ADHD medication and nofap

Roffelaar

Fapstronaut
Hi guys,

Currently on day 9 of nofap and was just wondering something. I have ADHD and I take medication for it, but because you are trying to reset your dopamine levels by not watching porn and wanking your dick the entire day, isn't it counterproductive to your dopamine receptors when you take ADHD medication which increase your dopamine levels?

And are there people here that also take medication for ADHD and have long streaks of nofap ON medication and OFF medication? Would love to hear some experiences. Thanks
 
LB has ADHD. She stopped taking her meds several years back. Not because it made her more horny and she wanted to be less horny, but just because she couldn't take the constant stimulation and crash cycle any more. She remembers ADHD meds making her really horny, so she commiserates with your current struggles.

All LB's current streaks have been OFF ADHD meds, so sorry can't help you if you were looking for advice about recovering while still ON meds.
 
I had to re-read what you just said twice to make it make any sense. I was like who the heck is LB lol, but then I read your signature.

Yes ADHD meds make me horny as well. And I wish I could just get off stimulants as well, maybe should just try a 1 week detox off meds/coffee etc. My best streaks were also without meds, this was before I was diagnosed. Just want to know if the meds fuck up your dopamine levels just like porn does etc. If so, I will detox :P
 
I have ADD. I began medication at the same time as quitting porn. I started atomoxetine (Strattera), a norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitor. I now prefer dextroamphetamine (Adderall). I’ve had streaks up to 130 days.

I believe the meds help. If I’m securing “normal” amounts of dopamine from normal activities, I’m less interested in seeking it out from PMO. At least, that’s my hypothesis. I also run a few miles most days, eat and sleep well, eschew social media and other outlets that cause distress, and try to make the best use of my time while reminding myself of the fact. I’m not doing the best, but the best I can.
Dopamine itself isn’t the problem. Dopamine is the natural reward system, it’s normal, it’s part of how humans have developed and when it works as directed by nature, everything is fine. The problem is when unnatural stimulations mess with the system. Porn is the most obvious example, but other forms of dopamine seeking such as gambling, video gaming, and social media, can present problems as well. Anything that offers a disproportionately large dopamine reward for a little activity, can be abused.

I have heard one person on the forum who went on a dopamine “fast.” He went to work, came home, and did absolutely nothing. No phone, no TV, no books, no socializing, he barely could motivate himself to eat. He said the withdrawals and triggers were more intense, but believes the process went by a lot faster. I can see that logic, but not everyone has a lifestyle that can accommodate that kind of drastic action, and it’s not a good place to be in the long term. I’m relatively certain some depression, and PAWS, is at least partially attributable to a sudden decrease in dopamine upon quitting PMO. People weren’t designed to overdose on dopamine, but we weren’t designed to not have any, ever, either. Whatever you choose to do in the short term, understand that ultimately, dopamine is not the enemy. I mean, ADD is essentially a dopamine deficiency, so we know all kinds of terrible stuff happens when you don’t get enough.
 
I had to re-read what you just said twice to make it make any sense. I was like who the heck is LB lol, but then I read your signature.

Yes ADHD meds make me horny as well. And I wish I could just get off stimulants as well, maybe should just try a 1 week detox off meds/coffee etc. My best streaks were also without meds, this was before I was diagnosed. Just want to know if the meds fuck up your dopamine levels just like porn does etc. If so, I will detox :p
LB apologize for the confusion. LB doesn't really recommend going of meds just to help with P addiction. If you need them to function, you need them and there is nothing wrong with taking them. Lots of people here take ADHD meds and are recovering from porn. There are ways to do it, it's not like taking ADHD meds daily is going to completely prevent you from recovering. If you've been thinking about taking a break from them in general however, LB will say it helped her a lot. She's a lot less horny off the meds. Your decision of course.

I think in general people with ADHD have a problem with low dopamine levels? The meds help regulate them to more normal levels I think. LB knows of no data that compares the dopamine levels of looking for porn vs those of ADHD meds, so she won't comment on exactly what is going on there, as she doesn't know. All she can offer is her personal experience: ADHD meds made her more horny but allowed her to focus on things better; and using porn gives her brain fog and an inability to focus on things.
 
