Dopamine withdrawal symptoms

Indeed.228 days nopmo...Still facing a lot of horrible withdrwals

 

I think that no PMO will get you faster results but no PM will make it easier. The reason why I think so, is that in the beginning I had sex and I felt okay. Now, when I have not had sex in a while, it is much worse. (I have nothing to back this up besides the way I felt)

 

How do you guys deal with the anxiety attacks and depression. Today i felt the depersonalization which led to the 1st attack of the day. I felt like every thing around me was brighter and louder. Is that normal? It was really scary. I'm not a person who can deal with these things easily. It is getting hard to hold on to reality.

 

You have to practice, emphasis on practice because it takes time and courage, a few things

- being okay with thoughts, sometimes there are flashes of memory associated with the anxiety, notice them pop up, and be okay with them, they're just thoughts, they're just memories, it is not the thought it's your reaction to it

- be okay with feelings and sensations, you don't need to rationalize or think about it, just be with them, be curious if you want or just let them be

- practice breath meditation, the best app for this is headspace

It may be worse at first but perseverance pays off, o and with meditation, just let it happen, it takes some effort to notice thoughts but othr than that not alot, a cool game you can play is see if you can notice the next thought that pops up, don't elaborate on it, just see it clearly and let it go and wait for the next one, if the mind is automatically following a chain of memories just let it

O and I guess it's common to react to the feeling of fear with more fear, but just be with that as well in an aware, present, nonreactive, non elaborating state

 

That is great advice man. I have never been good at controlling my thoughts and emotions. I guess that's why I got addicted to P and other stuff. Low EQ I guess.

 

Don't be too hard on yourself and if you fail there's no use in unproductively beating yourself up, just pick yourself up, mentally or physically and assess if you need advice or to change anything and try again, life will go on all the same whether or not you're resisting it, I have learned this the hard way ><

 

Anxiety/panic attacks can be pretty debilitating. They reduce self-confidence and quality of life to an absolute low.

They're indeed very hard to ignore or deal with, and the result of changes in the nervous system that is brought on by withdrawal. I also believe they have a lot to do with the years of sometimes daily ejaculation, which leads to significant loss of high quality nutrients and minerals, not in the least anxiety-fighting minerals like zinc, magnesium and selenium. This loss of stress recuding minerals is actually worsened even more if you have copper or calcium overload, which is likely since zinc and magnesium are needed to balance them out.

It's a good idea to take a high quality supplement of zinc and magnesium (citrate) every once in a while if you're feeling really nervous. You need to start low since zinc can cause some adverse inflammatory reactions in the testes if you're still high in estrogen. So you need to go easy on zinc and work your way up. Magnesium is certainly something your body is crying out for if you have anxiety. It's involved in over 300 metabolic processes in your body and is quickly lost under stress. Almost everyone is deficient because of depleted soils and poor diet. Blood serum levels mean nothing. This mineral is so important to physically manage stress that your body is going to suck it out of your bones, which can cause bone loss and rheumatoid arthritis. This one mineral is an absolute must take. It helps in building serotonin and gamma-aminobutyric acid, two of the most important neurotransmitters when it comes to feeling calm. It regulates receptors and improves neuroplasticity. Without it your muscles are so tense that the body automatically releases stress hormones. This mineral actually binds to hormones like adrenaline and cortisol and filters them before they enter the brain. You get the idea, this one is a biggie.

Psychologically you do indeed deal with anxiety by accepting or even provoking it (reversed psychology). Fighting it always makes it worse. In the early stage these attacks can be pretty overwhelming and so frequent that you'll look for ways to avoid them. If it gets too intense and putting your life on hold for a while is not an option, antidepressants and therapy can help, although I'm still not sure what to think of ssri's. Withdrawal needs time most of all, and a correction of underlying imbalances.

 

What do you mean by 'hot flashes'?

 

I'm 9 days away from completing 13 months of nopmo harmode and PAWS are still showing me who's boss. However I'd rather go through hell than succumb under withdrawals.

 

I know I'm over 4 years late in this thread. I've read over this thread a handful of times in the past because of its wisdom. DarkSeketur and many who posted in this thread are spot on. I'm 94 days in, hardmode-monkmode and, in my judgement, I'm just starting the recovery timeline. I've been in BRUTAL withdrawals since around day 14. Absolute hell. And they're not relenting. DarkSeketur PMO'd for only 9 months and suffered 18 months in PAWS. I don't believe in the 90 day reboot, it just sets up for false expectations on what the course to recovery looks like. A couple years ago, I managed to go 220 days and was still in deep PAWS, pure hell on earth. And I caved because they were so bad. I've seen too many of these testimonies and stories to make me believe otherwise. And science of addiction and recovery backs it up. Dopamine, Serotonin, GABA neurotransmitters - to name a few- and their receptors don't heal quickly. Time is the only cure. I think DarkSeketur's expectation of two years is close. I'm expecting at least one year.

