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How does flatline end?

Discussion in 'Rebooting - Porn Addiction Recovery' started by Schia, Apr 7, 2015.

  1. Schia

    Schia Fapstronaut

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    I've posted a question like this in my journal, but I don't think it has more than about five readers who are all at a similar stage to myself. So I have a question to ask.

    How will I know when flatlining ends?

    What will I notice that is different? Am I guaranteed to see these things?

    Essentially, I am asking because, when I first joined NoFap, I saw plenty of amazing effects that people felt because of it - having more energy, more confidence, greater clarity of thought and improved concentration. Right now, though, I am ten weeks in and feeling none of these. I feel some of them some days, but never for any kind of elongated period. And my libido is still very much non-existent.

    Without sounding too dependent, I would have expected to see some improvement in these respects by now, but I'm just not. So do these things gradually appear? Does it just click one day? Any help or advice from those who have reached that stage - especially if you have been through a relatively long reboot process - would be most welcome.
     
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  2. NoMo_Po

    NoMo_Po Fapstronaut

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    This is actually the reason why I am considering nofap, just to see the effects it has on my body and mind.

    It makes me worried to hear you are 10 weeks in and have no effect. Maybe you do have some of these perks and benefits but have yet to realize them?
     
    Bryaan likes this.
  3. Schia

    Schia Fapstronaut

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    If you are considering, I would still say, "DO IT!" Indeed, I have no intention of going back, not least because it was never all that enjoyable in the first place.

    Please don't read one person having doubts and let that put you off. Read all of the positive outcomes of others. I may well end up with such tales by the end of the process, too. I have been MOing for 17 years, always featuring some sort of unrealistic fantasy like P, so I wasn't expecting an overnight fix, and had set myself a target of three months hard mode and eight months no PMO to try and allow genuine time for a reset. For some, it won't be as deeply engrained as I feel it was for me. Some neural pathways will be less deep set and easier to correct.

    I guess this is more a cry out in frustration. But just because it hasn't happened for me yet, it doesn't mean that I'm giving in. I just need my faith in the process backing up, and hints as to what I should be looking for.

    Once you NoFap, you never go back!
     
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  4. NoneForMeThanks

    NoneForMeThanks Fapstronaut

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    Everyone is different my friend. It is my opinion that these effects may come and go, or may take weeks or months to "kick in". Give it some more time and I believe you will be pleasantly surprised with how good you feel. Keep on trucking.
     
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  5. Palmtop Tiger

    Palmtop Tiger Fapstronaut

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    For me sometimes the end of a flatline is filled with a resurgence of urges. It just depends. Also eliminating PMO by itself isn't going to change your life. You have to be taking active positive steps as well.
     
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  6. SerpentEagleHeart

    SerpentEagleHeart Fapstronaut

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  7. Schia

    Schia Fapstronaut

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    That's all I needed, I think. Just a bit of reassurance that it can take this long and what does happen. I am trying to take positive steps, but my body lacks energy so much that it can become a daily struggle to do so. I have not long awoke and am just about to get up, but my legs feel quite tired and I lack that get-up-and-go.

    I guess it is just a case of being patient. I did think that it would take quite a long time for me to be properly reset, and so it is proving. It is just incredibly frustrating going through it. But it isn't as bad as not going through it, carrying on in the old ways.
     
  8. seventyniner

    seventyniner Fapstronaut

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    I'm puzzled with the whole concept of flatlining. I think it's one of those words that people here use differently (like edging). As far as I understand, it's the absence of libido. Or is it something else?

    Forgive me if I totally get this wrong, but since you're on hard mode like me, why would the absence of libido trouble you? I'm actually glad that sex is not on the forefront all the time. Can you describe the ideal state you'd like to be in? What would it look like if you could quit flatlining right now?

    Again - congrats on 70 days!
     
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  9. IGY

    IGY Guest

  10. seventyniner

    seventyniner Fapstronaut

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    Okay, thanks. That explains some of it! I guess I've been flatlining, too. (And I'm not going to test my equipment ...)
     
  11. Schia

    Schia Fapstronaut

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    I don't think that it is the sexual drive that is really troubling me - I wouldn't have much use for that anyway, though a lack of activity in the area does give me occasional worries that nothing is working down there. It is the other effects that people talk about - greater clarity of thought, more energy, etc. - that I am not feeling any of. Maybe I'm doing too much exercise that my body isn't reacting well to. Hearing stories on here saying that you must exercise, it will do wonders for you... that's not how my experience is going. Indeed, the further into the process I go, the more I see that the exercise is slowly tiring my body, eating into the energy I have to do everyday tasks.

    So I guess, more than anything, a bit of that energy wouldn't go amiss, as described in the video @SerpentEagleHeart linked to.
     
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  12. IGY

    IGY Guest

    Hi Schia. Some of the things you have listed there have been referred to as "super powers". They are nothing of the sort. After a couple of weeks of abstinence I did feel a little more confidence and clarity of thought - and that was it really.

    With regard to the so-called "flatline", mine started @20 days and ended @ 70 days. When it ended, I definitely felt a much greater sexual drive. But it was not overwhelming and I had no appetite or intention to masturbate or look at pornography. I would say that by week 11, I had rebooted. So, the reduced libido does resolve itself eventually and quite quickly. But how long you will have to wait depends on numerous factors because we are all different physiologically and our histories with these behaviours are also varied. Gary Wilson deals with this here:
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 8, 2015
  13. Schia

    Schia Fapstronaut

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    Thanks, @IGY. I'll be honest, I think I just needed the reassurance that this isn't a constant state. And perhaps I need to be more reflective, and actually consider a) how bad I was at the start of this process, b) other factors, such as the amount of sleep I get and exercise I do and c) why I came to NoFap in the first place.

    With regards to the last of those, I came here because I knew that something wasn't right. I was PMOing because I was feeling down and wanted to be happy. But it didn't make me happy. It took me away to a fantasy world for however long it took me... five minutes, an hour or even longer sometimes. But afterwards, I would just be filled with emptiness. I had been wasting my time, I had no necessity to go out and find a girl because I could have almost any girl I wanted in my mind, I was suffering from DE and ED, and enough was enough! It was only upon turning to NoFap and reading people's experiences that I learned of these "super powers", all of which seemed to match features in me that I felt were seriously deficient. I said at the start of all this that, even if they didn't come, even if these deficiencies in me are caused by something else, I will still stick with it. But as medical professionals have since ruled out other possibilities in the meantime, I have placed more hopes on NoFap being the solution. However, if I hark back to the first moments of this process, the reasons behind doing this, then I should be nothing but positive.
     
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  14. NoBrainer

    NoBrainer Distinguished Fapstronaut

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    Yes, these things are gradual. You can experience gradual boosts in energy and focus/ concentration with time. However nofap is not the only tool you should use to improve your state of well being or your confidence. I would say that such aspects of your personality are more complex. You will experience limited benefit just by abstaining from PMO, or just by retaining your semen. With these more complex aspirations, I would say you need to find ways to practice improving yourself with regard to those areas. Practice makes perfect. :)

    Though with regard to nofap alone, it is reasonable to expect you will experience further improvement (even if it is very gradual). Like IGY states, we are all different, so your personal journey is unique to you. Seventy days is just the beginning, but you have clearly fought so hard to get to where you are now. Just imagine the benefits you could see upon reaching your 243 day goal! :)
     
    Schia likes this.
  15. jbastoniv

    jbastoniv Fapstronaut

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    What I've learned is that what a lot of people call flatline is just being normal. What do I mean? Well, I do not think it is normal to sit around constantly thinking about sex 24/7. I'd say after the first two weeks or so my "libido" seemed way less, but let's not call it "libido", let's call it "hornyness!" I wasn't constantly thinking about sex and being satisfied or sated. Now I am, I am not thinking about sex 24/7 every second. It comes and goes, I'll see a hot chick and I may or may not get a feeling of arousal. I will say, if I cuddle, or get affectionate with my wife, or see her nude I get aroused. I do agree with other, I think you panic and then test yourself, your sexuality to make sure it all works and then you end up relapsing.
     
