How long does it really take to recover?

DarkSektur · Apr 9, 2018

This is my second topic so far on NoFap. Everyone who has been involved in pmo can relate to the following mental and emotional issues:
1) Depression.
2) Anxiety and panic attacks for no good reason.
3) Forgetfulness.
4) Concentration problems.
5) Mood swings.
6) Lack of motivation and apathy (things that you enjoyed and gave you the thrills didn't anymore).
7) Difficulty reading/studying efficiently as normal people do (you find yourself forgetting and repeating lines or words over and over to retain it but it's futile)
8) Difficulty following up a conversation.
9) inability to handle stress. Any little stress made your symptoms worse, especially the cognitive impairment and mood swing.
10) brain fog from time to time. It seemed brain fog was totally separate from the cognitive impairments. Brain fog makes your head feel clouded and worsened your cognitive impairments but it would subside still leaving you with your cognitive impairment. The brain fog usually came when you mistakenly saw a nude pic on the streets or on an ad.

I know that these symptoms are also complained of by hard drugs addict, alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes(when they quit), lsd addicts. This kinda shows that, on a neurological level, all addictions are fundamental the same.

Back to the issue, I did like to point out that recovery after ninety days isn't true for long-term frequent pmo addicts. To get rid of these symptoms, we would be talking of eighteen months to two years. In rear cases three years. This is post acute withdrawal syndrome. Even though it's called withdrawal syndrome, it occurs as your addiction progresses. This applies to all addictions.

I tend to emphasis these symptoms more than PIED because PIED or not, these symptoms makes one lead an unproductive and miserable life from falling few years behind in school to dropping out of school; from loosing track of one's life to comitting suicide; from being unproductive at work to job loss and loss of one's self respect. The list is endless. It's better to be single for life with ED and not suffer these symptoms. Those with these symptoms would understand. I think we as a group need to emphasise the occurrence and impact of these symptoms.

If anyone thinks otherwise, I would like to hear your view.

Spriritofawarrior · Oct 18, 2020

Serious stuff bro

Morningstar_1000 · Mar 26, 2023

Stop Scaring People unnecessarily

Mr.Tony · Oct 29, 2023

It's true.

mentorr · Oct 29, 2023

DarkSektur said: ↑

Back to the issue, I did like to point out that recovery after ninety days isn't true for long-term frequent pmo addicts. To get rid of these symptoms, we would be talking of eighteen months to two years. In rear cases three years. This is post acute withdrawal syndrome. Even though it's called withdrawal syndrome, it occurs as your addiction progresses. This applies to all addictions.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately this is not correct. How long it takes to recover is unique to each and every rebooter. There are people out there that have not recovered after 4+ years sadly, it is a very individual process.

TheRaven8386 · Oct 30, 2023

What you said about all addictions affecting the brain the same way i believe is true. This has without a doubt been the most mentally painful and hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I've faced nights of total darkness and hopelessness, sat alone and questioned everything I ever believed in. The only things to help me were Google, this site and Dr. Trish Leigh videos on Youtube. I've cried more in the last year than I have my entire life before that combined. Headached, brain fog, trouble breathing. Some days it felt like i was just surving until i could go to sleep and hope to be better the next day. It felt like I was going insane and seriously thought about admitting myself to a clinic. I'm a 39 year old Male that will turn 40 in December. I've been off of Porn for one year, but I'm on the longest MO streak I've ever had of 50 days. I'm just now STARTING to see glimpses of feeling normal and being how I once once. You are correct about 90 days not being a cure all. That's just for people with early stage P.I.E.D and overall addiction. As the person above me said some people go over 3 years and still aren't back to normal.

To the person saying for him to stop scaring people unneccesarrily. He's not. Everything he stated can happen and people new to this need to prepare themselves for it just in case.

In The Moment · Oct 30, 2023

DarkSektur said: ↑

If anyone thinks otherwise, I would like to hear your view.
Click to expand...

No, I don't think your comments are incorrect at all. I'm not sure where the 90 days comes from as even the act of "quitting" varies so much. If you only quit P, but continue to MO, how does your overall timeline compare with someone who quits PMO all at once? Does someone who finds they've been addicted for a year have to work as hard as someone who has suffered for 10 years, etc?

Maybe the 90 days is just a certain milestone. I mean, I've heard that the hardest moments are at 3 days, 3 weeks and 3 months. Maybe once you get past that third month, then the fight becomes at least easier?

I would consider myself to be a "long-term, frequent PMO addict" (40 years of it). I trust that I will see changes if I stay away from all edging/PMO for 90 days. I also expect I'll see positive changes after 60 days, 120 days, 365 days. As far as getting to where I ultimately want to be (including getting at least a moderate amount of sensitivity back to the little guy), I think I'm going to be 'recovering' for something in the one- to two-year timeframe.

Strength to you tonight.

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How long does it really take to recover?

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