Why do you think the only real problem is PIED?

Hey there. I hope you're doing well.

Before I start I'd like to tell you a little about myself. I am a 25 year-old guy and I've been addicted to pornography since I was 16 or 17(I can't exactly remember honestly.)

I was kind of moderate in my porn use in the first few years but my addiction entered a severe phase when I got older...I can say that I was extremely addicted to PMO around age of 22. I could spend hours trying to find the right video and I would just wank before bed almost every other night. I am saying every other night because the next day I would masturbate 2 to 3 times to the stuff I had seen the night before. I had just finished college around this time and I had a lot of free time which I spent watching porn and masturbating and also going to gym. I was committed to body building but I couldn't make that much of a progress to be honest. I never experienced PIED or hair loss or acne or things that are being said here but I had a huge problem. I had this crazy lower back pain which would keep me up at night and what I would do to fall asleep was of course masturbating. Soon more severe problems appeared and I had to deal with insane brain fog and not being able to focus on anything. My brain fog problem was insane and I was terrible at remembering things. Actually this is why I am writing this. Don't think that PIED is rock bottom. Other side effects can be as bad as PIED if not worse. Genetics plays a huge role here. the side effects you experience pertain to your genes. Take me for example. Although my hair was obviously thinner than before, I didn't experience any hair loss. But as I said earlier my back was killing me.

I've joined nofap two years ago and my longest streak was 72 days. It felt great to be able to go that far but everything changed when I relapsed and I've never been able to hit that record so far(not gonna lie).

And here's the reason it happened: I didn't educate myself!

After this relapse I didn't return here and didn't even try to start a streak and I binged for a couple of months. Back pain and brain fog returned. This time I knew what needed to be done. So I started a streak and I also started reading books. I introduce the two most helpful ones: No more Mr. nice guy and Your Brain on Porn. This books changed everything for me. I was able to see how addiction to PMO can affect brain functions and thus my life. I am not gonna say that I didn’t relapse after reading these books.(you wouldn’t believe it, even if I did. Because we all know that is not how this addiction works). But I can say I was more present and less in my head. I could see clearly how I talk myself into watching porn and masturbating. You know same old stuff: Just checking what’s new, I need to get it out of my system, I’ll start a new streak, Fuck it! I’m bored!, I need to wake up early and I need to fall asleep quickly, this urge is crazy and I can’t focus…and a million other things I told myself to fool myself.

Just gonna tell a few more stuff and we’re done.

Daily meditation and writing journals every now and again can help a great deal. Meditation helps you be more present and you’ll be much more aware of your self-talks.
One more thing; I am making a very good progress with my bodybuilding and I was able to gain muscle mass in just a few months. Although changing my diet has helped a great deal...I think I wouldn't have been able to get here if I hadn't tried to leave this addiction. I haven't beaten this addiction yet but I am happy with my efforts and I know soon I'll post a thread in success section!

I hope this helps. Thank you for reading and good luck.