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

Ive heard the same timescale. I know a guy who runs AA meetings, and has done for many years. He confirmed 3 years as the timescale for significant change.

 

Hey man,

Could you describe yourself 8 months into your reboot? What was going on emotionally, physically, etc. ?

Thanks.

 

Thank you so much for your reply.

One more question: When did things start becoming manageable for you? I seem to be nearing your 8 month description so our timelines seem to be somewhat congruent.

Thanks again man.

 

I'm at 15.5months today, and been attacked by the same triggering sexual fetish fantasies these past 2 days after going nearly a month without any at all. The fetish content is exactly the same as 2 years ago, sometimes it feels as though no progress has been made. Sleep has gone atrocious again, and feel stressed/anxious and the brain ache near the front is going crazy.

But, I've woken up today and I can tell the sexual fantasies have stopped, just as I thought, they feel a hundred miles away now and back to normal. I think that's one big difference as time progresses, you've been through all these scenarios so many times you become numb or apathetic to them.

I just wonder if it ever stops, 2 of my best friends are male and never had a problem with porn or sex, and they can both go months without masturbating, and neither have full blown hardcore sexual fantasies etc, it just doesnt cross their mind, nor is it something that is appealing to them to think about

You can pretty much equate any hardcore sexual fantasy to an unhealthy mind, porn is just the tip of the iceberg of a unhealthy condition called sexual lust.

 

One thing I want to highlight is just how deep the river runs with PMO. During my 20s I developed a condition called shy bladder which means you can't urinate in front of other people, so I would always need to go into the stall or private bathroom. It randomly started happening in my mid 20s, and I had no idea why, I assumed from my ketamine use.

Shy bladder is a social anxiety disorder essentially, it's when your body goes into low level fight or flight, and you are unable to relax enough to urinate.

I am certain its linked to PMO, during my last streak, my shy bladder symptoms directly track my PAWS symptoms, in the days I've felt good during the past 15 months, I have been able to urinate normally in urinals etc, or in busy bathrooms which has never happened before.

Conversely right now when my symptoms are bad it's a slight struggle to urinate at all

Anxiety disorders just mean your central nervous system is stressed and flares in response to certain situations. Its not hard to see how many conditions will exist dependant on PMO induced central nervous stress.

 

MO is worse than P although both are dangerous. I believe it was mo which make my reboot process longer than it should. For instance, I recently watched some p. As soon as I started ejaculating involuntarily, my lower back pain returned...

 

I want to chime in here a bit because I dont really agree.
Although I understand where you're coming from, I think P is more dangerous. It makes my addiction 100x worse and also creates the opportunity for endless edging session.
MO also is unhealthy and should be permanently stoppen. But in earlier generations you could actually MO once in a while without repercussions

 

Yes, I've come to the same conclusion. My inner addict wants me to think that MO'ing with or without P is pretty much the same, but after the deed is done, PMO is always way worse than MO. But both are bad.

 

Just an update on my progress for you guys if any is interested.

Im at 10.5 months right now and the cycle for me these days is pretty predictable. I spend most of my time in a flatline, no libido, fatigued, brain fog, depression. Mood swings of anger and sadness, no willpower or self control, no motivation, anhedonia and emotional numbness etc.

My flatlines do end though i never know when and for how long. They seem to last around 2 - 4 weeks and then end for maybe a few days to a week. During that time symptoms just get much easier to manage, though they dont totally dissipate. I can usually tell when a better period is coming because i start getting morning wood again, though not 100% morning wood.

there is no doubt that progress is being made, though it is extremely slow. I would say a few % better every month.

 

Anyone else have problems with motivation? I feel that I'm recovering in a number of ways, especially in terms of vastly reduced anxiety, depression and no longer a need to constantly lust. However, I still lack motivation to achieve anything, and I think one of the main problems is that for at least 10 years if I did achieve anything I get no sense of reward or fulfillment. I'm basically only doing things to get them out of the way. Anyone else have this issue? Will time correct it? Thanks

 

Yeah I currently having these issues. Actually I used to operate or force myself to take action under massive brain fog. I've reached a moment where my nervous system had enough. That's when I had to quit a job. Since then I'm in a state of confusion. I've seen other people enjoying or working to make their lives better while I stay in isolation for the last 5 years.

