New here, need help/Advice withdrawals/paws

Saludos .... oye mi caso es parecido, mi racha más larga llegó hasta los 50 días en Agosto y de allí caí, y no pude repone, se fueron algunos beneficios, la depresión fue un problema desde el día 30 al 50 aproximadamente. Ya estoy de vuelta y siento que noviembre será un buen mes, tenemos que valorar cada día sin Pmo, ya que estamos controlando nuestro ser y no siendo controlados. Ánimo

 

Yeah, check the withdrawals and paws threads. Bunch info there....

 

Hi bro,
Just read through your post. I’m over a year into nofap. It gets easier trust me! But you have to make active changes in your life and routine to help with the paws symptoms.
For example, eating healthy, exercise, weight lifting, socialising etc..

I had nearly all the symptoms you describe.. I also went for blood tests and had high prolactin. From what I’ve read it’s due to stress hormones being high due to quitting an addiction.

It takes time for our brains to heal back to normal level stimulation. The best advice I can give you is to stick with it.. exercise as regular as you can, specifically lift weights to help with your testosterone and your depression and anxiety. Stay away from all artificial dopamine hits, alcohol, smoking, porn, drugs etc.. to help with the healing. Hope this is of some help. I can give loads more advice and tell you more about my own experiences if you want?

 

ye mate, if you have any questions for me.. fire away. Been researching heavily into this for a year.
I was addicted for 8-9 years, it was a daily thing for myself, hence why it’s taking me so long to recover. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. I’m 1-1.5 years into this. What we are going through is post acute withdrawal syndrome, so if you read up on that, it will help put your mind at rest. Any questions, feel free to ask.

 

No it’s alright mate, I don’t mind answering your questions. Truth be told I’m not 100% yet. Still experiencing certain symptoms.
Still experiencing Anhedonia, some days are worse then others but it’s getting better. Get bouts of minor anxiety/depression but they are like 60/70% better then they were. Still struggle with my focus, nothing really overly excites me, feeling like everything is grey, but this is just to do with lack of dopamine, and nothing else. But it’s all improving week by week at the minute.
This is a very powerful stimulus that we have been abusing. To reproduce is a highest biological drive, I’ve read where studies have said porn is as bad for your reward centre as drugs, so if you had been taking drugs for 7 years +, you wouldn’t expect to be back to normal within a few months, it’s going to take 12-24 months to fully recover. Great to hear you have quit weed and smoking. I also have quit smoking. I still drink on the odd occasion socially but not a lot at all, went nearly a year without barely touching any when I first started nofap.
The best way to reboot your brain is to reduce all artificial dopamine stimulants. Try to not even think about porn/sex etc.. overtime the more natural thoughts about women will slowly start to arise again and your libido will return.
What we are both experiencing is simply just a lack of dopamine, due to quitting an addiction, and porn was like our final addiction that we have quit and that’s why it’s hitting us both hard. All the things we are lacking Libido/socialising/ motivation etc are all related to dopamine. Overtime it will slowly get better and you will start to feel how you did years ago before this was causing problems. I don’t really get depressed, or bad anxiety anymore, they got better around the 6-8 month mark. For me weight training/ exercise has been the key to help with Paws and make them more bearable.

Im just over a year in, and i feel fucking worlds better then I did, and really making loads of progress. Even if it takes me another year, the benefits and being back to “normal” is 100% worth it. Mines taken me a bit longer because I didn’t go cold turkey in the early days, still was fantasising, messaging girls for the intention of only one thing, Instagram pics etc.. these things didn’t really do a lot for me because I was so numb but it was my brain trying to get its fix. The key is you need to go cold turkey! Cut out all sexual stimulation for a period of time, then when you feel a bit more up for it, put yourself out there into the real world.

Regarding diet I just eat clean. Nothing in particular. Limit my sugar and fats etc, hardly eat fast food. But I’m playing sport on the weekends and weight lifting in the weeks which has helped me massively! I can explain so much more if you wanted to contact me personally. It’s just hard to get it all into text haha.
Whilst women aren’t a distraction, the best thing I can say, use this time wisely to build yourself into a man that a woman desires and wants to be with, so when your mind is ready, you will be ready.

 

Hi, fellow PAWS suffer here. My journey was very similar to yours with the symptoms you described. Unfortunately I got complacent and relapsed in the 13th month. One month later and I'm still feeling s***. Do you think this relapse has set me all the way back or perhaps im experiencing a wave which shall pass?

 

hi mate,
Yes this will just be a faze that will pass. You haven’t undone your progress in one relapse. Use this to motivate yourself to not relapse again. Write a list down of reasons your doing this and read them daily to keep yourself focused. Make sure your good habits are in place, search habit replacement to help overcome addictions.

