COCAINE! specifically linked to porn addiction. Found ZERO similar experiences online.

Hi everyone I'm pretty new here and I made a very similar post recently but it didn't get much response possibly due to how I titled it (made sure to start with the word cocaine in caps this time lol), writing now because I just had a massive relapse.

I have no problems with porn addiction whatsoever other than specifically when I use cocaine. I start to find it almost impossible to not think about porn once I've done a couple of lines, with rare exceptions. (Which I think are always due to being in a highly sociable setting like a night club or when combined with MDMA). The constant thinking of porn goes away quickly if I cum either through sex or masturbation 2-3 times (without porn), otherwise it lasts several hours if I manage to power through. If I end up giving in to the cravings I almost always end up binging at this point for sometimes as much as around 12 hours.

I would rather not quit cocaine, firstly I feel no addiction to it at all and recently didn't have any for about 3 months no problem when I moved temporarily for the lockdown, this was also possibly the longest period I ever went without using porn (or other online sexual activity) since I was about 13. Also I think it has an overall positive effect on my life (don't want to go on a tangent about this, just my personal opinion of how it effects myself and I'm not advocating for others to use it). I am open to stopping coke if it seems impossible to stop porn use while using coke but I really don't want that to be the case as then it would feel like porn won.

I have not come across EVEN ONE SINGLE POST anywhere on the internet of someone experiencing something similar where the porn addiction is linked specifically to this drug, another drug, or something else similar.

I'm feeling like my although my personal porn use isn't affecting my life as much as many other people on here, and I always have the nuclear option of just not doing coke anymore. My challenge feels at the moment like it's going to be a bit more difficult, because there is no information on this AT ALL as far as I can see, I don't have the opportunity to fight my porn addiction all of the time, just at specific times and lastly I think it's likely the apparent link here of coke+porn might make things harder neurologically.

Does ANYONE AT ALL have a similar experience to this. Also does anyone have any insight into the psychology/neurology going on here or any other useful comments?

 

Hey thanks for responding, with regards to question on coke short answer is no (one of a few reasons is that I do an acetone wash which makes it around 90% pure which is way less unhealthy). But yeah I mentioned not going on a tangent about the coke as I could see lots of people would lol, I've already come to a conclusion about it but the issue with the porn interlinking is hindering my progress in life a fair bit and also I can't find any info on it. So that's why I'd like to stick to discussing that if that's ok.

I was thinking about what you said "can't quit porn without quitting cocaine", first of all would you be able to go into a bit detail about what you meant by that? It seems to me that you might mean that cocaine could prevent the neuroplasticity effect from healing the rewiring done from porn? (Will research this now). Secondly when I went for 3 months with no coke due to being at my parents house for the height of the lockdown I was expecting using coke again to trigger it less, but it seemed there was no difference whatsoever. Maybe you're suggesting a longer time than 3 months before any effect at all would be noticed?

Also at least in theory it's possible to continue doing coke and quit porn. If everyone in the world would die if I ever watched porn again I definitely wouldn't do it, so it is at least in theory possible to overcome with willpower. If it effects the healing in the brain though that might make me want to reconsider, but then again there has to be tons of fully recovered porn addicts who used coke throughout their recovery, but then again also I haven't come across anyone with a link like I have although they may exist. (This paragraph included a large quantity of "but then again" or similar lol)

Let me know what you think of these things pls and again thanks for responding.

 

My problem isn't anywhere near as detrimental as lots of others here but it's giving me clear downsides with none or almost no upsides whatsoever, so due to this very clear cost benefit analysis I want it out of my life. Maybe I shouldn't use the term "addiction". I'm not experiencing any of the symptoms you mentioned it's just a waste of time and energy in various ways for me (and probably almost every other human on the planet)

Based on my own personal experience I don't relate to the effects you listed about the neurology, I don't have any of the 3 negatives you listed at the end and I believe that I have never struggled with any other kinds of addictions or whatever term we might use. But basically are you saying that in theory (or has this been proven?) that quitting both will mean faster recovery in terms of the repair/reset of reward system?

Also seems like you're suggesting the only link between porn and coke is that they have similar (or the same?) effect on the reward system? Not some kind of synergy or something like that?

 

The problem with porn is enough of a problem for it to be the main thing I want to change at the moment, I estimated it takes away about 10% of my effectiveness at life.

Does the reward system have to reset to baseline to overcome all of the addictive elements of porn? I definitely feel cravings for porn, I have never experienced cravings for coke (except between lines, so only when already doing it), although yes the porn cravings come ONLY when doing coke. Like I said in my original post I would rather not quit coke if possible as I believe it has an overall benefit to me personally (although not when it's connected to porn), I have only just recently decided I want to completely stop using porn forever, so not sure exactly how difficult the journey/my current plan is going to be. Your comment about resetting the reward system to baseline seems like you're saying you think it would be pretty much impossible to do without stopping both, is that a correct interpretation of your comment?

So cocaine both adds dopamine and inhibits reuptake and porn only adds dopamine?

How comparable are they roughly in overall effect? To me seems like porn is way more addictive, while coke gives a stronger high, although this could be different for other people.

 

This overall is a very convincing argument, especially the knowledge you've just presented to me about cocaine inhibiting reuptake while porn releases dopamine. With this clear explanation and my own experience I'm even more surprised that I can't find anyone else talking about this.

I didn't completely understand this - "which in turn increases cravings for a specific behaviour like gambling, sex, porn or other drugs" - is this a different specific behaviour for different people? Cant people have more than one of these they get drawn to or none?

I don't believe that I personally have had any of the daily life being "dull" kind of effect, my outlook and personality is pretty much completely the opposite to that. Maybe because I don't use it that much in terms of total time or frequency and/or perhaps it would be improved further by stopping.

This has persuaded me to have at least a very long break from coke to solve any porn issues much earlier if it starts to become difficult, thanks a lot for all the info. Would it be possible to estimate roughlly how long a complete recovery would take?