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I think in general people with ADHD have a problem with low dopamine levels?
The current story is, the physical cause of ADHD is a fewer number of neural receptors than normal. That means hormones, neurochemicals, have more competition between one another. Dopamine doesn't physically fit with those neural receptors as well as cortisol (stress) or norepinephrine (adrenaline, motivation to move), so a person with fewer receptors produces as much dopamine as anyone else, but the amount that settles on those receptors and gets used is lower. That means they do get the same amount of stress and motivation, but less dopamine reward, to compensate, as a neurotypical person. This manifests as losing interest in some things faster, and fixating on the things that person does find interesting as a means to flood the system with dopamine. This accounts for most, if not all ADD symptoms. What time is it? Don't care. Are you talking? You're not getting to the point, I'm tuning you out. Is this subject of study meaningful only in a tertiary sense? **** that **** to ******* mother****ing ****. I literally cannot be bothered, it's basically a matter of psychological survival.

So, PMO floods the system with dopamine like no other, except maybe gambling. Or heroine. Thus, roughly 30% of all addicts, regardless of what the addiction is, have ADD.

 
The current story is, the physical cause of ADHD is a fewer number of neural receptors than normal. That means hormones, neurochemicals, have more competition between one another. Dopamine doesn't physically fit with those neural receptors as well as cortisol (stress) or norepinephrine (adrenaline, motivation to move), so a person with fewer receptors produces as much dopamine as anyone else, but the amount that settles on those receptors and gets used is lower. That means they do get the same amount of stress and motivation, but less dopamine reward, to compensate, as a neurotypical person. This manifests as losing interest in some things faster, and fixating on the things that person does find interesting as a means to flood the system with dopamine. This accounts for most, if not all ADD symptoms. What time is it? Don't care. Are you talking? You're not getting to the point, I'm tuning you out. Is this subject of study meaningful only in a tertiary sense? **** that **** to ******* mother****ing ****. I literally cannot be bothered, it's basically a matter of psychological survival.

So, PMO floods the system with dopamine like no other, except maybe gambling. Or heroine. Thus, roughly 30% of all addicts, regardless of what the addiction is, have ADD.

Oh thanks! That makes a lot of sense. LB was diagnosed way back in the 90s and she doesn't think they knew this back then. She hasn't kept up with the science since being diagnosed.

LB finds this very interesting because not only does she have a problem with focusing, she also doesn't really get stressed at all. If she has less receptors to receive cortisol hormones that makes sense. And here she thought she was just a chill person.
 
I also used to be a chill person. Then I became a not chill person. Internal angst and external circumstances, it’s a whole thing I’m trying to resolve.
I too have ADHD, any advise for my nofap journey?............
No different from what I’d tell anyone else. First understand that quitting PMO could be difficult and miserable with little immediate reward. You could get blue balls, as you overproduce semen and quit expending it all the time. You could get PAWS, which is basically turning into a hyper sensitive depressed rage nugget. Doesn’t mean quitting isn’t worth it, or that you should give up.
Second, make a plan to at least partially replace the dopamine you’ll be missing. Do good things. Pat yourself on the back. Exercise is best.
Third, have a plan for what to think about instead of PMO. When you crave it, you won’t have the space in your brain to come up with anything. If you already have a plan for what to think about, you’ll triple your chances of success.
Fourth, eat right, get enough sleep, get up right away and use pajamas. Not even kidding. Mornings aren’t as hard, if you know what I mean.
Fifth, find out what PMO was doing for you psychologically. It’s filling a need. Unless you meet that need in a more legitimate way, on some level you’ll always crave PMO.

Oh, yeah, start a journal and get used to failure. You’ll probably have a few false starts, until you can figure out your trigger patterns.
 
The current story is, the physical cause of ADHD is a fewer number of neural receptors than normal. That means hormones, neurochemicals, have more competition between one another. Dopamine doesn't physically fit with those neural receptors as well as cortisol (stress) or norepinephrine (adrenaline, motivation to move), so a person with fewer receptors produces as much dopamine as anyone else, but the amount that settles on those receptors and gets used is lower. That means they do get the same amount of stress and motivation, but less dopamine reward, to compensate, as a neurotypical person. This manifests as losing interest in some things faster, and fixating on the things that person does find interesting as a means to flood the system with dopamine. This accounts for most, if not all ADD symptoms. What time is it? Don't care. Are you talking? You're not getting to the point, I'm tuning you out. Is this subject of study meaningful only in a tertiary sense? **** that **** to ******* mother****ing ****. I literally cannot be bothered, it's basically a matter of psychological survival.

