P.A.W.S. - what are they, cure, duration

I found this description of symptoms on the web relating to drug/alcohol PAWS. There's just no getting around the fact that all of these symptoms are present in porn-PAWS too. Fits of rage over minor things is just a different form of impaired impulse control. I get them also and it makes perfect sense that it's due to temporary loss of frontal function. Every piece of literature out there says that it gets better and eventually heals with strict abstinence.

I have every one of these symptoms plus more. But this is probably the most concise list I've seen of the symptoms that matter the most. These are definitely the ones that don't resolve quickly.

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PAWS can last anywhere from six months to two years after the last use, though symptoms tend to peak in intensity over the first three to six months of abstinence. The severity of post acute withdrawal symptoms appears to be primarily impacted by two factors:

• The amount and degree of brain dysfunction or disruption that has been caused by the length of use, the type of chemicals used, and any injuries that occurred associated with the use
• Stress factors experienced early in the recovery process and the severity of the psychological and social stressors that may occur

Cognitive and memory related symptoms of PAWS:

• Hard time learning and remembering new information
• Both short-term and long-term memory can be affected
• Inability to handle stress or uncertain situations
• Fuzziness of thinking, an inability to think clearly or logically
• Difficulty with solving problems and abstract reasoning
• Difficulty concentrating for any length of time or blanking out
• All or nothing, black and white thinking
• Rigid and repetitive thinking
• Having a difficult time prioritizing goals and putting them into action

Emotional symptoms of PAWS:

• Inability to sleep soundly
• Having nightmares or dreams about using alcohol or drugs
• Emotional symptoms are increased due to lack of sleep
• A frequent occurrence of radical mood swings
• Difficulty to relate to others
• Disproportionate emotions for a situation, for example flying into a rage over a small incident
• Having inappropriate emotions

Prolonged drug use changes the brain in fundamental and long lasting ways. Individuals addicted to drugs will need help and treatment to cope with these changes in the brain and attempt to change the brain back to normal.

Source: “Core Addictions Practice – Participant’s Resource Guide”; Fraser Health Authority, Vancouver Island Authority, Interior Health Authority; June 2008

 

Hello everyone,

Has anyone used antidepressants to treat severe anxiety? I have been struggling with it for three months and I have not relapsed in 2.5 months. I had horrible GAD symptoms as head sensations and derealisation after my last relapse and it took more than two months until it improved very slowly. Nowadays I am feeling better but the sensations come from time to time with brainfog feeling. I noticed I have got severe social anxiety recently. I visited a neurologist before I realised I had GAD symptoms and he asked me to do a number of tests as CT scan and other blood tests which all were clear. He prescribed me an antidepressant as Paxil, but I didn't take it due to its bad side effects and withdrawal symptoms. Any suggestions?

 

I wouldn't take any Antidepressants or any medications for this, it won't help you, I made that mistake and learned the hard way, the original problem will never leave you for long, you will just create a new one ontop of the original and prolong PAWS for years to come, none of those medications have even been proven to work for anything, doctors are given a stack of sheets and follow a procedure as to when and how to prescribe to people through pharmaceutical companies, it's one giant, dangerous scam! I could go on but it will take a long while to explain it all in full, I suggest looking into Robert Whitaker's book "Anatomy of An Epidemic" and his website "Mad In America", it is quite eye opening to say the least.

Heed what I say, for I have made the mistake, for starters, I took Prozac and Risperidone for a week together at a low dosage and it was enough to destroy me, I was already in a bad state after I had psychosis from cannabis that lasted 6 weeks 6 months prior to taking them, I was in my last year of school and somehow retained my awareness and through my stubborn denial I ignored it to where it slowly dissipated, but left residual anxiety, although I was addicted to cannabis, hitting rock bottom made me leave it for good, in my attempt to fix it through other ways I took those two medications I mentioned above from a psychiatrist who prescribed them to me, all it done was make my high, just like cannabis did, but worse, the prozac made me near manic, every time I closed my eyes I would see extremely detailed repeated animation's that would loop, I had an odd, disconnected artificial sensation of joy, until the Risperidone hit me, and everything disappeared, I was zombified, a ghoul, I lost all my emotions and had a blank empty mind while still being addicted to porn, even with the combination of an SSRI and an antipsychotic I was still addicted to it!

I quit both of them abruptly when I developed tachycardia, and it sent me into a deep depression with a waves of akathisia, one of the worst states you could ever have, an uncontrollable sensation of rage and restlessness...

After all of that, I was left with typical PAWS as said before, but also hyperprolactinemia, I was weaker and sluggish with a sick sensation, my prolactin levels were through the roof, I thought I had a pituitary tumour until an MRI scan disproved that, it was from the residual effects of Risperidone on my pituitary gland, I developed gynecomastia from it, had to wear a special vest to hide it until I could afford €2k 500 to have it removed in a foreign country, my chest still doesn't look the same, but it's better than before, it's a scar of what I had been through.

