Trying Medication for NoFap week 2 - Naltrexone 50mg (dopamine antagonist)

I began taking Naltrexone 50mg two weeks ago.

40 mwm 2 kids, US, middle class , educated, freelance, work at home on the computer. Daily PMO habit 3+times/day ~3+hrs/day often accompanied with smoking pot and staying up very late, for the past 5 years. used porn since 12yo.

week 1 entry here - https://www.nofap.com/forum/index.p...gonist-trying-a-new-approach-to-nofap.238549/

As I mentioned in my first post, Im not new to noFap. I have struggled with severe withdraw and multiple failures over the past few years. So far using this medication has helped make this most successful attempt by far.

I have had little to no cravings for PMO. The few times my mind wandered to typically triggering thoughts, I have been able to quickly bring myself out of it and move on. While I completely understand that this addiction is more complex than simple brain chemistry, I'm becoming a radical believer that our brain's reward center is a major component.

I have still been having emotional withdraw symptoms. Im agitated, have mood swings, and have been feeling extremely depressed. I genuinely think depression may be the underlying root here. PMO as a form of self medication. But then, it also seems like PMO has been creating many sources of depression. And while I dont believe everything has to do with neurochemicals - antidepressants treat exactly that. So theres evidence that depression and brain chemistry are related.

I think its reasonable to assume that my compulsive sex addiction (as well as pot and alcohol consumption) has scrambled my brain chemistry. I.E. Do I PMO to treat depression or is PMO causing the depression? probably a little of both.

I should add that I have not been drinking or smoking pot either for the past few weeks and Ive been making a point to go to bed at the same time as my wife and get a full night sleep usually around 10:30. Something I never did before. I have read that forcing yourself to stay awake also releases dopamine. Whatever the reason, Im craving real sleep lately.

I have a minor complication when it comes to having sex with my wife. We had sex once this week and once the first. There certainly is an effect, its hard to tell whats happening there, PMO has made my natural sex life feel very out of wack. But even apart from that both times we had sex in the morning and the rest of the day I felt the most severe temptation to PMO. I told her I think we should try to only have sex before bed to see if that makes a difference.

Im finding that Im beginning to naturally seek out alternative ways to calm my anxiety which I find interesting. For example, I was VERY agitated/stressed over an issue with work that I was obsessing over one day. Typically i would get high and PMO for several hours to forget about it. Or lay in bed paralyzed staring at my laptop. None of these appealed to me at all which was very strange and hard to explain. Its like my cells subconsciously knew those wouldnt help. I just felt like I needed to move my body. I felt claustrophobic. So I invited my wife to go for a walk. It might sound stupid because its so obvious, but getting out and walking for a half hour totally relaxed me and felt great. Its not like I never knew that was an option, but it never felt like anything I wanted to do, much less voluntarily seek out.

I can feel my brain re calibrating itself. I seek out time with my kids and am fighting less with my wife. Through all of this amidst considerable emotional instability, I did have a three day stretch where I felt stable, present, and focused. The groin pains have been minimal. Ive still had a few bad days. One day I felt completely paralyzed and my nervous system felt like its was ripping my cells apart. So... the pill isnt doing all the work. just makes the work more manageable.

The medication has been amazing so far. Like I said before, I have some concern about what happens when Im not on it. What happens if I want a drink or a smoke in the future? I dont know the answer to all that yet. But for now I am still feeling very positive about this approach.

please comment or ask questions.
and let me know your experiences if youve tried the same