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

Discussion in 'Rebooting - Porn Addiction Recovery' started by Fenix Rising, May 12, 2019.

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  1. I went to work in 2016 while still felt like shit after 30 days of abstinence. By that time I have experienced withdrawals before I got better by days 70. Out of nowhere I have broke the streak from a mega urge. Then some of the symptoms returned till day 10. Again last 2018, I was doing good completing 60 days back to back. Then I reached 30 days and failed. I could still get withdrawals after each failure. After 2 weeks, my brain have collapsed. I lost all cognitive function, I had to quit a part time job, I couldn't even take a walk without even feeling falling. Legs were used to be so restless and sore.
    I have returned to porn twice without mo after 480 days harmode. I have experienced withdrawals but not that much.
     
  2. Yea I was unable to work after the severe physical and mental symptoms kicked in. I just turned disabled after 20 days of abstinence of PMO and had to quit my job. It had norhing to do with this psychosomatic caused symptoms. I was mentally stable and pretty healthy before that and there was norhing wrong with my psyche. All those mental and physical symptoms were caused by a sudden change in neurotransmission caused by the activation of the anti reward pathway. This pathway activates after abstinence from the drug or porn. Releasing tons of stresshormones/peptides) I do agree that the suffering of PAWS can cause psychosomatic symptoms on top of it all.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2019
  3. I've considered many things but with the PAWS why am I not getting severe symptoms after relapsing again? Even acute symptoms? It is strange and I honestly cant put it 100% down on anything at the moment but my best guess is that it is down to chronic stress. I feel more on edge if I have two coffees now for example.

    But maybe as you say my brain could of healed significantly and all I have over is residue anxiety that I need to work on.
     
  4. I totally experienced the same thing after relapsing afer long abstinence and extreme PAWS. The severe symptoms did not came back.

    Check out this post I made right after that relapse:
    I still think porn is the main culprit and that we underwent massive amount of healing during those long days of abstinence.
     

  5. I honestly think you should consider what I said dude, I strongly suspect you beat this a long time ago. Mission accomplished. Now is time to become human again and leave this shit behind you. If you ever want to pm me I can suggest what your next steps should be. We've spoken several times before.
     
  6. Chronic stress also decreases dopamine d2 receptor expression. Combine this with PMO binges, inactivity due to having no job, high amounts of caffeine and you have a recipe for mental and coginitive dysfunction.
     
  7. AspiringVitality

    AspiringVitality Fapstronaut

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    Well, a former sugar addict doesnt have to lose all 130 pounds all over again after relapsing for a couple weeks.. So his "withdrawal" will be easier if he quits again and loses only 20 pounds or so

    And I also still think that crawlingordie's stories isn't complete BS. His withdrawal was hell.

    But I don't know ur overall lifestyle from now and back then
    But you didn't do edging sessions of 2,3,5,7 hours

    I can confirm from experience though, that some binges don't give me as much symptoms, if at all, as others. Also sometimes during withdrawal I have no urges and nice clean emotional detox. Sometimes no emotions, brainfog and hypnagogic seizure like shit. Sometimes nothing happens at all.

    But long term definitely we heal. But things can get really rocky sometimes and other times not. Look at people quitting benzo's, same story. Not only the difference per case but also the window & wave thing
     
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  8. I shall just continue doing what I’m doing to pick myself up again. A caffeine detox on all of this was a game changer. Try to look at your life and nitpick all the unhealthy habits. I have relapsed over a dozen times since October even had a bad binge one day three or four times. Cognitively I still feel the same before all the relapses. For me it’s been an eye opener. Like I mentioned I’ve spoke to a few people and @Ezpz who came to the same conclusion. It seems it just contributed so much to chronic stress/anxiety something that I’m working on now slowly but surely.

    Like this study Don mentioned was very relevant and interesting.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3302010/

    I don’t know what to think or believe sometimes. I’ve been on these forums nearly 8 years as an experiment. But these last two years have been incredible.

    But here’s to another two years anyway.
     
  9. Yep sounds like me.
     
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  10. Relapses from coffee or pmo?
     
  11. A dozen PMO relapses or so and caffeine however I experimented with caffeine to see if it was causing issues on top of it and it was.