 

motivation was my major issue days 25-70. I had no interest in washing eating getting out of bed. I had a very small wet dream, lost hardly any fluid about day 70. Since then I’ve been very motivated. Currently on day 75. The day after the wd I felt super positive and happy as well. That quickly went. For last few day’s I’ve been super motivated restless almost. Been doing crap jobs like fixing the shed, touching up paint indoors, gardening. I’ve got like a hyper focus. Unfortunately I’m super depressed, tired achy foggy at the same time.

The wd was definitely a turning point. I’m better than the bedridden zombie I was days 25-70. Feels painful where I am atm but have to focus that I’m better than I was a week or so ago. I was literally hopeless thinking of anti depressants then I had a wd out of nowhere and I felt amazing for a small window.

it’s like daily I get served up a different set of neurotransmitters.

still got no emotions really, Anhedonia, fog, sadness. Just feel hyper alert and motivated which is great for now as it has meant I’ve managed to get done all the things I’ve put off when in my zombie pit state.

Frustrating how you get shown what it feels like to be the next level up but it only lasts for a day then back to weeks of crappy baseline.

I do wonder if hard mode is the best way and if weekly or monthly Orgasm would be more efficient. I have no partner atm so I might as well stick to a good reboot of no orgasm Hardmode for now.

 

100 percent agree. Porn is poison too, but masturbating and especially ejaculating dump huge amounts of dopamine and serotonin into the brain along with wasting nutrients and sexual energy. I think the reason why people think its mostly the porn is because its too hard to accept that ejaculation maybe is only meant to create a baby and not to be wasted everyday. People will fight to protect the things they love, meanwhile folks on r/nofap and r/semenretention are getting insane benefits from stopping all 3 PMO MO O. I cant wrap my head around how people can recover while MO'ing and having sex.

 

im doing semen retention or Hardmode. I hope your right. I never watched porn but abused mo in my past.

struggling to see much light at end of tunnel at day 75.

 

Bang on the money bruh..
Excessive P also put you at a high risk to masturbate and ejaculate. Once you reach the latter, you're pretty much done for the day or even for a week. And if you keep w the same practice for a while, your brain might have a chance to be chemically fucked up. Hence why it takes a lot of people a lot of time to recover.

 

Hey everyone, I’m 21 years old and had a PMO addiction for 9 years. Beginning of May, God delivered me and I’ve had no problems with sexual temptations anymore. But about 2 weeks after, I started having bad symptoms involving stress, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, insomnia, wet dreams, muscle tension, nausea, and diarrhea. I felt a lot better 2 weeks after that but I’ll get some bad flair ups with anxiety, stress, and digestive problems now. My stool hasn’t been 100% normal for 1 whole month now and occasionally get bad diarrhea every now and then. I just theorize it could be from stress or something going on in the brain. Went to the ER a month ago because of some blood in stool and my blood tests were normal. Going back to the dr tomorrow to cancel out any other problems. Does this all seem like it could be from porn withdrawal?

 

Yes @jesusnumber1 everything you described I also have had and was related to PMO withdrawal.

I want to mention also that today I woke up feeling completely different then the day before, anxiety down, stress down, slept okay. Just highlighting how this journey can change day by day, week by week. Yesterday I felt like horrific and back to the beginning and today feel like theres hope again

 

Oh man, I can relate to you here. I've spent years forcing myself to live a "normal" life with massive brain fog. Last year my body finally gave in. I've been in isolation for 11 months, and just lost my job. Yet I am 100% certain that all it would take to live a good life is to quit PMO (and l guess MO entirely). I live in hope...

 

I would even dare to say hour by hour:

Last Friday —today is Thursday– I had been in a bad PAWS cycle for two weeks. In the morning I wasn't feeling very good, and a bad headache started to develop —which I usually don't have. After lunch, I decided to take a nap —which I rarely do. I lay down feeling a big head pressure. I stayed on bed for ~30 minutes, probably felt asleep for 5 or 10 minutes. When I woke up, the headache was gone and the PAWS cycle was over —I only realized this in retrospective.

When I am in a cycle, some additional anxiety builds around the fact that I cannot do anything to improve the PAWS. Ever since last Friday, that "added" anxiety has also been reduced and I am feeling quite normal in the last couple of days.

I think there are those two sources of anxiety, and I am sure one of them has not its origin in my thoughts or ideas: that from PAWS, which causes me spasms, tremors, palpitations and insomnia. The other does, and comes in the form of helplessness and despair in the presence of PAWS, but goes away as soon as the PAWS themselves give me some rest.

 

It's pretty daunting that you're getting this at 1 year (ish). Do you mind me asking if you have been going monk-mode?