Please explain what's is the flatline.

Hi @alimamu, the flatline period seems to be a time where (for men) the libido/arousal decreases, and it is difficult to get an erection. This usually occurs after realisation that sex / porn / PMO is a problem in your life, and you decide to make a change to get rid of it (i.e NoFAP).

In my experience after several weeks, erections start to return, and libido starts to increase. However this can be when it becomes easier to relapse or return to old habits of PMO. The flatline period seems to be pretty common for most people as part of the rewire / reboot of your brain.

Many posts on the success stories forum will guide you with how you can focus your mind during the flatline, and try to control sexual energy & libido when it returns after the flatline period.

Hope this helps

 

Everything drops to 0. You feel very weak, slow, and uninterested in sex. Megan Fox could call you and invite herself to your house for sex but you'd decline as you have no interest. And your brain just feels so empty. That's my experience anyway...

I don't think it helps to think about how long it will be as some have it for days, weeks, months, etc. just take comfort in that what's happening to you is an expected part of recovery and it will pass. For me, my flatlines seem to last about 2-6 weeks, and the severity fluctuates in that time.

Good luck!

 

How would you know your sperm count is low without relapsing?

 

I have a different take on flatline. I experienced it when I went 90 days last year. Around the 60 day mark I stopped feeling interested in sex. This was a problem for me because I'm married and sex is like glue between man and wife. It wasn't that I couldn't get it up, it was that I just wasn't interested. Another thing that happened at the same time was I started being compulsively flirty/conversational with random women (and they were responding well to that).

It didn't seem like a coincidence to me. I don't think flatline is just from starving your brain of dopamine. Maybe it's more like your sexual energy outgrowing your lifestyle. It's your body telling you you need more adventure, more ambition. In the end I decided to go back to looking at porn because I didn't understand what was happening and I didn't want to be drawn into committing adultery (which IMO is worse than PMO).

 

I don't really know the exact neurological mechanism, but it happens to me after a couple of weeks of nofap. Your brain is trying to figure out what the hell it's supposed to do without porn. The craving and urges stop but nothing is really there to fill the void. Motivation in general seems to decline.

Your brain is still pretty fragile and untrustworthy in this state and might suggest that you try to pmo just to make sure your manhood still works. It lies.