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

Same right here! I think this is one of the major changes in the long run. No more addictive sex which is just stuck energy in the first chakra (from that perspective and asban analogy) but feeling the energy in the heart again. Greatest healing force there is, I believe. So I want to get to a point where sex is no longer of any importance to me. Unless I love someone and want to share this experience with this person. And alongside being able to appreciate women and girls as beautiful beings, without craving to ram them wherever I encounter them. I strongly believe that this way beauty will return in one's life. Beauty, the magic of the present moment, life everywhere, and no longer a filtered perception of the world due to past negative experiences. But, of course, dealing with repressed emotions and trauma from the past as it appears during this journey. Addiction serves as a lid on top of a pot of very negative emotions and stuff. Sometimes it will require therapy. Sure thing

 

Well said!

I believe there is a beautiful life waiting for all of us at the end of this phase of the trip.

 

nice

 

@Don Quixote I have a question if you don't mind.

Lately there has been some inner tumult, I am especially feeling it right now. Do you believe it is impossible for long term retainers to engage in casual sex after they are fully recovered?

Right now the idea is unappealing to my sensibilities. I have a suspicion that once you go a certain distance your attitude towards sex is irrevocably changed.

 

I think I'm having something similar to a dark night of the soul and I believe I know why.

As the months went by after quitting drinking the crave for alcohol was SLOWLY being erased from my brain until one day it was gone forever. I had started drinking heavily as a young man so the person that emerged felt like the young man again.

However my masturbation abuse stretches way the hell back to my early childhood. As the lustful thoughts and cravings are slowly being erased I have no idea what the hell is going to be there on the other side. I've been doing this shit my whole damn life.

Who am I?

 

I am not referring to libido. I am referring to sex without love.

 

As more & more time goes by, the brain pathways that enforce and remember the pleasure achieved when having sex/orgasm weakens and thus you are having all these thoughts. I am sure that once you start having normal sex, your brain will start liking it again.

 

I know exactly what you mean. That's what I've been contemplating all along. There is a book by Dr Patrick Carnes "Don't call it Love". He did research on 1000s of people with a sex addiction and he even stated in an interview that sex works best in a relationship.

I think what could be helpful is to ask yourself what kind of a man you would have become if you had never encountered any kind of porn in life. Or other nude shit. After all this is all artificial stuff and our brain had been constructed to deal with a natural world.

 

This is a kind of long-term goal. Having sex only with someone I love. And even better, only being able to have sex with someone I love.

I'd been screwing around so much in my life. This is nothing to pursue for a happy life. On the contrary, how can one even fall in love with a woman when he treats women like objects? There is a perceptible contradiction within me by now.

And I don't envy those nofappers who are doing Nofap just in order to attract more opportunities to get laid. This can be a bad trap, only resulting in a broader sex addiction. We are sexual beings. True. But we are also spiritual beings. And there has been a veeeery unhealthy balance in most of my life.

 

Does anyone know anybody who has been through PAWS and had a healthy sex life again?

Any time I go near sexuality, its straight back to all the old behaviours and extreme sex.

I even read a book last year from a world leading sex addiction therapist, and even in there she recommends at some point bringing role playing and fantasizing into the scenario.

The problem is, inherently exists, that everything fades, and at some point youll face the crescendo; do you let go and just accept, or do you chase and try to keep it alive

 

Guys do you know what could be the reason that i need 3-4 hours to wake up ? When i wake up after night im tired and itbpasses after few hours. Is it flatline?

 

I have some progress to report today.

My extended retention streak has 100% unquestionably improved my hair, skin, and nails. I had already been sober for 2 1/2 years when I began this streak and was already practicing intermittent fasting along with intense weight training. Semen retention had been the only lifestyle change when I started noticing all of the improvements. My forehead and cheeks stopped getting oily, my hair and nails were growing faster, and my eyes became vibrant.

By contrast the only area where there was regression was the arrival of back acne. LOTS of back acne. I thought maybe my hormones were in flux and that it would pass after awhile but it just seemed to get worse. Even a few months ago it was so bad that it looked more like measles instead of acne, just gross.

For about two weeks now the back acne is gradually disappearing to the point where it has almost completely faded. Every day it's getting less noticeable that I feel confident saying it's a consistent downward trend.

What this means I have absolutely no idea. But I hope it is a harbinger of more good things to come in the near future.

 

It's certainty due to the abuse we do to our mind and body during our PMO habits.I'm too facing this problem since a while.And I have read lots of porn addicts face it too.PMO ruins and disturbs our sleep pattern and makes us feel fatigued coz semen rentention and its essence is very important for human mind and body.

We'll only thing that can be done is quit all forms of PMO.Even if one wants to indulge with wife or gf then it should be say twice in a month.Or best is total semen retention.Having good food.And try to sleep early and wake up without alarm so to give our mind and body proper rest that it needs.Time is the great healer.Things gets better.

