Hey everyone! Hope you’re all safe and doing alright. I’m making this thread to know wether the following effects are related to porn addiction and excessive masturbation. - Increased hair fall - Receding hairline - Decreased hair density - Depression - Social Anxiety - Lethargy - Restricted bowel movement - Tiredness - Irresistible urge to seek porn - Nervousness, like very slight tremors. I would also like to know if all these signs/symptoms would reduce or disappear upon stoppage? Thanks
I believe that the pmo only empowers what you had hidden inside yourself, and sinks you into a very deep well.
Depression, social anxiety and nervousness seem common to just about every list I've seen on this site
1. The mental and sexual symptoms of porn abuse are becoming more evident everyday. Depression, anxiety, low motivation, drowsiness, and compulsive porn use are extremely common. Check out all these articles for the growing evidence of porn related mental/sexual health issues Are my sexual problems (ED, DE, low libido) related to my porn use? Research confirms enormous rise in youthful ED Studies linking porn use or porn addiction to sexual dysfunctions, lower arousal, and lower sexual & relationship satisfaction Neuroscience-based studies on porn users and sex addicts What are the symptoms of excessive Internet porn use? Studies linking porn use to poorer mental-emotional health & poorer cognitive outcomes Articles These effects are most commonly dealt with by doing a reboot (see rebooting basics page) and then rewiring, which takes 6-10 months on average when done correctly. However, the effects of rebooting can appear in as little as a week and then increase over time. 2. Social anxiety, nervousness around MOPS, and inability to initiate/maintain romantic sexual relationships is also extremely common. There isn't any hard scientific data on this link, but I think it's pretty obvious to see that if you spend all your time watching porn, you aren't going to get comfortable with women. If you spend 8 hours a day playing Madden, you aren't going to get drafted into the NFL; like with Madden and the NFL, porn and sexual activities are just completely different. Your mind subconsciously takes in cues and behaviors around you to help you excel in social/sexual situations; if you're getting all your cues from porn plots, you aren't exactly going to be a social butterfly or ladies man. Getting your social mojo back is much less data driven and varies among all guys, but many guys who do NoFap after years of social/romantic isolation find themselves almost immediately flooded by the social and romantic interests of those around them. This change is often so sudden and baffling many in the community believe NoFap gives them sexual "superpowers", causing women to suddenly feel attracted to them and men sensing the Fapstronaut's superiority; this is why the semen retention and more "spiritual" NoFap communities exist. You don't actually gain superpowers from NoFap, but quitting porn turns the social/sexual parts of your brain back on, causing you to subconsciously become more outgoing AND receptive of the advances of others. 3. The physical effects of PMO (hair loss, weight gain, muscle atrophy, advanced aging, penile shrinkage, etc.) are believed to not directly correlate with porn use, and are likely a result of adjoining activities. Change in penis size is easily attributed to your brain sending less blood to your dick because you've desensitized your neural pathways so much. Your dick isn't getting smaller, it's just less "filled up" with blood. This will go back to normal as you rewire after a reboot. The other symptoms don't happen directly because of porn use, but because using porn for hours prevents you from eating healthy, getting exercise, and keeping your body generally healthy. It's more of a lifestyle thing than anything, and most porn users have a sedentary, unhealthy lifestyle. Terry Crews was addicted to porn and still struggles, and I don't think the physical effects are getting to him! I will say this though: The ultimate goal of any biological organism is to distribute its genetic material as much as possible. This means having frequent sexual activities, especially with NOVEL partners, is basically the most rewarding stimuli in existence that is not a drug. By watching novel internet porn for years, you have convinced your animal brain that you have been astronomically better at distributing your seed than any of your ancestors, and with minimal effort/health. Your animal brain, convinced it doesn't need to try at life to be extremely successful, has not pushed the rest of your body to its optimal or healthiest state. While there will probably never be a physical connection made between porn use and hair loss/atrophy/obesity/etc., I would venture to say you've basically convinced your body not to try at anything, and now you're starting to see the results. The great thing though is that all the changes to your mind and body are 100% temporary. Learn what's happened with you, make a plan, and execute it. Thousands of guys have already, I'm sure you can too Evolution has not prepared your brain for today’s porn Porn FAQs
During my worst time I did PMO for multiple hours each daily. The results? - worst social anxiety of my life - refused to socialise with friends - gave up on tasks half way or even before starting them - hair thinning/loss (but this could have been caused by the stress, hard to say) - would get a cold every few months - loss of weight - loss of energy - felt feel empathy - felt less happiness - felt less sad at times (general avoidance of emotions through porn use) I looked back at pictures of myself just before this time, during it, and in recent years. My physique had actually changed, it really looked like I had lacked nutrients in that time. I still use porn occasionally, even though I still want to quit for good. However, with much less use, almost all of those issues listed have reversed for me. The obvious part is, having just slipped up on a 2 month streak, I am currently very aware of how things like anxiety, energy, motivation, are all linked negatively to porn use. Which brings me to my final thought. Stopping porn is one thing. But adding in whatever we feel our lives are lacking is probably the only thing that will keep it out for good!
