It's different from anyone, and it depends on how long you pmoed. The withdrawal symptoms can last 1 month or more than a year, not in one streak obviously, but can come and go for that period. I would suggest you, and anybody on nofap, to target at least for 6 months of nofap.
Ok but how аre you dealing with the pain? I mean, I'm working and I have to be in great shape but I'm not. I feel empty.
Sorry, but i didn't find a way to deal with it, you can only go through it and manage it at your best, and wait till the withdrawals end...
It depends. Withdrawals come and go. For some they come and go for 3 month, for some 1 year, for some 2 years. Right now i still have strong withdrawals.
My withdrawal symptoms: Severe weird anxiety Depression (despair, empty feeling, feeling of guilt, sad) Anhedonia (no feeling at all, just blankness, zero motivation) Impending doom terror feeling Panic attacks Anxiety attacks Agoraphobia Paranoia Irritable Nausea Heart palpitations Social anxiety / paralysis Derealisation (world looks "plastic") Aches and pains (Sharp stinging pains in my abdomen) Body parts feeling really hot Irritable bowel Looping songs in my head Stomach bloating Afterimages Monotone tired voice Tooth and gum pain Zero appetite Shit had a different color and structure Jolting awake during sleep. Sometimes every 10 minutes. SEVERE insomnia. 3 nights without any sleep. Hypochondria (thinking I had kidney damage, or reccuring benzo withdrawal) Shallow breathing Minor headaches Racing mind Severe ADD Trouble urinating Frequent urination Pain in prostrate when urinating (only during withdrawal) Adrenalin rushes Tight pumped up calf muscles when walking Weak legs Very very low energy Runny nose with flu like feeling Clumsy Red hot skin with fever feeling Low IQ syndrome Uncoordinated Trembling and shaking with hand tremors Worrying about everything Orthostatic hypotension (dizziness when standing up from sitting position) Wanting to isolate Blurry vision Head tension Chest tightness Brain fog Hypnagogia (hearing a voice saying my name during sleep) Night sweats Night terror Weird beeping or ringing sounds during the night Feeling like dying Weak body overall One time I saw weird visions when I closed my eyes, almost psychedelic Nightmares (Vivid crazy ass dreams with dark feelings) Porn dreams Sleep paralysis Slow insecure parkinson like movement And Im sure Im forgetting some more
I had a lot of tight calves, weak legs, and back pain lately. I thought it was over, but it looks like it isn't...
anger ( lashing out ) sadness=depression, and boredom. But I have overcome them all and I have not felt the need to masturbate in a while.
my brain never stops giving me shit, unless I pmo, anxiety, anger, depression, imsonmia, crazy thoughts, fear of everything, manic mood swings, eye problems, low stamina weird dreams, can't focus, voice is low, don't remember anything important, I feel guilty all the time, low libido and some other stuff I can't remember right now. pmo is real bad but the addiction is very strong.
after 5 years of almost daily (and often excessive) porn use, I don't have those strong withdrawal symptons. A few urges to to click on the first days, but now my main withdrawal symptom is that I feel I can't start the day without PMO first. It is similar to the idea of "coffee first" that many people have. I just feel something is missing if I don't fap and I shouldn't start the day without it. I have to get over that every day. Anyone else here with that feeling?
Wow, those are plenty of withdrawal symptoms of which I have maybe experienced a dozen or so during my reboot. The main ones being: -Feeling shaky and tingling sensations in my body and limbs -Sleeping difficulties -Uncontrollable erections. -Feelings of irregular anxiety and uneasiness (sudden mood swings) -Energy swings (feeling pumped one day and exhausted the next). -Some shortness of breath when feeling a heavy urge. -Concentration difficulties. On the other hand, I had quit watching porn for some (about a year) time before I stopped masturbating as well so my transition and reboot was probably not as dramatic because of that. I don't know how heavy of a PMO-user you have been but I guess that the heavier of a user you have been in the past, the heavier the withdrawal symptoms. I had myself been a quite moderate PMO-user for many years (my use didn't increase during this time) but it still had some huge negative impacts on my personal life.
I was a pretty mild porn user till age 22. Mostly lesbian porn. I never really changed the porn genre. Always lesbian. 1 time during the day, 15 minutes max. At age 21, I started using some hardcore drugs and my porn use increased. Being high and porn was great for me back then. A whole new experience. The dopamine high was waaay better. I edged for hours. At one point when it was late into the night, I put the pc monitor with lesbian porn in front of my window. Hoping that some people passing by, would see the porn. It gave me such a rush. The rush was caused by horniness and anxiety. The chance that someone passing by would see the porn through my window gave me an intense rush. I know it's pretty insane. At 24 I quit all the drugs and felt a void. Started PMOing 2/3 times a day, but still with lesbian porn. The Os mimicked a shot of opioids. Opioids were my drug of choice back then. During PMOing like crazy for about 8 months after quitting drugs, I started getting severe brain fog, social anxiety, insomnia, low mood. Luckily I saw a popup of yourbrainonporn.com, and then it all made sense. Porn fucked me up even more than all the drugs I abused. I started nofap and thats when the hellish journey of withdrawals started.
My ‘severe’ porn use only was around 14-19 the last three years using at least three times a day. From 19-24 when I became a nofapper I was stuck in a perpetual void even after a long streak and relapsing after I would go back to square one. I would feel the benefits much quicker then every relapse would send me further in the void to where it took me 9-11 months too see noticeable improvements in memory.
Between the ages of 14-24, I usually PMO:ed a few times a week and no session was longer than 45 minutes but God what negative impact that moderate use had on my life overall. Quitting PMO completely last winter was a big game-changer for my personal life and development. Although abstaining from pornography for a year before quitting masturbation helped me a bit, throwing the latter out of the window took me so much further.
Yea I approached this wrong on so many levels starting out on nofap then. I cared about the streak and didn’t know nothing about withdrawals then it was a toxic mindset and it was no wonder I failed so many times. I remember my first go at nofap was 77 days in 2013 and I was so desensitised to porn at the time when I relapsed I looked at a vanilla video and didn’t even masturbate. I ejaculated from visual stimulation and I also had a rock hard erection, something that I was gradually losing the ability to achieve. A few days before that I felt on top of the world colours seemed brighter, some girl on the bus looked absolutely amazing I felt as if I had a little bit of libido coming through, something I had not felt since I was 16/15. Mad.
for me it was 1. getting to sleep and staying asleep sometimes both in the same night 2. anger would snap at the drop of a hat 3. down in the dumps feeling low 4. doubt that it was worth it ,trying to rationalize going back to watching porn I still get some of them not as much as when I first started but it happens from time to time