So, PMO floods the system with dopamine like no other, except maybe gambling. Or heroine. Thus, roughly 30% of all addicts, regardless of what the addiction is, have ADD.


Damn, thank you for your research into this, I did not know this. Makes a lot of sense, I decided to keep taking medication for when I need it to study etc. and function. Right now I am on day 12 and I couldn't focus because of the urges, but now I took my medication and I am more focused on what I need to do today.

I also used to be a chill person. Then I became a not chill person. Internal angst and external circumstances, it’s a whole thing I’m trying to resolve.

No different from what I’d tell anyone else. First understand that quitting PMO could be difficult and miserable with little immediate reward. You could get blue balls, as you overproduce semen and quit expending it all the time. You could get PAWS, which is basically turning into a hyper sensitive depressed rage nugget. Doesn’t mean quitting isn’t worth it, or that you should give up.
Second, make a plan to at least partially replace the dopamine you’ll be missing. Do good things. Pat yourself on the back. Exercise is best.
Third, have a plan for what to think about instead of PMO. When you crave it, you won’t have the space in your brain to come up with anything. If you already have a plan for what to think about, you’ll triple your chances of success.
Fourth, eat right, get enough sleep, get up right away and use pajamas. Not even kidding. Mornings aren’t as hard, if you know what I mean.
Fifth, find out what PMO was doing for you psychologically. It’s filling a need. Unless you meet that need in a more legitimate way, on some level you’ll always crave PMO.

Oh, yeah, start a journal and get used to failure. You’ll probably have a few false starts, until you can figure out your trigger patterns.

I relate to the hyper sensitive depressed rage nugget part. I get over sensitive and emotional on longer streaks and I seem to become very desperate at times. I remember with several streaks over 40 days how sensitive I got. One time I had this pretty girl and I craved her attention so much and she would be up my mind all day to the point that I became depressed and desperate and one other time was that I started falling in love with a girl from work who was not even close to being attractive, had a kid, was kind of a bitch etc. and other red flags, but I just stopped thinking rational because of the feelings I had after long streaks. But once I got closer to 70-90 days I became normal again and would feel very ashamed for even attempting moves on that chick. It's crazy.

Now I luckily have a girlfriend, so times are different but still want to do Nofap for the huge confidence and happiness boost that it brings as well. I feel pretty good in my mood today and I remember how this was almost everyday when I was on 70+ day streaks. Gotta stay strong
 
I have ADHD and take Adderall for it. I’ve had streaks as long as 98 days. I would say that medication helps me because stress is a big trigger for me. If I’m off medication, I get buried by life and responsibilities and all I want to do is escape.
I don’t think ADHD medication makes it harder to reboot. It helps us be less impulsive, which allows us to stop and think before we act. Not always, but it definitely helps.
 
I have ADHD and take Adderall for it. I’ve had streaks as long as 98 days. I would say that medication helps me because stress is a big trigger for me. If I’m off medication, I get buried by life and responsibilities and all I want to do is escape.
I don’t think ADHD medication makes it harder to reboot. It helps us be less impulsive, which allows us to stop and think before we act. Not always, but it definitely helps.
does that medication help you focus on work
 
Hi guys,

Currently on day 9 of nofap and was just wondering something. I have ADHD and I take medication for it, but because you are trying to reset your dopamine levels by not watching porn and wanking your dick the entire day, isn't it counterproductive to your dopamine receptors when you take ADHD medication which increase your dopamine levels?

And are there people here that also take medication for ADHD and have long streaks of nofap ON medication and OFF medication? Would love to hear some experiences. Thanks
I think different meds certainly can affect success. I’ve been on Ritalin, Focalin, Straterra and currently take Wellbutrin (it works similarly to Straterra but is 1/10th the cost).

I’ve had the most success on the last two. Everyone’s mileage varies b/c brain chemistry is so unique for each person.

and to answer your question: no it is not counterproductive. The reason we take the meds in the first place is to try to achieve a more balanced process with these neurotransmitters. Being a porn addict is just putting shit more out of whack.
 
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