I feel so tired I spend too much time with a phone, when I put it away I just want to sleep or crave dopamine How do I get a healthy dopamine system?
What do you usually do to get a dopamine fix? Eating junk food, browsing social media, browsing websites, playing video games, listening to music ect. I guess replace some of those with productive dopamine sources, such as exercise, eating fruit, reading ect. You need to get dopamine from productive activities, as opposed to destructive (porn) or useless (social media) activities. I have a lot of work to do in this area as well, I spend far too much time on the computer when I could be doing many more productive things.
I hate to admit it, but I cheated with this reboot. I'm taking an anti-addictive drug called naltrexone. It completely eliminated any withdrawal symptoms for me.
Have you been using the Sinclair method? Naltrexone can also reduce the dopamine released from productive activities so be careful with it. Also where did you source it?
This medication is used for addicts coming of heroin and other opiate drugs.these people experience extreme physical withdrawals. It has hectic side effects too. I am not sure if this would be the solution for quitting PMO
It has been used to treat "sex addiction" also, along with alcoholism, you can find some papers of it online.
I experimented with the Sinclair method and porn for about a year at first. I didn't experience any results. Right now, I'm just taking 150 mg a day, and I really don't notice the missing dopamine from other activities. Naltrexone also has an affect of supporting increased brain activity in the frontal lobe. I get it shipped from India for $2 a pill.
Benzos and sleeping tablets are used to treat anxiety and insomnia. I can tell you first I jumped on that train very fast and still dealing with the consequences. Be very careful before you jump on any kind of tablets because they can lead to even more problems especially if you have addictive personality which most PMO addicts do Alcohol and heroin withdrawals are so physically harsh that I can understand why some people use these meds to curb the symptoms
I didn't mean to completely hijack the OP's thread. Naltrexone works in a different way than you might think. It actually weakens the addictive portions of the brain by blocking dopamine. Meanwhile, it strengthens the planning portions of the brain. It will change the personality of an addict while taking it to become less impulsive. It is a very difficult drug to abuse and is sold otc in most countries.
Funny how you can buy something very powerful like phenibut OTC for cheap, but you must get a prescription for something like naltrexone.
For me playing piano is producctive, you are training a skill. Replace them with good habits or actions. Start small with an habit that give you joy or add something that you like to it. For instance, you can cook your meals from scratch(saving money because of not eating out or takeaway, the joy because you are looking after yourself and you are making something from scratch ) while listening to music and only listen to music in that moment. Try to put your phone in airplane mode when you are doing a good habit. Set yourself a time and a purpose or limit your time for browsing the web. For instance, I have to do some research on Internet and I'll put 1 hour to do it or I want to check some forums so I only give myself 30 minutes. Stick with it but start small. Hope that it helps
You will get a healthy dopamine system back with time away from PMO. Exercise helps a lot during the transition, and so do spiritual practices like prayer and meditation.