Hi, this is my first post here i hope it's on the right section. 23 yo male been on nofap / abstention almost for a year actually testing with complete lack of sexual activities and just not masturbating.I get along with 2nd one.Personally i didnt had a hard time "rebooting" at least mentally of what the sex and porn addiction meant to me, it was more of a physiological test to get rid of all that excess of sexual excitement. Thing is of course as most of us i felt all the benefits of not fapping i felt incredible for a long time and helped me a lot to get into focus on everything, studies, work, relationship with women, hobbies and sport. Basically felt like a super human. All that changed a couple months ago its like if the sensation of feeling good and having motivation has gone completely off as my libido. Things are getting out of hand going out with a girl i always liked, which im very attracted to but most of the times i cant have sex with her because i go soft i cant mantain an erection and if i do its not as before. Personally i think that nofap gives you energy and time and then its up to you what you do with those 2 things (most valuable benefits for me) i dont think its a superhuman thing or anything.. but i do feel like my mind and body changed from not paying attention to sex or wanting to have sex for long periods of time and im really feeling like theres no way back to who i was before. So basically sry for the long post and bad english its not my mother tongue. I wanted to know if you guys have experienced this so called flatline(and i know of lots of cases i read) but i need help asap Situation: -extremely low libido (i dont even think of sex or girls, almost no arousal from porn or anything sex related) -depression (feelings of life being completely grey, no feelings, no motivation) -lots of suicidal thougths (like what's the point of all this i dont get the joy on anything, also curious about the "other side" not as a bad thing) -low motivation -mood swings and irritability -most awful of all: erectile dysfunction (think its purely psychological because it comes when i have to "complete the task" but also when i can do it its not that hard) -recovering from fap is almost lost or it takes too long (before with just one day of nofap i could get back on track with the benefits. Now it takes too long or the only thing i notice is no brain fog or the extreme fatigue) Back when i was into pmo almost daily (1 or 2 per day) i could get rock hard everytime with no problem i could maintain this for a long time and several rounds and this is very frustrating, any ideas, sugestion or explanation to this? I tried going to pmo to test if this was the problem but it gets worse as i dont get any solution and the depression/fatigue/brain fog gets harder
Wow. Yes, everything you listedon your situation is the same here with me. I could probably even add some as well, random “withdrawal” symptoms still coming and going as well. It. Is. Terrible. My sex life was bad before, but now it’s terrible/non existent. When I started nofap I thought by now I would be so much better off.
It's normal PAWS. I lost more accurate sin graphs about what happens to addicts brain "motivation" chemicals (serotonine, dopamine, oxytocin...) when he/she stops using the drug, but this graph basically tells the story. It's basically overshot (euphoria), undershot (depression), overshot, undershot… until averaging on the baseline eventually (normalizing). It takes time to stabilize at baseline. Sometimes even more then a year for people whose dopamine average values were above baseline for long time (by long time I mean years or even decades of regular use).
Could the depression not be connected? I can't imagine ever feeling horny if I'm suicidal and upset with life in general.
No worries. It's nothing time wouldn't heal. D receptors start to recover as soon as you stop overflooding your brain with dopamine. It takes time, but hormones go back to normal eventually.
Lots if not most of drug users have underlying untreated depression. PMO is in many cases self medicating attempt, just like alcohol and other drugs (they all elevate dopamine levels). I was depressed and anxious to the point of seriously considering ending life at some point, but still be able to binge PMO for hours like crazy. I craved dopamine fix, to elevate my mood and oxytocin to numb my emotions, not real sex. PMO was just my way of getting it. Doctor would probably prescribe me antidepressants (serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and anxiolytics (similar effect to oxytocin) if I'd tell him my symptoms. Basically the same shit as we get with compulsive PMOing including ED.
Yeah it seems like there's no way out rather than holding all this without giving up. Nonetheless i will go to the doctor for general checks as std's, blood sugar and testosterone, prostate status and such, just to see if there is something physiological in all this. Will not take any psychiatric medications tho. Thanks for the reply
I am no guru at this but.. the times I have felt the worst have been when I have been unoccupied, without a goal, eating like shite and waiting for nofap to save me. Now I’m vegan, gym every day.. Facebook and all social media accounts deleted.. socializing and reading are huge too. I watched countless YouTube videos with guys explaining that nofap is only the beginning and nofap alone will do nothing without you changing your life completely as you reboot. So far I have found massive hope in this. I had every single symptom you explain here but now I simply don’t have the time to think about it so it is gone.
I still get symptoms like this in my NoFap journey, but it wasn't as brutal as it was a month ago. Without the PMO fix I began having anxiety attacks, which has never happened to me before, and my mind was fixated with every waking moment of my day dedicated to thinking how short life is. I don't think I would've made it this far without asking Lord Jesus Christ for help.
Might be. Thought of that since what is happening is the opposite of usual. Most guys suffer from ED product of masturbating to porn or doing it in excess but i was totally ok back then, sometimes maybe i had problems on lasting having sex but it wasn't nothing that some focus could fix, and even if i finished quick i was ready to continue without pause, now basically i feel nothing down there...totally panicking by now i mean it's really disappointing and damaging my self esteem
I'm having the flu right now so i feel totally wasted but managed to meditate and make some exercise based on lower body (legs, calves and glutes) in order to make some blood flowing since i"m not training too much. I will start cardio as soon as i feel better and post any changes if happen. If someone has experienced this and could give some advice or something i would really appreciate it. Thanks for reading
Flatline is the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life by far I can totally relate to that, I've been having pretty much all sypmtons except for suicidal thoughts
