Symptoms Associated With Edging & Withdrawal

Here are some nice animated summary videos explaining the concepts of the habit loop.

Best example of a habit loop that I developed was putting on my workout clothes as soon as I get up.

Having them ready on a specific hook, and then playing a song while getting ready to workout. After I have my socks on, it is almost impossible for me not to continue my routine.

I have no affiliation with any of the authors.

 

Nothing specific. The your brain on porn website and book are very good (look up desensitization). Another thing I do is search the reboot success stories on YBOP for certain words like edging and read those. The YBOP book references a study about binging every 2-4 weeks vs daily use, but I only have the audiobook and cant find it. I only remember because I transitioned from daily to every 2-4 week streaks and wasn't feeling any better.

The Dr Trish and Pinnacle of Man channels discuss it on YouTube (search edging nofap). The logic of it is, edging is dumping way more dopamine into your brain than if you have a short session. So when you go cold turkey, the amount of dopamine your brain is looking for is much greater and hence greater withdrawal symptoms (Your reward system is further out of balance). Edging always leads to relapse for me.

 

Hey, good on you for at least having the balls to bring this up with them. I'd be too embarrassed, although to be fair I have brought it up with a doc I knew socially, as well as a therapist, and basically got laughed at...

This is the "main" thread about PAWS: https://forum.nofap.com/index.php?threads/p-a-w-s-what-are-they-cure-duration.231859/. Be warned, there is a lot to wade through, but I would say most of the most useful stuff is in the earlier parts of the thread. As I said above though, I'm genuinely not sure where the line is between PAWS (ie symptoms experienced AFTER stopping) versus symptoms caused while still PMO'ing on a regular basis. It may be that it's all the same thing. Either way, the only real solution is the same thing: quitting for good!

 

I experience many of the symptoms on your list as well. I have had several long spells without PMO and almost all of my symptoms get better or disappear. Of course I feel invincible and fall into a relapse and start to feel all the negative symptoms again. Even on long stretches where I am not PMO’ing, even if I have sex with my wife, it sets me back into these negative symptoms. The only answer for me, is to stay away from PMO especially the O and let the body heal completely. This comes down to how bad do you want to be free from this? I am living proof that if you do this, a lot of these symptoms you are experiencing are likely to get better. I have been there. Insomnia is the worst symptom for me. Recovery is not linear. You won’t necessarily feel better on day 20 than you did on day 10. When you decide to quit this for good, keep this in mind and power through. Brighter days-weeks and months do come.

 

I’ve had blood work done several times. Everything comes back perfectly healthy. I was more into full blown PMO. I have noticed if I get extremely turned on without sex with my wife it will trigger the same negative symptoms sometimes. My guess is getting those sexual hormones flowing in the brain is not good when your system is exhausted.

I do not think I have a thyroid issue but I go back to the doctor on the 10th for blood work and a check up. I might bring it up. With giving my brain time to heal and seeing results, I honestly think all my issues are self imposed. I feel strongly that if you have enough will power to stay away from sexually exciting yourself for several months that you would see improvement. The best I have ever felt since I was about 16 years old came from a stretch of about 5 months when I stayed away from any kind of sexual stimulation. My sleep was great. No anxiety. No depression. Clear head.

I am a Christian. I relied heavily on my faith and Jesus to help me abstain for such a long period of time. I firmly believe, I would have struggled to do it by myself.

 

Great to know what triggers the urge. I am curious what group/social activities COULD you join? What do you like?

There are pros and cons to the city, sure you will have less nature, but you will have a lot of different social circles and activities available.

 

This is such great information and it makes total sense!

 

Yeah exactly, the scheduled intervals didn't work for me. Although, looking back my relapses slowly improved in an incremental fashion over the years (less edging to no edging, reboots got longer, bingeing less and less, no porn masturbation to no PMO, etc.). None of this was intentional, probably more of a result of my hard headedness and failure to accept my problems... my current streak is a result of finally accepting that I cant PM anymore (indefinitely instead of X number of days).

The scheduled interval process is proposed in a book called the "The porn pandemic" by Andrew Ferebee.

 

I wish I could describe it, but I really can't. Its like a sickening feeling and a heaviness and it feels weird to breath in. Thats the best I can do, but it doesn't do it justice because its a terrible feeling.

 

Thanks for the link. I've had digestive issues too, I forgot to mention that one, but like you, its to a smaller extent. Its only recently that I've managed to get higher streaks and I've been struggling for a good 6 years to quit. And thats the thing, even though 54 days seems so hard, I know its nowhere near as far I need to get to beat this thing and heal. Most of the information I've gathered from other people suffering from chronic health issues says it takes 90 days or 120 or 6 months and in some cases even a year before they feel better. So, I know I can't get discouraged when I don't feel much change after 54 days.

I know what you mean about feeling worse. It came and went in waves during my 54 day streak, there were periods where I felt so horrible and depressed, but I felt better if I road them out.

I definitely have an addiction and I just realized I didn't make myself clear. This thread is specifically about edging, but my addiction involves full blown PMO and thats always what I use to relapse