So, I've been pmo-free for about a month now, and am still having insane cravings every couple of days. I'll think they're gone, then they hit me like a ton of bricks. Has any one else had a similar experience? I get that the journey is always a little different for everyone, so I'd be curious to know what other people's experiences with this have been, and how long it took before you could honestly say that the cravings were under control.
Every journey is different! I didn't notice my cravings weakening till around day 40. By then they were half as frequent and half as strong. But I've heard some folks have strong urges up to 60. I think every ones journey is different. I was eating real clean and did a complete fast till my body got screwy during day 3. I am still and was then controlling my thoughts and not thinking about sex at all. Also was running 5 days a week. Also had many good healthy relationships and a stable home and work life. I didn't have chaos or much change in my life early on. Now the urges are mostly tiny with an occasional bamb out of know where. Around 3 this morning got hit with a pretty strong urge. But I didn't get much sleep last night and had been bored yesterday. Just road it out. I just thought in my mind, "I used to give in to urges I do not do that now to myself." Then I washed it away with a mental focus exercise they really help. You got this. This is your year.
"when do cravings stop".... When your heart stops beating. I don't think that the cravings are the issue, its how we react and respond to them that's a problem. Learn some techniques for dealing with them. If an attractive person walks by, look away or focus on something about them thats not sexual like their hair or face, try to see them as another human being with their own story instead of a sex object. Also, when a fantasy comes into your head, just let it go. Don't dwell on it or feed into it. Take a moment to center yourself, breathe, meditate and pray, then just go about your day without clinging to your cravings or giving in to them. Truth be told, it might take months or even years for hard cravings to stop, depending on how big a part PMO has played in your life. Just take it a day at a time, do your best and don't give in nomatter how bad the cravings get
Interesting question.. Carvings will be there unless you stop thinking & stop fantasising about porn @bearbones .. I'm completely agreed dude. U have to change the way you respond to sexual cue.. u have to avoid it. May difficult at first but you have learn it.. To be frank . I'm PMO free for almost 10 months now I still have carving. But I'm learning to fight against it.. Check this link :https://nofapsolideo.wordpress.com/...-fight-against-porn-fantasy-and-masturbation/ It will surely help
Yes you are right. My urges sometimes last upto a few days then they go away for a week. Sometimes they come for a few days and go away for the same amount of time! Urges can be different! Urges won't go away but what you do learn from nofap is self control and how to ignore them - associating self pleasure to self pain! Some excellent responses.
I remember one of my friends talking to his (now deceased) then 80-something year old Father in a nursing home about relationship stuff (my friend was single at the time), and he was horrified that his dad said that he still struggled with unwanted sexual thoughts - in his 80s! So, I accept that sexual temptation will always be a thing, just I am holding out for these damned strong cravings to pass. The way I am starting to think of it is kind of like dieting - people who are in good physical shape don't (at least usually) lose taste for junk food, they just learn to control the cravings.
It was around 40 days or so that the craving were less often and less intense for me, you may be different depending on various factors.
I'm right around 40 days and tonight I'm getting hit with the WORST cravings and images in my head that I've experienced yet... Ugh I need to just go to sleep
Well, since I made an active decision to be P free, I am experiencing a much better quality of dreams... as in vividness as opposed to content! lol I have had no cravings as yet, and I think that is because I fortified myself by developing other things to focus on in my life. There is no wealth but Life. How about playing this song every time you get the urge. Born [P] free!
Make sure you are focusing on and working toward recovery. Recoverynation online program helped me a bunch on setting some healthy life goals to work toward.
I had intense cravings around days 85 to 95. They got intense probably because I was home on medical leave and didn't have a lot to do. They eventually led to a relapse so beware.
I'm on day 92 from last relapse and still suffer some level of frustrations and effects of long time porn viewing. But is getting better, it is more like low level background noise, rather than the full blown withdrawal symptoms it was in the beginning. So there is hope of thoughts and feelings gradually normalizing to something healthy and better. Sorry I couldn't resist posting this scene from platoon
Cravings for what? Porn? No, I can assure you this goes away - and before you die Over time, the cravings begin to transform: The craving for porn is transformed into a craving for real life. Instead of wanting to fap, you want to compete and dominate, you want to create, you want to actively involve yourself in the world. However, it took me about 2 years until I reached that state!
Yes, I can attest to this. Creative energies begin to flourish, I've found myself discovering personal qualities I wasn't aware I had. A lot of the rebooting phase is about knuckling down, but the benefits do start emerging.
Very good question. I am actually looking forward to the flatline. I need my sex drive to die for a time. It is causing some relationship problems with my wife and I. She has absolutely no interest in me sexually right now and it's killing me inside. The sooner the better for the flatline.
Thanks for the insight! That is truly a gift of recovery... I think originally I was just referring to cravings for some kind of sexual release, intimacy, or a real connection. And even as far as cravings for PMO, I am not at a point in my journey nor have I met anyone (before you) where the temptation to look at porn or masturbate is completely nonexistent. Most humans think about sex a ridiculous number of times per day, and the only other mammals with similar sex drive (chimps, bonobos, and dolphins) don't attach any moralism or addiction to their behavior, they just go and get what they crave. And lets face it, they don't live in an environment that barrages them with unhealthy messages about sex and a constant stream of provocative images. I don't want to act on it. But I still have a craving in the back of my mind, and for me I need to remember that its just a craving and has no power over me unless I give into it. I crave that other life stuff too. But I'm an addict, and if I don't watch my step I'm liable to slip right back into the same old depraved behaviors and activity. And I don't understand why we're all hit with it different, why some constantly relapse and why some no longer have cravings. As far as I can tell its only by the grace of God and the decision take responsibility for my own actions that I've made it this far...
@bearbones The way I see it since we fight this from a similar spiritual world view. Galatians 5:16 Jeremiah 6:16 are the roots of our battle with PMO When I am at peace I do not gratify the desires of my flesh. So two doors open to the throne of man. The flesh and the spirit. If the soul is at peace there is no desire for PMO. If the soul is not at peace we have two options open the door to the spirit get a big draft of peace or open the door to the flesh and get some pmo. The flesh always is checking to see if we have troubles. If we do it has it's answers to help us out. Recovery comes when we learn to identify what is pushing our soul out of peace. When we move it back to rest. There is no desire for escape or bored, lonely, stress. But we're human so were always struggling to stay in peace. So we get after Jer 6:16. I don't mean to hijack this. So I'll put the rest in a new post on my journal and tag it here. Link to the rest
@bearbones Well, I know personally several people of whom I am absolutely sure that they have no interest in PMO. They all have in common that they are vey forward-driven, they are always in a leading position, like company owners, doctors, band leaders, managers, etc. People who are socially very involved and who have a constant inner drive to create and to immerse with the real world. PMO is mostly a symptom of fears and doubts, of loneliness and sadness, of not knowing what to do, of not being trained in healthy social interaction. Fears are holding back the addict, and instead of going out into the real world, he PMOs. But you can transform your energy. I promise, it works. It took me around 2 years. Just be patient and keep a steady pace. Whenever you fail, stand up and try it again and again. At some point you suddenly realize that the negative emotions which were holding you back have truly left you forever, and from this moment on, the sex drive transforms into a more generic energy, and then you want to create, to compete, to lead, to thrust forward.
