Physicians of the past were legitimate. Let's discuss PMO-related symptoms and Neurasthenia.

Thank you for sharing this! I can relate to what you have said very much. When I was 29 around 2 years ago, I experienced severe symptoms of neurasthenia, and I went to the emergency hospital 3 times in a row. But all of the doctors told me I didn't have a problem, probably because modern medical devices couldn't detect this. Modern doctors often make their conclusions based on the "parameters" measured by their machines. Some may even think the patients with neurasthenia are just being hypochondriac.

I am a PhD graduate on science, and now, after graduation, I have stopped pursuing all of those highly advanced mathematics and scientific theories (of course I still find the simple ones useful in my daily life). Instead, I am more interested in appreciating the old wisdoms.

 

I will give the details here, as well as something I want to add to this topic.

I remember in those years, I adopted very poor living habits. I had just finished my PhD degree and was unemployed at that time. Then I kept indulging in PMO and video games all day long. I sat in front of the computer doing all these without taking breaks, lacking exercises, and I went to bed late. I remember I didn't go outdoors even once, I just stayed at my home for around 1 year. It was the time when I've started to try quitting PMO, but mostly failed (relapsing every 5~10 days).

Then, there was once I've decided to make a change. I wanted to be determined to quit PMO and to get a job. For the first two weeks of NoFap, I didn't masturbate, but I edged a lot. Then at that time I've got a job interview, that made me go out to somewhere pretty far away from my home. The day after I finished my interview, symptoms started to come. It started with 2 weeks of relatively minor symptoms, including windpipe allergy, dry coughing, and some difficulty to breathe. Then, I doubted if I had got COVID-19 (the old variety, no Omicron at that time), and I was panic for a few days. Then, I started to develop severe symptoms, which lasted for a week, including the following:

• Sudden dyspnea (difficulty to breathe), which brought me to the emergency hospital.
• Sleep disorder (couldn't fall asleep at all, feels like something is trying to wake me up every time I fall asleep).
• Heart beating irregularly (happened only once, and lasted for a few seconds).
• Headache, fatigue and severe dizziness throughout the day, like having a "living dream", couldn't do anything but sleeping and walking around the apartment.

There's a saying in Chinese medicine, that (translated to English) "cold weather alone cannot harm a healthy person". I believe my severe symptoms were mainly caused by my poor living habits and PMO in the first place. Then suddenly, with my weak body, I edged for 10+ days and went outdoors for an exhausting long trip, as well as me feeling panic about getting COVID-19. All these factors are like the "cold weather" which triggered the symptoms. I've heard that this saying also holds true for mental diseases, one has to be physically weak first, before he becomes prone to any mental illness. This makes so much sense to me, that many NoFappers here develop mental illnesses after years of PMO. It will be inappropriate for the doctors to conclude that mental illnesses are just caused by overthinking, on the contrary, they have a physical basis.

 

In fact I understand how the professionals feel. They have been devoting their lives into finding out how the universe works, only to find out they have made a fundamental mistake all along, that they studied matter separately. (Instead, it is interconnected with energy and the mind and cannot be separated.) It is really hard for them to accept this truth and to give up their sense of superiority and start all over again.

And thank you for your book recommendations. I am not sure if I have time for them, but I am very interested. Now I am focusing on Chinese medicine and Buddhism, I think they would keep me busy, maybe I will consider reading those books later.

After that week of severe symptoms, I relapsed on around Day 30. After that, my day streaks were mostly 5~10 days. But I lived a more active life since then. I would go out and take a walk at least once every few days, and I would do some exercise. I would still masturbate and got some symptoms of neurasthenia sometimes. I wasn't determined to quit PMO until very recently, when I joined this NoFap forum 2 months ago, started writing a journal. Today is my 55th day on NoFap. I have broken my old record and it's still going. I hope this time I can quit PMO forever.

About my current health condition. I cannot say it is perfect, but it gets much better now. I feel I have more energy and strength throughout the day, I don't get tired as easily as before, and the symptoms I am experiencing now are mostly mild ones. I think going on NoFap doesn't only replenish my energy and cure some of my symptoms, but I've found myself feeling more motivated in life. Probably my nerves fire more properly with higher energy level now, so I get less depressed. With this motivation, I cultivated a number of healthy habits, e.g. sleeping before 23:00 every day, setting a timer to remind myself not to sit for too long, eating healthily...etc, and these habits definitely helped my body to recover when combined with NoFap.

However, while I am happy with my progress of NoFap, I cannot say I am completely free from my addictions. First, I am still missing and playing video games, which is one of the major triggers to me. Also, I peek p-subs and porn sometimes (especially when I indulge in games). And strictly speaking, I am still unemployed, where I only teach as a private tutor for a few hours per week. Sometimes I feel I am trapped in my current life situation.

 

The terrain theory is correct based on my personal experience. You may want to read how I've arrived to this conclusion here - https://forum.nofap.com/index.php?threads/15-years-of-hell-that-led-me-to-nofap.330054/.

Long-term addiction to PMO:

1. Downregulates neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine and serotonin) - 1, 2, 3, 4
2. Disrupts hormonal balance (e.g., testosterone, prolactin and adrenaline) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
3. Decreases the volume of grey matter in the brain (prefrontal cortex) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
4. Reduces the density of androgen receptors - 1
5. Deteriorates mental health - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
6. Exhausts the central nervous system - 1, 2, 3, 4
7. Decreases gastric secretions and induces GI ulceration - 1, 2, 3
8. Disrupts gastrointestinal motility - 1, 2, 3
9. Promotes insulin resistance - 1, 2, 3, 4
10. Leads to sexual dysfunction and decline in sperm counts - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

SPECT scan of a porn addict's brain:






Disposable soma theory and expensive germline hypothesis: