P.A.W.S. - what are they, cure, duration

Yeah i know how you feel, its been over 6 years now for me. You can lose hope after a relapse, however all is not lost. You can always pick up recovery afterwards.

Well i really hope that the mushrooms can help. Anything to get you through recovery is helpful

 

Yes it occured before, sometimes as a ball, sometimes unexplainable but it will disappear with resting and recovery.

 

What is nocturnal emissions I’m new here anyone care to explain?

 

I'd like to share a point here based on what I realize:

It is clear that Edging and sexual fantasizing are big factors to ruin the recovery, but here are other factors that also play a role while you are on PAWS and may delay your recovery more or even keep you away from it:

Do you have another sort of addiction?
Do you smoke?
Do you drink alcohol?
How many hours do you spend on TV/Using computer/ video games?
Do you take breaks while using these digital devices?
How many hours do you sleep?
At what time do you usually sleep?
What is your food lifestyle like?
Do you use social media or use online chatting apps? For how many hours do you use them?
Do you consume sweets/caffeine products? How much is average?
Do you get frequent nocturnal emissions / wet dreams?
Do you exercise? If so, do you stress yourself while exercising?
Do you hear music frequently that makes you rapt?
Are you emotionally/mentally stressed?

As we indulge in PMO, the dopamine spikes up and this creates both desensitizations which makes the dopamine spike the new norm. When we abstain (about a couple of hours after a relapse), the dopamine seeks something to feed it to reach this norm, if it doesn't happen, withdrawals occur.

PMO also plays with our stress hormone by elevating it as we indulge (a higher dopamine response creates more stress). This creates inflammation throughout the body. When stress keeps getting higher, the cortisol (stress management hormone) gets high to reduce inflammation. But frequent indulging makes the cortisol increase as chronic, reducing its effect over time, creating an increase in inflammation, Anxiety, and a reduction in immunity.

The more we indulge, the worse the result, this explains the infinite possible illnesses and autoimmune diseases caused directly or indirectly throughout the body by Porn/Masturbation/Orgasm.


I think the function of masturbation chemically is far from how natural sex chemically works. Yes, both trigger dopamine, but to what level? And what about the other hormones such as oxytocin, serotonin, endorphin, and others that work together to create a balance of stress rise, emotional expression and relief, and happiness?

This is why you should stop PMO because it is fundamentally different. And the above factors promote the increase in stress and abnormal dopamine spikes (they are super-stimulus).

So you need to put an effort to eliminate and moderate them. The better we make the better results we get.

Have a good day everyone

 

Thank you for this post, Mr. Chips. I appreciate posts like this. I'm trying to figure out the level of impact that the activities you listed has on recovery. It's not a topic that's discussed enough, and I've always pondered just how these "other activities" impact us. Case in point, this weekend for me. Not to sound too redundant (posted this situation on an earlier post) but I watched college basketball on tv this past weekend for the first time in a long time- I don't watch tv. Well, it was very pleasurable, and I experienced many dopamine releases. This happened twice- Friday and Sunday. Two things happened: I came out of paws (I felt great) and I experienced an increase in pmo urges. Interesting to note, that I hadn't struggled with pmo urges since about the two week mark. I do experience sexual urges but not pmo urges. I think what happened was the exact thing you mentioned in the third paragraph- I established a dopamine baseline (from tv) and invariably caused pmo urges to fill that void from the releases I got from those activities. What do you think about this situation? Also, I was committed to "monk-mode" before this weekend and let myself slip from that. I've hopped back on the monk-mode path- though it's been difficult with the increase in pmo urges. I was just discouraged a bit to think that the recovery process was hindered, or even backslidden..

 

This could be a thing, especially to the materials we choose to watch. dopamin makes us feel pleasure, but if it is super-stimuli it feels more good that makes it easier to become addicted to it, so by time it becomes in more demand.

But what I meant in the post particularly is the stress response related to those factors.

For example, prolonged exposure to digital displays (computer / phone ) increases stress response (high conrtisol occures). In addition to physical stress caused by not moving.

Long sitting is not a good thing for the body in general. It could be unnoticed for healthy people, but when you are in PAWS you can feel the difference of spending hours sitting while staring at a show or focusing at a video game.

Social media is known for its novelty (we keep scrolling between posts and reels). Dating apps are similar.

Put your earphones and listen to your music favorites list, this is tens of minutes to hours of feeling of joy, dopamine is as high as other super stimulus factors.


So simply put, we need to let our dopamine to go back to normal especially with the pathways linked to Masturbation, Porn (any arousal caused by pixels even a chat).

At the same time, give time ans space for one's body to heal by resting well, eliminating factors that increase the stress (the factors that induce abnormal dopamine response increase the stress as well). And shifting to the natural life, building healthy habits, by social connection and social activities, hobbies, pursuing goals in real life away from the virtual world.

 

Thanks man, and yeah man i greatly believe in semen retention and will always strive to stay the path, unless i fall in love with a girl.
Just dissapointed that a relapse could just happen but it is what it is, back on track now.

 

Lately I'm mostly outside in the city, because the sun is shining again.

I walk every day for about 1 hour. I watch people eating, drinking, walking, talking, chatting, laughing, etc.

