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

Hopefully you share how beautiful life will be to us. Take care

 

Just an update yesterday and today I've been thrown into a deep flatline that is reminiscent of last Christmas. That is to say on a year on year basis it feels as though the 10 weeks of relapse has reset me a year comparably. I do feel better in some ways but its almost comparable, my first milestone of seeing what the true damage it's done will be after 90 days, at this point Ill review my recovery position

 

It’s very hard to describe my state at the moment. I just feel overwhelmed the last days. I don’t feel at home in this world at the moment. I don’t feel like I made any progress. I just feel so empty and shallow. I don’t seem to have any confident in myself.

I know those feelings will leave again but for now they seem so real and it’s hard to not go along with them. They could be gone in the next minute but at the moment they are very strong.

I noticed a pattern though. Whenever I start to dream of smoking weed, porn images appearing and me having perverse urges while sleeping, I start to feel all hopeless and full of anedonia and symptoms. Sleep seems to be so important. I can’t stress this out enough. The last days I stayed up late again and my symptoms that were alread bad before staying up late, got even worse. Keep a tight sleep schedule is probably one of the most important aspects of recovery.

I know this post of mine might be disheartening but I have to manifest the bad days as well as the good days.

 

Can relate as well...

 

I'm also in the midst of a tough stretch. This shit can be so fuckin' brutal.

 

Deep depression and irritability lasted 2-3 days, and now feeling more happy and optimistic, but have bad anxiety pop up.

Good thing is at this point been here so many times, honestly completely unfazed or worried. It's interesting how like I have the pressure/energy/sensations pulsating in my head for last 20 months non stop, can kind of feeling it heal almost

Just want to say this wave of social anxiety is as bad as I can remember, reminiscent of a year ago for sure, see how long it sticks around for

 

Happy New Year all! Best wishes for everyone’s recovery in 2021!

 

I made a long post about my PAWS / Flatline. I am on day 371 and have been on the flatline since day 1. Please take a look. I would be happy about some answers

https://forum.nofap.com/index.php?threads/371-days-hardmode-flatline-paws.300001/#post-2855939

 

Hello everybody. I think i have stumpled upon something great that i want to share. I have been in PAWS for a long time with different hard mode streaks. This week i have done this wim hof breathing method in the morning and i actually finally feel better. It is said to clear out trauma and balance the brain and body, Wim Hof has been very known for this and people have had their life changed. The big pharmas of course want none of it because its a free way to heal ourselves and no profit to them. Try it out! I will update if it fades away but i have noticed more confidence and less depression!

 

I also did the Wim Hof breathing exercises at once and it also helped in some way. I don't know why I stopped the exercise. Definitely will start the exercise again! Thanks for the reminder

 

I was very emotional the first 3 days i did it. Felt so great. Today its kinda faded so typical lol. But it may just be an off day, perhaps it will be better tommorow. It sure does feel great while doing it

 

I've recently come across the term kindling and realised that it's exactly what I've been doing for 2 years and it's the reason why my PAWS symptoms are so bad. When I first quit they were laughable (mainly no libido) but after 2 years of constant relapses (because I was fearful my libido vanish forever if I didn't masturbate) I now have severe anhedonia, a constant stressed state, severe cognitive problems and many other symptoms that leave me a shell of my former self. I was never a huge addict so it's finally making sense why my withdrawals have been so harsh.

I'm now over 100 days into hard mode after finally connecting the dots between how I was feeling and PAWS. However, I've not seen any improvements yet. The things I've read about kindling suggests that it causes permanent damage which is giving me an insane amount of anxiety as I'm 20 years old and that'll mean my whole life is wasted.

My question is whether you can recover from a case of PAWS made severe by kindling? Please could you back up your reply with sources if possible!

 

There are many people in this thread if you go back who have tried Nofap for years and failed and only recovered when they had a long hard mode streak. So they recovered even tho they relapses and binged plenty of times. Dont worry seriously, i have a theory that the brain can recover from almost anything and with praciticing semen retention and a good lifestyle you can get back to a really really good point with time. Sadly people underestimate time

 

Thanks for the reply. It seems my PAWS self will take any opportunity to worry over the symptoms being permanent! Been reading a lot of don Quixote's posts which are particularly reassuring with regards to the kindling issue.

Do you recommend taking any specific supplements to aid recovery? I've seen many opposing opinions on this subject

 

I did a post about WHM in July and only one person responded, I'm surprised you this commmunity is unaware even with the cold showers thing about this method - WHM is a lifesaver for me.

Heres what I wrote about PAWS in different thread as reply to @Experiment1996 :

 

Depression has been fucking crazy these past days. Yeah, thats about how much I am able to articulate at this moment.

 

You do not damaged permanently but prolong paws symptoms which last up to 24 months.

 

I don’t think anyone should be blamed for having negative thoughts. You never know how bad the symptoms of another person really are. Many people on Reddit often say that it’s just in your mind and that you just have to think positive. If you have really pronounced symptoms that make it hard for you to even think straight and have your mind under control then you can’t simply think positive for longer periods of times. On some days my mind is just putting up nonsense on my table and I’m just wondering what my mind is even doing. Absolute unnecessary thoughts about things that I cut relationship with a very long time ago. My mind is circling around certain topics and I can only watch it. If I try to redirect my thoughts then this works for the time I’m actively doing so but the moment I have to do something else it goes back to talking jibberish on a very bad day. I just go along with it and know that it’s not my fault.

You can help yourself but by not dwelling on your situation the whole times that seems to be working for me but trying to think positive and just get the mindset is not possible on days when my cognitive functions aren’t working, I’m derealised as hell because my anxiety/fight or flight reaction is going ham and when depression kicks in and literally no feel good hormone is docking on anywhere.

I really understand your point but I feel that there is a certain degree to which you can manipulate your mind. On good days I don’t have to fake a mindset, I don’t have to force myself to not to think about something I don’t wanna think about - my brain is in my command on those days.

Yes, sitting around and only waiting for PAWS to end is not a good idea but don’t best yourself up for having negative thoughts and all that shit.

 

Found an interesting thread online I think others might be interested in. The Doctor in the thread has some good insight into what many of us are probably going through and suggests a supplement stack he thinks can help.

https://cure-erectile-dysfunction.org/masturbation-withdrawal-extreme-anxiety-panic-attacks

 

Well then enlighten us please. If your advice is to simply calm down the fight or flight reaction of your brain then I have to tell you that this isn‘t possible in my current life situation. There are many things going on that need to be done and many of them are existential things. I manage to calm down my fight or flight reaction but then something out of the blue is happening and I’m right back at it and a lot of it has to do with the fact that my initial stress response is not reacting correctly and that’s just PAWS.

Don’t you think those 3 years are responsible for healing? Are those 3 years of hardmode or what are those 3 years?

Don’t get me wrong. I would welcome anything that get me out of PAWS but I highly doubt it’s just a matter of being calming down fight or flight everytime it pops up. In my life this is not possible.