 

Its an amazing thread.... Its like people here are (were) going through what I m going through, it feels so relatable as if only I could shake hands with them irl.
My anxiety has lessened thank god, depression has lifted and made some progress in regaining concentration and focus as before.... bruh its so tough.... For example, if I read a page, I start to feel focused on the page but suddenly as I reached the end, I find it hard to recall and quickly I find myself thinking something else thats happening and before I know it, I forgot what I read.... And if I say what I read out loud I feel anxiety in throat...feels like no motivation to speak.... I hope I make sense...

 

Bro... your symptoms are extremely similar to mine. It's scary how similar. I really enjoy to read but my anxiety spikes up while I do it because my recall is so bad, can't remember what I had just read. And like you, I sometime focus on the page number I'm on because my brain can't get into the flow state of reading since it's plagued by anxiety and brain fog. It's torture. I can also relate to the throat when trying to speak, I don't want to talk and when I do it's like a whisper. I have a strong desire to remain socially isolated from people. What day are you on? And are you experiencing any other symptoms?

 

I've lost count of days.. But its like 6-7 months, I have my game plans for relapses, so I only feel chemical imbalances or unusual mood swings when I engage in romantic scenes for more than some few minutes, its lessening ofc day by day, by abstaing it mostly virtual like in movies and stuffs like that.. Irl I feel alright far more minutes..

Thank god, I at last met someone with my exact symptoms.. Feels safer lol.....

To tell you the truth I have found my real reason behind why I first of all started this addiction.. And understanding it better really helps me... But yeah the symptoms are still there.... mostly during reading and recalling, also when talking my throat catches cold, idk why.... Sometimes I feel insensitive to normal pleasurable things but challenging like going to a meeting or attending an invitation full of guests... Sometimes I forget wtf I am even saying there... Lol... I know deep inside these will get reduced as days go by and I understand it better

 

I even find understanding any problem harder and I feel like overwhelmed and frustrated with all the information

 

Yeah man I struggle with all that you just mentioned. It's extremely frustrating. Often times when I read, my brain just goes into a dense fog. It's that or anxiety. And then I can't recall anything I just read. I also have the anhedonia symptom- can't feel anything. Also can relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed with information, that goes with the brain fog symptom. Man, 6-7 months is great. Have you seen any improvement in your symptoms? Has your streak been clean thus far?

 

Improvements in symptoms?? Tons of improvement, Now I can rationally think through If I get caught up in urges or just exaggerating emotions....
Its much easier (but not that much) to be at calm when attending classes.... I m doing my best to feel excited about new projects on how to improve, its volatile, sometimes I feel excited sometimes I just think excited ''head talk'' stuffs..

Clean streak? No, but past couple of months purely clean to the point of not watching any romantic scenes....
If u mean whether I have gone back on pmoe stuffs, let me tell u one thing, when U notice the improvements, u feel good about yourself and you continue wanna improve, thats what I am doing, keeping the schedule busy on improvements, I guess I have raised myself from the pit and on my way to home (analogy)..
Habit transformation helps a ton! Watch something refreshing or new on yt or something in your free or slack times... Or listen to calming music sometimes.... The goal is to properly rewire to the point u forget about what u went through

 

That's encouraging to see you're improving. And yeah, that's really the only way to do it. Rewiring from pmo to good habits that make up the fabric of your life. Do you still read even though you're struggling with it? I'm trying to rewire myself to a point where I can and have a desire to read in my free time. It's just a bit of a struggle for me right now since reading is hard with the brain fog, lack of concentration, forgetfulness.

 

I m still studying and reading but far slower than before, but I can see little improvements... The trouble is with focus and change of feelings for what is said in the sentences... Do u know any suggestions??

 

Same here- much slower for me. I think we both have the realization of how our paws symptoms are affecting our reading/studying- so the only response would be to slow it down. Read slower, do less, space out our reading/studying, take more breaks. If our expectations and goals are too high for ourselves right now with our paws, then we're going to feel discouraged. I view paws like a broken leg in a cast. If a person with a broken leg said, 'I'm going to run 5 miles a day.', we would think he's cray. You would tell him his current condition and give him a more mild protocol of exercise. Same with us.

 

Yeah, thats a nice way to put it. Nowadays I am trying my best to bring that enthusiasm or excitement to read or understand something which is out of my comfort zone and reward myself after doing it, but everytime I do it.. I get off the focus road and start to think about something else... What I feel sometimes is I have really messed up my reward circuits and their natural workings of getting pleasure from normal stimulus. If I force myself, I start to get anxious and suddenly start thinking what a mess I have created myself...
Bro, why is this so tough? Why can't we actually achieve our narmalcy by just doing things the way we used to do before we got into this and even better than that?