I look almost every person in the face. Sometimes I am at the train station at a special place where a lot of people pass through. I look almost every person in the face. I spend my time there. This also helps me against anhedonia. I see new faces, new clothes and in general I don't know what faces I will see. I have no problem with that. No anxiety. Everything is ok. I just don't feel any emotions about it. It helps with anhedonia maybe because of curiosity/novelty, but still no emotions.

I have tried exposure therapy:

Case 1: I was on a bus full of people. It was very quiet in the bus. Nobody was talking. I called a friend and tried to start a conversation. When I started talking, I suddenly started sweating. It was like I had something in my throat and I couldn't speak clearly. I lost my focus. I couldn't concentrate anymore. I couldn't hear what my friend was saying to me on the phone anymore. I tried to end the conversation on the phone as quickly as possible.

If I had had this phone conversation in a place where no one could hear me, I could have said what I wanted. This would never have happened to me. I feel "free and relaxed" when I can talk to a friend and no one else can hear me.

Case 2: I was in a park, sitting on a bench. There are many people walking around there. I called a "friend" on the phone and had a conversation with him. Everything was OK as long as no one heard me. Then an older man sat down next to me on the bench. Thus, he could hear everything I was saying to my friend on the phone. Suddenly I can't speak freely anymore. I feel tight. Like something is in my throat. I don't really have focus anymore and I can't concentrate.

When I left that bench and no one could hear me anymore, I felt very free again and I could speak as I wanted again. I could say what I wanted. I was not inhibited.

Case 3: I was on a bus full of people and someone called me and I picked up. I had exactly the same problem as before.

Case 4: I was on a train and there was a beautiful woman in front of me. She sat on the right side and I on the left side. We were only half a meter away from each other. I had no problem looking left and straight ahead to observe what was happening on the train or outside, but I tried to look to the right side where this woman was, but I felt so uncomfortable. I was thinking all the time what the woman thinks of me and that it doesn't seem like I'm looking at her because I turn my head in her direction.

General: Every time the attention is on me, I have social anxiety. I then notice the symptoms. I can sometimes speak only partially or not at all because of it. I realize that there is no reason at all to have social anxiety. I realize that every person takes care of themselves and nobody cares who you are. Nobody is watching you on the train, bus or anywhere else. Nobody is thinking about you. But do I have these triggers and it makes no sense at all.

Some might even say that social anxiety feels like paranoia.

 

You addressed everything here about your social anxiety/paranoia except for the point that (I think) counts the most. Why. Why do you struggle with social anxiety in the first place? What happened that made you feel that you need to 'hide' your true self in public.

Just an observation.

 

Very good observation.

The cause of my social anxiety is 100% without a doubt my PMO addiction.

I am not sure if my social anxiety became more extreme because of the fetishes or if it just became more extreme because I did PMO for many years.

I just don't understand that I know from logical thinking that no one is judging me and yet I have these reactions / symptoms that come up. I know that it is not normal to have social anxiety. Most people don't have this. It is not natural. It doesn't make any sense.

Also with the example of the woman on the train. I just get these anxious thoughts even though I know from logical thinking that she knows nothing about my PMO past.

Does this have something to do with the subconscious ?

I am 26. I have done PMO from age 13-22. Before the age of 13 I had no social anxiety at all. I got social anxiety when I started PMO at 13. At the end of March I will have 39 months (without relapse) behind me.

I am "amazed" that after 39 months I still have social anxiety. It seems to be so deep inside me.

Maybe it's normal after 10 years of addiction with fetishes and unnatural categories (nothing illegal).

 

Have you had full comprehensive blood work done including vitamin defencies, autimunne and gene mutation testing?

 

I started to have hair above my navel. They were never there before abstinence. What is the reason for this guys?

 

I am frustrated.. I get similar fatigue and panic when i do a general chat with a girl online. Not all of them but there is no measure when and why it happens. It is making me crazy.. Anyone had a similar thing? Did this disappear by time? It is causing me a phobia.. I can't find any similar case on the internet except this comment

 

Time and patience are the two keys in recovery. No supplement or special treatment will get us to a fully recovered brain. Long-term abstinence with no relapse is what's needed. I don't know about you but one single relapse gets me back to square 1. That's the toughest part- there's really no room for a fall if we want full recovery. Everyone is different- but I would guess this is how the majority of the cases go. My advice would be to not try to overcompensate the paws symptoms, just let them happen and push through. I did that last week by watching some sports on tv and felt like it opened me up to increased urges and it took me out of paws. I heard about a guy on here, DarkSeketur, that went through paws for like 12 months, then suddenly he was out one day. Hang in there. The only way out is through the fire. I hear you on the brain fog, I can hardly read. My short term memory is terrible too. What other activities are you doing to fill your time?

 

Nice list. So you avoid electronic usage like tv and videogames?

 

Yeah there's not much we can do at this point. We just gotta be really easy on ourselves- don't expect too much out of ourselves. You wouldn't expect a heroin addict in recovery to be a fully functioning individual. You're doing the right thing. Time time time. My hope is one year and be out. Maybe 12 months from now. Seems like my brain is extremely sensitive, so I'm going monk mode. Hopefully that reduces the recovery time.