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Different Stages of Flatline - What is flatline

Discussion in 'Rebooting - Porn Addiction Recovery' started by Mateo89, Feb 11, 2017.

  1. My flatline has/is really long, nearly a year now. I know it’s dopamine based problem because I get nocturnal wood more often than not. I try to stay positive and believe I’m just healing
     
  2. The mind will rewire itself if we deprive it of PMO for long enough. It can take 3-5 years for this to occur for long-term PMO users. We must endure.
     
  3. How long for a pmo user to heal by these years?
     
  4. Hey man, forgive me, I don’t really understand what you are asking, can you reword it?
     
  5. It’s these small interactions like this on here that really help me day to day, thanks for posting
    On a good day I’m kind of grateful for the flatline, I think if it hadn’t happened I’d still be on the dopamine chase
     
  6. OP stated:" 3 to 5 years for one who been pmoing to heal completely." Now I'm asking if you have an addiction for over 20 or 30 years or it could be less, would it still take that time of frame to truly cured?
     
    Deleted Account likes this.
  7. It can certainly be less. I was a habitual user of PMO as my drug of choice for 25 years. I am currently in the sixth year of my active recovery. I am still drawn to PMO, but I have learned how to deal with the urges and deny them. So, the attraction is still there, but the compulsion is much weaker than it used to be. It's manageable. I believe I will always be an addict and prone to fall (I have done so already: After 18 months of no PMO, I fell back into it for a year. You can read more about my story here: https://www.nofap.com/forum/index.php?threads/day-200.223536/ ) -- but I can stay clean and free one day at a time. All of my physical symptoms are completely healed, btw.

    So, the 3-5 year window fit me well, but I was a long-term addict. If your addiction was of a shorter duration, it is possible it could be resolved more quickly.
     
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  8. Sterkte

    Sterkte Fapstronaut

    I believe it's all relative to a) how long you've been using porn and b) the intensity of your usage. I used PMO for 4-5 years, with varying degrees of frequency peaking at 5-7x/week. I'm 24, and I've been on NoFap for just over a year, and while it has been the biggest challenge of my young life I felt a serious breakthrough and what felt almost like freedom around 70 days of abstinence. Obviously, as indicated by my day counter, I was not free of urges. But it's a growth process and although my day counter is greatly reduced I feel miles ahead of where I was when I first started. Like I've grown more as a person in this past year then in any other year of my life, and I can say that with confidence.
    All that being said, urges are very strong for me now, and I completely understand how people can have a long streak only to fall back into full-blown porn usage. It can be de-moralizing to go from cloud 9 thinking you've left porn behind you only to go back to struggling to make it through a few days without it. I recognize how critical the next months are for me...every time I successfully resist an urge the stronger I become and the closer I get to where I was. If, however, I get into a trend of weakness........

    It scares me to think. I consider this life and death; as dramatic as it sounds I really believe it.
     
  9. It truly is life and death. PMO will consume every bit of our lives that we give it, and it will give us nothing in return. It is a sort of living death; we are actual zombies when under its influence, fixated only on when we can get alone and acquire our next fix. Life is out there, but we must leave PMO behind for good if we are to find it!
     
  10. Sterkte

    Sterkte Fapstronaut

    Straight up. I'm a shadow of what I can be. For myself and I many others I've spoken with throughout the forums I found myself suicidal and NoFap played a huge role in getting rid of those thoughts. The porn-addict lifestyle is a depressing soul-crushing one.
     
  11. Literally a walking dead zombie
     
  12. BigOne79

    BigOne79 Fapstronaut

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    That has to be difficult after 18 months to have to start again but if you did it once already you can do it again.

    When you say 3-5 years I believe you are talking about completely being free of PMO without urges I believe. How many months into your first steak of 18 did you feel must symptoms improve...??
     
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  13. The first 60 days are always the hardest for me. After that, things get better. The urges are manageable for the most part. PAWS is a real thing, though, and sometimes they can come back strong. I just need to deal with those the way I always do and stay free of them.

    No urges at all after 3-5 years? I hope that's true. We'll see! :)
     
    justafriend likes this.
  14. Ok understood!
    I read somewhere that it takes 18 months for pmo to get cleansed in a person system. Is this statement valid after your 18 months of nopmo?
     
  15. In your previous post, I thought you're in your 6th year (soft,hard,monk)mode on nofap.
     
  16. I feel like the worst of it was over after 60 days, honestly. Might be different for others. Then it's just one day at a time, and don't let the bad days catch you off guard. They will happen!

    I got serious about fighting PMO and admitted I had an addiction to it six years ago. I have been working to fight it ever since. I have been part of Celebrate Recovery for much of that time. I only started NoFap about seven months ago, after my CR group folded and I was ready to get started again on a commitment to no PMO.
     
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  17. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    yes, stick it out, it's a flatline, it might last a few days or weeks (or months..) how long have you been addicted to it? it's important that you don't watch porn and masturbate at this stage (you could just MO although I don't recommend, wait until the flatline fades)
     
  18. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    how was yours? how long did it last?
     
  19. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    Shit man... I think mine is finally ending, after 2 years and 4 months
     
  20. Younameit

    Younameit Fapstronaut

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    flatlines that last longer than a year fall into the PAWS category as well
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2019

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