The lesson to be learned is that there is NOTHING you can take to make this go away, you are only digging yourself a deeper grave of which you are standing in, the only solution is to change ones habits and turn into steel to wait it all out, even supplements won't be the solution, it will help but not cure the problem, you have to fight with your demons!

 

I'm sorry for what you have been going through, I hope you are feeling better now. I will try to self expose myself to such anxiety threats while practicing CBT techniques to reduce it. I'm pursuing all possible options to reduce it from Monk Mode, quitting bad lifestyle habits and following healthy routine. Hopefully things get better Thank you very much for sharing!

 

This is how we end this and free ourselves, by destroying our old toxic habits and routines, for so long we have been stuck in this cycle of modernity, it's time to bring our own lives into that of a renaissance!

If you have a car that will also help, you can drive out anywhere to your country with music and just have a good time, it keeps you away from places were a relapse could occur or anywhere you can "stuck" from the PAWS symptoms, being outside helped me before when I dealt with it, although I did not have any transport, I just walked for hours and hours along the countryside by the canal close to my home, and just took in everything with as much as I could, the colours of the sky at the time of day, the water and how the waves moved, the flowers and trees amongst the horizon against the sky + my music, helped soo much through my anhedonia, I managed to force myself to feel something. Even if it was small at the time, it was better than nothing.

Also this may sound strange but diffusing essential oils into your room/car could help, certain pleasant smells could alleviate negative emotions and ground you, like lavender/tea tree oils, try around if you decide to do it!

 

I'm forcing myself to face the anxious moments and its fears. I find it giving some positive results. I will consider the tips you mentioned! Thanks

 

Hi i have terrible anxiety and mood swings as well.. 90 days PM free , but not monk mode as i currently have a girlfriend
and we have sex 4-5 times per week . The withdrawals though are real and still strong 3 months after.

What i'm doing at the moment to ease the anxiety is :
- cold showers
- meditation at least 20min every day
- calisthenics (pull ups , push ups etc)
- running
- eating 80% clean with lots of fiber in the diet ( beans ,veggies, fruits , nuts, eggs etc)
- reading peoples stories and reading stories about long flatlines ( 6+ months)

Hope that helps a bit!

 

Thank you for sharing Mkwarrior! I'm trying to follow a similar routine except doing cold showers, especially in winter. I read that recovering while having a partner is difficult. Try to reduce sex to once a week so your body can cope better. All the best

 

I'm starting to get worried that this is going to take me longer than 2 years. I'm not even close to being a serviceable human.

 

You have to take it slowly, I do not think putting our entire lives on stall is a good idea, but we should not race either, take it easy and build yourself up, I'm learning Japanese rn even going through this and yes I do have days where I may forget things, I also have others where I regain everything I forgot and can link things quickly and easily, this is a trial of endurance, not a sprint

 

Just making a quick update: Symptoms didn't really change as I'm entering the 17th month. One thing that stands out for me is the observation that there is always a specific set of symptoms that are very pronounced and peak at a certain time and that these cycles change through 2-3 week intervals.

For example I really struggle with cognitive issues at the moment like constantly forgetting things, difficulties finding the words or forgetting how an english word is written (german is my main language) and I have to constantly google how a word is pronounced although I just googled it 15 times the last two months. Its also very hard for me to process new informations and follow the plot of movies or a show of netflix. I'm just getting so confused with names and characters and whats actually going on. I never was this forgetful in the whole process of PAWS. I forgot my airpod case at the storage room, I constantly have to go back to my appartment as I am forgetting things when I leave the house. I mean to some extend this is normal but there are so many things that I forget and can't remember that its just obvious that this more then the normal forgetfullness we all share as a human. I never was the type of person constantly forgetting about taking things with me but even if I concentrate on it before I leave the house, my mind is kinda blank and empty in this moment. Usually my brain reminds me on its own that I have to take this or that with me.

While these symptoms are very pronounced my sleep is pretty good or wait I should say I can't notice anything bad about it at the moment. My sleep actually feels like sleep and not like a conglomerate of all the negative things I experienced throughout the day. I dream of very crazy but also funny things that barely have to with anything in my current life situation which is extremely pleasant if you come from a state of constantly dreaming about your life and it never felt like sleep is giving me a break from my normal woken life and I think thats a very important aspect of sleep. You should forget things that aren't important and process the things that are important which includes learning and saving informations. I'm far off from having really GOOD sleep but its not as bad as it used to be, accompanied by crazy drug dreams of relapsing. But as I know from the past these dreams can come any other day without any reason. I still wake up tired and kinda burned out.