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  16. mike47

    mike47 Fapstronaut

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    Schia -- I thinks there is a reasonable analogy between NoPat and how antidepressants work. Both are involved with changing neurotrasmitter concentration levels in the brain. In NoFap, the objective is to reduce dopamine levels.

    Response time to antidepressants varies by individual. Some folks respond within two weeks. Others can take eight weeks or more. When I had major depression I was in the over eight weeks category. It felt like an eternity before they kicked in, and I wondered if they ever would. It is really tough to be patient when you are in agony.

    We didn't jack up our dopamine levels overnight and they don't go back down overnight. Rebuilding neural networks takes a considerable amount of time.
    I'm just 20 days into reboot, and although I would like to pop out of it early, I'm emotionally prepared to let it run its course.

    Hang in there, bro. !!
     
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  17. mike47

    mike47 Fapstronaut

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    Well said, JB. After 20 days of rebooting I think I'm in flatlining. But I do still get very aroused when I'm intimate with my wife - we both sleep in the nude so full skin-to-skin contact just happens. I also still get a cheap thrill when I see a stacked redhead - the difference now is that I don't obsess about her in my mind and use the recollection in my MO fantasies. Now, a fleet admiring acknowledgement, but then drop her out of my mind.

    Even in flatlining, if I didn't have at least some response to these stimuli, I would also worry about my libido and probably go back and test it with porn. So I think some stimulation while rebooting is not necessarily a bad thing, you gotta know where to draw the line to keep yourself from falling back into the old pattern.
     
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  18. PrevCDM

    PrevCDM Guest

    Schia ... make sure you are eating enough calories. Find out your base metabolic rate using some of the good calculators online. With your exercise and how you eat, you shouldn't be going under your BMR by 700 calories, and that's pushing it to the limit. I have a feeling you aren't eating enough / sleeping enough. Will you please put some thought to that?

    Best of luck.
     
    Schia likes this.
  19. Manfro

    Manfro Fapstronaut

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    Hi Schia,

    I read your post and it reminded me of my experience. I started hard mode on 1st Feb and to this day I don't feel any significant benefits really. I suppose the most tangible benefit I feel is having a lot more time to be able to do more creative things (like my photography). I don't think about sex every second any more either but apart from that I ask my wife occasionally if she notices anything different about me and her main answer is always that it seems that my mood has improved and I am happier. Personally I don't feel it but its good to hear from someone else. What I'm saying is you may not realise the benefit but others will without a doubt. Looking back over the last couple of months I think I have actually become more sociable, but not intentionally or consciously. With regards to the flatline, it is supposed to be normal as jbastoniv says, and I think Im in one at the moment but I know I work 'down there' from before I started this journey so why should anything have changed? I know next time I 'get it on' with the wife (when 90 days is over) it will surely work. Sounds to me like you need a bit of motivation and something to focus on so you can improve yourself. Like ICD advised, make sure you're eating right and exercising at least a little bit. Once you force yourself out of that lazy, tired feeling it gets easier. For example yesterday I went to work (with a small cold which got worse by the time I finished) but in stead of going to bed, I had also prearranged to go to a photoshoot afterwards so I went did that, didn't come back till about 9.30 and then I painted some doors after that at home. 2 months ago there was no way I would get myself to do so much in one day but now I cant find enough time in the day to do other things. I have no idea how I found the time to be naughty back in the day, but so glad I stopped now, even though I have never experienced the main benefits others talk about. Keep it up.
     
  20. Schia

    Schia Fapstronaut

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    Thanks everyone! Lots to take in there. I guess Inhave made changes to my diet that I could look at, though I felt like this long before I started the process. I just think I've been over-doing the exercises, especially considering I've not done much intense working out in the previous two years or so. It is a bit of a shock to a body that doesn't work as well as it used to.

    Got to keep on keeping on!
     

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