 

Thank you for your response

 

no worries mate, I think the paws with nofap isn’t talked about enough in these forums and people keep going on about “flatlines”. But all they are describing is the symptoms of paws (Low dopamine). If you have any questions, more then happy to answer them.

 

Ye bro I’m from the UK. I went on them briefly at the start of the reboot because of how bad I was feeling but I didn’t stay on them long because of the side effects of low libido with anti depressants, whereas the low libido was something I was trying to fix by doing nofap.

I’ve done a lot of research on the brain and neuroscience regarding addiction. I think we can’t underestimate the power of this new modern day stimulus and how much it can affect us. We are both living proof of that. We are the guinea pigs.

Regarding withdrawal, the depression and anxiety for the first 6-7 months was bad but it does get better. I helped ease the pain by exercising which did help massively. I’d say both symptoms are pretty much gone, just get off days where it comes back a little bit, but this is due to me being stressed by something or if I have had a few beers the night before etc. Whilst we are healing, you have to treat your brain like a broken leg, slow small steps and in time you will be running marathons. I think Anhedonia is the worst of all the symptoms (this covers low libido). I’m still suffering with this symptom but it is improving slowly. I think getting a good understanding to what your going through will help you massively keep faith and believe in the process.

Let me know if you want to get in contact bud.

 

Best thing to do mate, drop me a message and we will have a chat about things ?
regarding anti depressants, that’s your call. I stayed away because of the low libido etc, which is what I was trying to fix.
Completely up to you my friend.

 

Hey man hope things have eased up a bit. I’m almost 2 years into this thing and still battle with my fair share of symptoms. At this point mostly depression, anxiety, brain fog and dizziness. Things have gotten a lot better than they were in the beginning but I am far from 100%. I can function well enough out of necessity since I am a father and husband and have very little choice. I did go cold turkey off of weed at the same time I did Porn and don’t do hard mode because I will not do that to my wife so my road is probably going to be a bit longer than others.​

As far as antidepressants go what I will say is this. I tried them for 5 days. They were prescribed by my GP. They were to say the least a nightmare. All of my symptoms ramped way up. Most antidepressants have a loading period where things could get way worse before they get better. I talked to a psychiatrist who said that when she put me on Prozac which adjusts serotonin that was the wrong drug. He said I should be on Wellbutrin which messes with dopamine. I never could bring myself to get back on them. I say all that to say that if you do decide to go that road please go with a specialist. I would hate for you to go through what I went through. For weeks after I got off of them I was messed up.

That being said I have several friends who are in recovery for other addictions than PMO who swear by them and have had a lot of success. For me I don’t want to be chemically dependent on anything even antidepressants because I never want to experience PAWS ever again, but that’s just my choice.

The things that have helped me are a ton of prayer, Meditation, therapy, and exercise as everyone says. I mostly walk my dog to get exercise which works a lot of the time. One thing that I can’t express enough is community. I could not do this without my friends who I can bounce the crazy ideas in my head off of. Try to get as much support as you can because you are going to need it.

I wish you well. You are in for a hell of a journey but (and I am going to use a biblical metaphor please don’t be offended if that’s not your thing) when exiting slavery sometimes we need to wander through the wilderness before we get to the promised land. You will get there if you don’t relapse. The man you will be on the other side will be able to deal with almost anything life has to throw at you. Good luck.

 

Good to hear your recovering bro! Each to the own which way they go about recovery. Maybe a period of doing hardmode would speed up your recovery.
I personally stayed off anti depressants, but each to there own.

 

Thanks Man! I’ve done two small streaks of hard mode one 6 weeks and another 4. I’d probably do more but I put my wife through hell when she first found out about my addiction. It already really screwed up her sense of self worth and self esteem. I try to keep my recovery as low key as possible. She really doesn’t understand what PAWS is. I mean how could anyone who isn’t going through it. I’m not willing to give up the intimacy we fought so hard to build. It does suck though man. I definitely feel it for a few days after sex. Thank you for the encouragement and the suggestion. I kinda feel like we are all members of a horrible brotherhood that will never meet. Just knowing you guys are out there too helps me a ton.

 

Ye bro! As time passes you will recover!! I get what your saying, but by sticking with nofap, your relationship with your wife improve ten times more once your fully recovered and over the damage porn has done to you. For anyone asking I would always suggest hardmode for the best/ most efficient recovery, but each to there own.

Im just over a year into my reboot and I’m feeling loads better then I did, improvement has been massive! But I’m still suffering with mild paws symptoms, but over the next 6-12 months I know they will pass. Stay strong brothers !! Remember, if your going though hell, keep going.