It all depends on how bad your addictive behavior really was. If your behavior has been as bad as mine, you would see the benefits of abstention quite clearly even when you're suffering from withdrawal symptoms. No way could I start addressing my anxiety/depression/social isolation problems without abstention. Curing PIED has been just a bonus. If you can identify with what this man is saying, you know you have a problem, if not, maybe you don't have an addiction. Only 5-10 % of population has problems with compulsive addictive behaviors, even less progress to the point of physical self-harm. For most population P is just a harmless occasional fun or stress reliever, for unfortunate 5-10% of us with addictive personality traits, it can become hell.
My terrible withdrawal symptoms tell me i have a problem even without watching that old guy telling me things i hear 1000 times...
I want to get in here too. I need some support! I am feeling terrible now. Physically and emotionally. I had such a long streak. Since relapsing I’ve feel as deep as I ever was. Makes me feel there is no hope and I’ll never get out of this.
Hey man just remember whatever you do PORN wont help you in the long run. Its insidious in every way imaginable as I'm sure you're well aware. That short lived high is followed by (if you're anything like me) months and months of shit symptoms if you binge. It just ain't worth it. Look at this as you're being reborn. This will test your mental strength beyond your wildest dreams but in the end you'll come out of this all a different man with a different perspective and a lot stronger. It takes bloody time if you're severe but I'd personally rather go through fucking hell and back to get where I need to be.
A lot better mate, I still have minor symptoms nowadays. Little twitches in body are back, eyelid twitches. Nothing too tough now. Still have a bit of anhedonia and my emotions are still not all the way there yet but I'm slowly improving! First 9 months was nothing short of absolute shit but I noticed a drop in anxiety or I should say the adrenaline fight or flight mode i was constantly in I came out of.
Sexually I still dont have a proper libido but have felt little glimpses of it at 19 months, morning woods happening more often and over the last week or so are getting harder. My own experience and other longer flatlines tell me there is no time limit on this you HAVE TO ACCEPT your in recovery and you're recovering in a non linear sense and it can take as long as it needs to be but I will say exercise and working on underlying problems if you have any and eating healthy and whatever else will help you out it little ways. Time is the only thing that really matters when you have PAWS.
Man I never realized that when you choose to go on this path of No Fapping it takes a lot out of you. I've only started doing this yesterday and saw the first set of signs of what the withdrawal is. Shooting for the early benchmark of 7 days is going to be the hardest. Learning from everyone and from Big Leb that it is a long and hard journey to do on your own but I also choose to contact a few people to help me not to relapse. I will take what Big Leb has said and done and will follow suit.
How do you know if you’re gonna have PAWS or if your symptoms might disappear within a month or 90 days rather than a year or two? I’ve been reading threads and it seems like this guy who mentions he was a compulsive edger felt the superpowers even though he was on day 114. https://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/comm..._source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body
Superpowers = brain chemistry imbalance (mainly dopamine). Euphoric one month, clinically depressed the next. Dopamine over and undershooting until brain rebalances itself around the baseline eventually (or under it, if you had underlying depression to begin with).