So my conclusion from my observations are following: I feel like the recovery process of the brain involves certain cycles and that specific parts of the brain are healed in an unspecific order. So at the moment it feels like my "memory and information"-processing-center of my brain is repairing and thus parallel functioning of it is really bad and full of small errors. It's just an observation but there must be a reason why some symptoms are standing out in different times and why the most present and top of the head symptoms are regularly changing. At least for me thats the case.

I also feel like the whole covid situation is on one side positive for the recovery of PAWS and on the other side its making it difficult on certain days to actually do something else then being at home, watching a movie or show or just reading a book. We currently have a strict lockdown in germany and as my father is a risk-patient I wouldn't meet up with more then 1 person from whom I know lives very isolated itself, even if there wasn't such a strict lockdown. I sometimes just have the urge to get out and be around people and it's been more then 9 months since I dit that the last time. But since everything is slowed down in our society there is no problem of me taking more time for my studying or taking care of my parents stuff. So its somehow bad and good at the same time.

As I talked about being forgetful I just remember now of an obvious improvement in one specific thing: social anxiety. My social anxiety is reduced to a bare minimum. I mostly feel confident in most social situations while working or being around strangers in public. I lost this feeling of hostility and I mostly feel a calmness when I talk to somebody and have to do a small conversation about a certain thing. I learned that its okay to take a few seconds in order to respond properly or that nobody actually wants to harm you or can do anything bad to you beside being unfriendly or so. It's like my fight or flight response no longer categorizes strangers as a threat and thus I don't feel rushed or stressed out when being in a new and unknown situation. I still feel awkward if I just walk by some people but many people seem to be very impressed and somehow intimidated when I'm walking by them and I often get nods or people saying hello when I'm looking at them and it feels like they are doing this somehow automatically because they don't know any better. If you're living in a big anonymous city its kinda unusual to get greeted by person that walks by. This sometimes feels very strange but it is as it is. I'm also no longer allowing other people to act disrespectful in front of me. I sometimes feel I like shoot over the top but I'm beyond getting scared and to thoughtful about people which are treating me and others unrightful. If someone acts like an asshole then I let them know and I have no problems doing so. This wouldn't be possible one year ago. But in the end I just think this is a transition phase and when I'm out of PAWS my presence itself is enough to avoid negative energy and I don't have to say anything about certain things and people just know by me being neutral and present that what they are doing is idiotic. I'm still very much trapped in a very dualistic mindset that I know isn't fruitful or beneficial as I'm always reacting to things in a kinda good/bad categorization which ultimately isn't helping anyone. But I thought I just write this down as I noticed this changing in behaviour.

 

When did the social anxiety disappear for you?

 

I'm coming up to almost 2 years since I properly started NoFap, and around 70 days hard hard monk mode since my 8-10 week bonanza, and just starting to feel normal these last two weeks.

My crescendo was a night out of drinking, cocaine and sex around 70 days ago now, and jesus was I hit hard by a flatline for the first 50-60 days. Thankfully coming out of that now.

So at around 23 months since I started, and 70 days since round of relapsing, how is life?

I had a moment around 4 days ago when the chronic pressure in my head melted, and my whole body relaxed and changed to the point of disorientation, I'm not sure what chemicals were released in my brain, but I felt like I had literally been enlightened, it was almost scary, the change in experience, my perception opened up, my peripheral awareness changed - it was the biggest change in experience I had ever had, and I nearly cried.

It made me realise the complete hell I've been living for way longer then 2 years of PAWS, probably 10 years before too.

The brain ache, body tension, symptoms returned the next day. But, overall at 23 months I can at least function in society. I dont sleep great, I have low level tension and stress constantly, can be irratible, low level anxiety.... but I can work, see friends, and live a somewhat normal life.

I think it's important to note what a deep spritual experience NoFap has been for me, it's completely changed my whole outlook on life.

Will keep you all updated

 

Well it’s a smooth gradual process but I just noticed being really calm when I interact with others last week. I would say real improvement occurred after 12 months and progressed until now at the start of month 17. my part time job where I drive around to pickup stuff and where I have to communicate with other people certainly helped with that. But I always had jobs where I was in contact with other people so that effect me minimal.

 

Guys, what was your PMO background/profile? I think by knowing each others' background would give us an idea on how long and how far shall we deal with PAWS. I know that recovery would highly depend on each one of us, on our commitment to improve ourselves for the better.

Mine: I'm 35 now
- Discovered porn at the age of 7 accidentally but started self-stimulation at the age of 12
- Hooked with porn during college but not much until I got my first jop at age 21 just in time when internet becomes faster and accessible.
- started with nofap at age 34 (august of 2019) until now

 

u r 1.5 years clean??? And still having PAWS??

 

I relapsed a number of times snd there were days that I just watch P without M.

 

whats ur current streak??

 

My longest streak is 140 days. Now, I'm on 23rd day.

 

I am 6 months in and was alot depressed and anxious.. I consulted doctor and he gave antidepressent for 10 days