Being addicted to PMO for years and intense edging sessions can have a myriad of disastrous effects on your physical health. Quite a few people on this forum will deny that it can result in physical health problems, but they probably just didn't hit rock bottom like people like me did. I go into great detail about how excessive PMO and edging took a toll on my health in this post: https://forum.nofap.com/index.php?t...s-and-downs-normal.315051/page-2#post-3098178
Hello there! I read the post that you have sent and I could relate 90% to it to say the least. I also have had many sessions in a day where I would edge for hours and may or may not finish it off in the end. And I kinda became addicted to that factor, along with longer porn searches (more like sensitised). What I had observed was slightly different and it was related to the prostate (adrenal gland not excluded yet). Edging frequently has many clear fluid secretion (assuming prostatic fluid alone even before close to ejaculation) and also felt it congesting my bowel movement (slight constipation). So the prostate also does play a factor, but I think the adrenal part mentioned is the more systemic and widespread and hence plays a much more important role for major symptoms. Also the round face you mentioned is exactly what I seem to have right now with receded hairline. Right now, I’m trying to get out of the 3 day cycle relapse (every third day has an immense urge for pmo). Thanks btw, knowing that there is still hope to change the outcome!
I have all of those symptoms unfortunately I also have where if i get out of bed i get lightheaded and dizzy. Sometimes i get a jolt down the top of my spine. Bad headaches/migraines and neck/nerve pain from years of bad posture.
Your post intrigued me as I too am going through those same mysterious symptoms. You mentioned that you suffered with sweating. Was this generalised sweating (as in head, face, body etc) or localised sweating only? I've been dealing with this excessive sweating issue for 2 years now and I'm wondering if PMO is the culprit here. I would sweat for no reason too. Also I could be doing very light work and sweat like I had a shower. Doctors have ruled out Hyperthyroidism and diabetes etc.
The sweating seemed to be mostly localized around my torso region. This is a somewhat common side effect of PMO addiction; I have seen quite a few other users around here mention it.
So is this why some people "flatline" before starting NoFap? I pretty much desensitized myself before starting an actual streak?
This is a common misunderstanding of the definition of the Flatline. The Flatline is a sudden lack of erections, depression-like symptoms, loss of libido, and low motivation; it is one of many withdrawal symptoms when rebooting from porn addiction. We only consider you in the Flatline if you are currently rebooting. You are not experiencing the Flatline because you have not started your reboot yet. You are experiencing a host of issues that are caused by porn abuse. There is no name for it yet, but a good one could be Porn Abuse Syndrome (PAS). The Flatline gets a lot of attention because its symptoms mimic the symptoms of PAS, even though they have very different root causes. PAS is caused by desensitization and habituation in your brain's sexual rewards centers. You have conditioned your mind to find endless novelty, very attractive/hypersexual females, and associated actions (clicking, being alone, your bedroom, etc) to be much more rewarding than real life sexual encounters. Your brain has basically numbed your response to natural sources of pleasure. The Flatline is caused by your brain freaking out that it's not getting it's porn fix, and shutting down the reward center so that nothing is enjoyable. It's your brain trying to trick you into going back to porn because it believes porn to be an incredibly rewarding natural activity. It's the same as going into withdrawal from drugs. So people who "Flatline" before NoFap are not really Flatlining, they're just addicted to porn. People who are addicted to drugs and feel like shit all the time wouldn't say they're in withdrawal (the drug equivalent of the Flatline), they're in the throes of addiction. The desensitization happens before you start your streak, not during or after. Rebooting and having normal sexual relations "resensitizes" your brain to natural stimuli/
This makes a lot of sense. I do see reports of PAS, but not many. That's why I am concerned that it's possibly Venous Leak, but I have brain fog and brain symptoms so I'm thinking that the dopamine in my brain has been fucked up.
PAS is just a word I made up right there to describe the difference between what I call PAS and the Flatline; my definition is not connected to any other out there, I made it up on the spot. There is lots of research and data on this though. It is likely not venous leak. Evolution has not prepared your brain for today’s porn Porn FAQs Are my sexual problems (ED, DE, low libido) related to my porn use? Research confirms enormous rise in youthful ED Neuroscience-based studies on porn users and sex addicts see rebooting basics page What do experts tell young guys suffering from ED (the good & the bad) Studies linking porn use or porn addiction to sexual dysfunctions, lower arousal, and lower sexual & relationship satisfaction What benefits do people see as they reboot? What does withdrawal from porn addiction look like?
brother i really want to make you aware that these are not 'mysterious symptoms', as in they are not happening to you for no reason. These symptoms have been experienced by myself and countless other guys with pmo addictions. PMO is literally the cause of almost all of these symptoms, provided you are relatively healthy in other aspects of your life
I appreciate your response to my query and although I'm fully aware that I share these symptoms with many others on here struggling like I am however I have not yet found an answer to my overall excessive sweating which I am experiencing every day. Regardless whether I'm moving or lying down I'd find myself sweating. I'm waiting to see if the sweating is caused by a medication I've been taking for 4 years (I stopped it cold Turkey around 3 weeks ago) so I must wait for around the 6-8 weeks for the medicine to empty in my stomach. Otherwise I'm wondering if PMO is playing a part in this problem of mine? (I'm 32, addicted to PMO since my early teens) but never suffered any sweating problems until 2 years ago
May or may not be related, but the longer you use the more problems that arise. My husband didn’t get pied until he was 45. He thought the issue was because of his long distance road biking. He ironically had just started road biking and had never suffered pied before. The real cause, was his porn use had escalated.