    I feel more out of tune nowadays if I drink excessive caffeine than a PMO relapse.
     
  12. Fenix Rising

    Fenix Rising Fapstronaut

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    Hi Big Lebowski, I'm sorry to hear you are having troubles. I guess we have to stay humble no matter the number of days we have under our belts.
    Regarding stress/anxiety problems, have you ever tried implementing Wim Hof breathing and cold showers/icy baths in your daily life Aug 20, 2019 ? This method has been a game changer for me. Once you acquire enough willpower to force yourself to endure ice cold shower or bath for 10 to 20 min on daily basis, other problems life throws at you become smaller in your eyes. It's the best exercise for conquering restless mind I have encountered to date.

    The other point I'd like to make is on how we perceive and react to outer events. Wayne Dyer used to say "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change," and Einstein said the same with different words:"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Marcus Aurelius taught that we can only control our own thoughts and actions, so there is no point in worrying about anything else. As long as we do our best in a given moment, we should feel content with ourselves regardless of the outer outcomes. We have very little to zero control on how our life will turn out to be. Our lives are profoundly informed by chance and randomness , everything from relationships, job success, school grades to health are less reliable than we'd like to believe. You can do everything right and your life could still turn to shit. Randomness is the fact of life, so all we can do is to try giving our best in a given situation and learn how to detach our emotions from the outer events as much as possible. That's very hard to do and demands constant daily practice, but it is the only way to find some peace of mind in constantly changing world. If I tell people what has happened to me this month (dead in the family, loss of a job by January 2020, going blind on my eye suddenly without knowing the reason why), they start to pity me, but for the first time in my life I don't feel anxious or sorry for myself. I believe I did most of the things right in 2019 (still far from perfect, but we're all just human beings, all perfectly imperfect, perfection isn't possible to attain so it makes no sense to stress over not achieving unachievable) and have grown as a person. Why would I feel down now over things I have zero control over?
     
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2019
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  13. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    does this happen to those suffering from PAWS?
     
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  14. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    Hi everyone, it's been a while since I've posted here, I also don't like to dwell on the negative aspects of the reboot so I spent this time working, focusing on my goals, making money, getting better overall
    I once believed only time would heal me, but we should always take a proactive approach to solve this problem, I've been doing these exercises in the last 2 months their goal is to take you out of a frozen state and put you in a balanced, natural state, physiologically speaking, they say it's good for depression, anhedonia and all the shit we've been going through, I've noticed some improvements and I'll keep practicing them. As of right now it's been 3 years flatlining, I know it's a lot of time, benefits so far? zero interest in porn, no urge to jerk off to a screen, more physical endurance and stamina and the mental sypmtons are less severe (anhedonia, depression, no motivation etc are still there unfortunately but they are getting weaker)
    Let's keep moving foward guys, we got this, we will win!
     
  15. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    this is the situation we gotta break free from
     

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  16. filmit57

    filmit57 Fapstronaut

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    I’m 315 days in and still going through PAWS, goes like this 2-7 days feeling good to great followed by 1-4 weeks of feeling not so great to really bad. Been using PMO for 15-20 years would be nice to know what to look for in the PAWS process because I heard it’s not a linear process where I’m slowing getting better by the week. I’ve noticed it with my good weeks during the process they don’t keep getting a little better over the course of this past year, so many ups and downs.
     
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  17. AspiringVitality

    AspiringVitality Fapstronaut

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    It happens with many addictions. Not so much PAWS. PAWS can come from endorphin resistance though.

    when you pmo and edge for long amounts of time, not only the dopamine receptors get less receptive but also endorphin receptors

    this also happens with (too much) dairy, sugar, heroin, and in some people even with spinach (because of the exorphins)
     
  18. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    Yes
     
  19. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    This 3rd year I had no relapse to porn and during the first 2 years I can count in one hand the occasions where I relapsed to porn
     
  20. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    PAWS just means a longer flatline, if your flatline lasts 6 months it's not considered PAWS, but if it lasts longer than a year, so yeah, you're going through PAWS...
    Gabe deem's flatline lasted 9 months for instance
     

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