 

How long do you think though before we can start having orgasms though through our significant others. Not sure how much more I can take.

 

It depends on the duration for how long we have done the damage to ourselves and what exactly we want from reboot process.
1.if it's about PIED cure,then I have read here that it can take 3-5 months to improve.Here some indulge naturally with partner and some go for hard mode for better results.
2.If it's, cure from withdrawal symptoms such as energy,sleep ,brain fog ,mood swings then it may take 1-2 years.And here mostly say that hard mode is best.Its kinda... 1 year of PMO takes 1 month to heal when it's hard mode.

The early you start PMO ,the more difficult it is to cure.So I'll say stop it now.And chose the paths what you want right now.because the journey is going to be tough.Its not to scare or make you worried but to aware you that efforts are needed to tackle it.
Wish you good luck.

 

Here are some symptoms which I feel regarding sleep:-
After I wake up:-
1.back ache.
2.Heavy head.
3.pain in feets.
4.very hard to wake up and leave bed.
5.Feeling unrested and tired even after 6-7 hours of sleep.
6.Mood remains bad and irritating because of all these.
7.As the day pass ,all these gets better.
8.i feel sleepy most of times.
9.i can sleep easily bin the day too.
10.i feel fatigued or drained out of energy most of times.

24*7 happens with me:-
1. Dizziness or say it seems my front portion of brain is super active.i can feel some tingling 24*7.Its something this habit has made it superactive or on high.Its like as heart beat sounds.
2.I have dark circles.Not very dark but I don't like it.
3.Fatigue 24*7.That much that I can sleep on floor anytime.
4.I want to have normal sex with wife but have PE 99% of time.
5.Mood swings...sometimes very heavy swings.
6.Mild ache in body.
7.Finds difficult to meditate.
8.Dont feel content or at ease.my mind and body are not in sync.

These are when I take 6-7 hours of sleep daily,I eat home cooked and balanced food,I do some exercise not daily though,I don't smoke and don't drink.
So may be it's due to withdraws or I can say it's chronic which has its swings i.e. goes up and down but remains in some way.And it's very frustrating and can lead to relapse.But I have recognised it and I'm managing.I know I have to improve on from here.i have no choice.

Are these withdrawal symptoms? Any one facing these ?

 

Its the same story with me. Im porn free over half year and masturbating 3 times without porn or even without imagination. I have anhedonia as well, nothing makes me happy. I meditate 2 years, running few times a week, eating well and sleeping from 8 to 12 hours and im still tired :/

 

I'm at 6 months free of porn as of today, relapsed one time to MO on day 71 or so (no porn) and had edged about 10 times in my first "streak". I recognized that edging was harmful even without porn and I also interrupt fantasy as it pops into my head on this second "streak". This has allowed me to reach 108 days free of MO, still no porn of course.


I've experienced all of these, I had aches in my hips at first for zero reason, after about 3 months it disappeared. I had and still have on bad days the dark circles you speak of. Fatigue is the worse of all withdrawal symptoms in my opinion, that and anxiety, it comes in waves. Some days i'm fine, I can improve myself and set out to do what I had planned for the day. Other days, like yesterday and today I get blindsided with fatigue and lethargy.

As you go on your streak certain symptoms will start to drop off (for example I no longer experience dizziness, that stopped after about a month/month and a half), others will disappear for a bit and then out of no where resurface. Recurring symptoms or part of the process and we just need to view as our brain going through another adjustment when they arise(I know, easier said than done, especially on the bad days) For me, depression, anxiety, fatigue, extremely low stress tolerance and just general anhedonia reappears. So in my streak, I had about a period of 2 weeks where I could really focus towards improving myself and it wasn't a struggle to get out of bed, things seemed much better. Then I got hit with flu like symptoms (also part of paws) and started feeling like shit again. Since then, i'll have to occasional okay/"good" day and I will say that the "good" days are more present than they were when I first started, 6 months ago.

All we're experiencing is just a testament to how powerful PMO addiction is and how much it damages the brain. Fuck the people who say its healthy and fuck the people who taught us that it's a healthy behaviour in sex ED presentation. I wasn't even a daily fapper until the last 5 months of my addiction(never more than once in a day) and I had gone through different nofap streaks since I was 21. In my teens maybe a handful of times did I fap 3-4 times in day and I never fapped during the school week and imagine that I'm still going through this shit withdrawal. Fuck PMO.

We need to take care of ourselves and do what we can on the days we feel like absolute horse shit. I'd plan some really low energy taxing activities on the horrible days.

Many longterm rebooters mention 7-9 months for more severe mental heal issues and fatigue to start to drop in frequency.

All we can do is hope and take 1 day a time !

 

Need to pump the brakes on my celebrations. I've actually been having a pretty rough time lately. Anhedonia is still super, super high a lot of the time.

 

PAWS comes in circles. I can tell myself. One day at a time. Thereby never forgetting those moments of improvement.