into the river styx and can get swept away. There's a sort of line you know you shouldn't cross, and if you have an addictive personality and rationalize your way into crossing it you will be punished for it. If you use it as a tool to re-orient your life in a positive direction, and don't allow yourself to slip into the temptations of it's bliss, then I think it is the most beautiful and wonderful experience anybody can ever have. It's life changing. It made me a different person, a better one. But this did not come without a price to pay. Somethings you're not ready to learn, or you didn't earn the knowledge you've obtained. You realize just how inferior you are to your own ideal and it can seriously twist up your head for weeks. One of the key fundamental buddhist principals is that attachment is one of the main impediments to enlightenment. I'll say that depending on the individual, psychedelics can be the most addictive drug out there (as it was my case and ive had problems with MANY other substances more commonly thought of as addictive that this forum won't even let me list). Masturbation is probably the only thing that parallels my psychedelic addiction, if not even being more powerful.

    Not trying to scare people away from it despite what it may seem! I'm just trying to stress caution and responsibility. I don't regret a minute of it because it made me a much more wise and well rounded person who understands myself, and through myself others. It does wonders on depression and even if you have a bad experience usually it just means you need to reflect upon it and learn from it. But never ignore or put off the message it's trying to tell you or it will prove to you just how ignorant you are in the scope of the universe.
     
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  19. fedmom

    fedmom Fapstronaut

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    This isn't intended as spam as the links are relevant.

    https://www.vox.com/2014/8/26/6066069/swearing-science-obscenity-research
    "swearing seems to activate the autonomic nervous system"

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16157378
    "Especially high levels of serotonin are found in limbic forebrain structures." - This is where swear words come from.

    https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326090.php
    "Serotonin inhibits impulsive behavior, while dopamine enhances impulsivity."

    https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-surprising-health-benefits-of-swearing/
    "Psychological & Physical Health. The best health benefits of swearing include increased circulation, elevated endorphin, and serotonin levels, and an overall sense of calm, control, and well-being."
     
  20. Quoowahb

    Quoowahb Fapstronaut

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    As long as we are discussing drugs in this thread, I've been taking a combination of buproprion and naltrexone. It certainly makes the journey much easier. Despite the damage mentioned by the original poster, the brain does rewire itself over time in recovery.
     
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