" FLATLINE " for 20 months and counting : - (

Right away entering puberty so 12ish until 28 years. Really consistent most nights of the week before bed

 

I don’t believe masturbation by itself with natural thoughts and sensations is bad…it’s a natural process and orgasm and clinically many benefits..especially mental health benefits. I believe the 100% cause of all our issues is porn. That isn’t natural whatsoever. All of these issues that we discuss started with a few years of online porn sites so I don’t think that’s just a random coincidence

 

Taking what you say here into consideration, in your opinion what do you believe would be the reason for some people healing in months, and others in years?

 

But don't forget that previous generations were more "active" and less sedentary during day, and probably didn't masturbate so often (almost daily and more than once) like new generations (and I'm not referring to porn, but even only thoughts). It could also be a sum of different things: both the boom of "affordable" porn with Internet, and too much masturbation itself and less physical activity.

There are both young people who recovered faster and older people who healed faster. This could mean there are lots of different factors that affects the healing process. Probably it depends by how healthy is your diet, how healthy is your body (fat, slim), if you do physical activity, how your brain changed with porn and how much you stressed out your D. during your life...

 

I just think there is a clear/obvious gap between people who heal in weeks and others who heal in years. I would say that most of the PAWS guys were perfectly healthy before beginning PAWS. The same can be said for me, I have always worked out regularly, eaten fairly well most of the time and quit PMO almost 5 years ago now. Yet a wet dream or any heavy stimulation will throw my system off for days if not weeks.

 

Thank you for sharing!
Do you have continuous 4.5 years no PMO? No slips?
Where do we go from here? Is there a life after PAWS? Or is this going to be the new reality?

 

Did you smoke, drink alcohol or other related things? Are you stressed in general (by work, family or other things)? Are your bood exams perfectly fine on this matter (hormonal levels, vitamins and other elements)? Are we sure it's also NOT a mental thing? I mean, maybe we build so much fear of P, M and O that we mentally put our body in a halt state.

 

In the first 12 months of recovery, I made attempts to rewire with a partner which led to a small number of orgasms, but it they simply placed me into an even deeper flatline. Outside of that no slips, only wet dreams which occur every few months for me. After quitting PMO other addictions became more prevalent like gaming, junk food, Netlflix/YouTube.

PAWS is not a life sentence, just stay away from over stimulating your nervous system with stimulants and a poor lifestyle and you should eventually recover. The less artificial stimulation you give your body, the quicker you will recover in my opinion.

 

I have never smoked, I drank alcohol socially in my 20s but and pretty much stopped since rebooting. Social drugs came into play shortly before starting recovery but was not an addiction. I started taking physical exams not long after starting recovery and they have always come back fine.

Something that I did notice is that I am in the process of quitting my job, a job that burnt me out for the past 6 years. Since making this decision I have noticed that on some mornings I have been experiencing light morning wood and libido. It could be pure coincidence, I am not sure, but I do agree that stress is a key player when it comes to PAWS, but might not be the case for everybody. Thanks for reminding me this is a good question.

 

Have heart brother. We can enjoy life still.

 

When I first started recovery I felt like I was missing out on all the girls and relationships out there. I can't speak for everyone, but for me the urge to chase girls has worn off. Do not get me wrong, I still urge for intimacy at times, but the feeling changes. Girls are not going anywhere anytime soon, they will still be around once you have recovered.

 

totally agree. I would just like my brain to function normally. I couldn't care less about sex. I think its been around 5 or so years without a sexual encounter for me.

I honestly think that if chasing sex is your main problem then you’re likely in good shape. Im just trying to float above water.

 

What would you say is the biggest thing you are struggling with in terms of recovery?

 

Thankfully, I got that out of my system. I spent years in the game, chasing women, dating, partying etc. No interest in chasing girls anymore.

 

I feel like this when I forget what it was like being a slave to the PMO. Today I don't have to struggle with the PMO every day. That's a miracle.

 

Sorry @Red Moon remind me, how many years of PMO are you recovering from?